The work
MyNews is a Brazilian YouTube channel with original programming, mainly on politics, economics and finance. Like many young media projects, it faced a range of challenges in areas like financial management, strategic planning, marketing and revenue generation.
The company tackled these hurdles head-on with MDIF support under MDIF Ventures, our initiative that provides early-stage equity financing to young and growing media companies with a positive social impact and potential to scale. The company also benefited from Media Advisory Services (MAS), our management capacity-building unit. From one-on-one training to workshops and events, the support encompassed various areas critical to success, from building a loyal audience to optimizing monetization strategies. MAS also supported the hiring of a CFO to ensure robust financial operations. The overarching goal was to help MyNews overcome immediate pressures, enhance their administrative capabilities and strengthen their overall business acumen.
In the beginning, we were a team of journalists only, without the necessary knowledge to set up and manage a company. We lacked administrative, financial, marketing, and advertising knowledge. With the support of MDIF we had access to mentoring and consulting in those areas. Such support was a defining factor in our survival as a news organization.
Kelly Leão, MyNews CEO
Impact
- The company refined its video production strategy. Through intensive engagement, the company enhanced the quality of its live debates, increased the number of high-profile interviews, focused its efforts on multiformat publishing, particularly YouTube Shorts, and enhanced its audience interaction and SEO.
- MyNews grew its audience and witnessed a notable increase in engagement. Between August and October, its content reached 178% more viewers than the same time the previous year. Its engagement grew by 172% and its hours viewed by 38%. Additionally, the YouTube channel added 180K subscribers. Traffic growth and the related improvements in algorithm rankings also impacted MyNews’ revenues, in particular, its audience revenue grew by 12%.
- MyNews has made remarkable strides in enhancing its operational efficiency, enabling them to navigate contracts, forge partnerships and manage resources and budgets more effectively. The team has secured new sponsorships and has successfully onboarded a CFO.
- My News was recognized as a top media in political coverage by IBest Brazil. Due to their positive results, the outlet was selected to present at the News Working Partners meeting among 65 news organizations from 19 countries as the best case for shorts in News on YouTube.
As a first step, MDIF helped us to get to know our own audience better. We strengthened our ties with our public and were able to map out who were the people following us, and then we started to communicate more directly with them. The result was an increase in engagement and in the number of supporters of the channel. [MDIF] was also fundamental to organise the administrative and financial side of the channel. We formalised relationships with partners and advertisers. MDIF’s consulting was instrumental for us to draft contracts with advertisers, partners and employees. Today we have a healthy payroll that allows us to set investment goals for the future.
Kelly Leão, MyNews CEO