DMG Media's social-only briefs now drive 30% of New Media revenue

Social-only briefs — campaigns that exclude DMG Media's print and digital products — now account for 30% of revenue at the publisher's year-old New Media division, according to director Nathan Aspell. That revenue stream "wasn't available" before the division launched, he said. This month alone, DMG signed a cross-platform campaign spanning social, print and online where the social component was worth seven figures on its own.

DMG doesn't break out New Media's revenue separately. The wider group reported £1.92 billion ($2.56 billion) in revenue in 2025, per the company.

What does the division actually build?

New Media runs more than 100 staff across 11 brands, including Daily Mail, Mail Sport, Gen Z personal finance title This Is Money, and lifestyle and shopping brand Eliza. The team of 25 salaried creators works alongside producers, videographers and editors to make social-first content for platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

The output is sizable: 3 billion monthly views and roughly 2,000 pieces per month — a mix of video and static or carousel formats — across Instagram and TikTok, per the company. "There might be an 18-year-old who's never picked up the newspaper, but now is very much aware of the Daily Mail through its social content," Aspell said.

In short: DMG is building watchable in-feed formats rather than using social mainly to send people to its sites.

How are advertisers responding?

Enders Analysis' head of publishing, Abi Watson, said the shift is changing how advertisers value publisher-made social. "The last year has really seen an acceleration in the recognition and professionalisation of the creator industry, coinciding with the decline in referral traffic," she said.

She added that the growth in social-only briefs suggests advertisers now treat these formats as "destinations in their own right," rather than extensions of existing publishing brands. For practitioners, that means budget previously earmarked for site referrals can now land directly on publisher-made social IP.

Does the creator model move the numbers?

Aspell said creators feature in 90% of New Media's branded content, and integrating them lifts engagement across the network by 50%. "That shows a huge appetite for individual and creator-first content," he said. The company owns the IP its creators develop.

Creators shape the work rather than just appear in it. "A creator in our world is someone who's sitting with the videographer and talking about how they're going to shoot it," Aspell said.

He also changed the posting cadence. Before he joined, a breaking story could generate around 50 posts in two hours — big reach, but engagement spread thin. He pushed for fewer, higher-quality posts. Views held in the billions monthly, he said, while engagement has risen month over month for the past year. "That is a testament to us doing quality content, not just quantity," he added.

Scouting follows the same logic. Aspell said he looks past follower counts: someone with 2,000 followers, real passion for news and strong content can be a good fit that the platform helps grow.

What formats come next?

Aspell wants more IP built around distinctive hosts, citing Goalhanger's work with Guardian columnist Marina Hyde as a model. DMG has taken early steps: "PM for a Day," launched in August with creator-journalist Mikey Olympitis, and Metro's "Rush Hour Crush," reworked from the newspaper's dating feature with creator Erica Figueiredo. He pointed to "Subway Takes" as the kind of personality-led show audiences return to.

Each of the 11 brands currently carries four to five show formats. Watch time matters, and it varies — sports format "Now You Know" averages 30 seconds, with some bespoke short-form videos averaging more than 30 seconds.

Beyond branded content, DMG earns through platform monetization including revenue-share deals with Meta. That creates a balancing act Aspell described plainly: "You get money from the posts you're doing, but then you're also trying to drive people to websites." The team mixes video, static posts and links so formats complement rather than cannibalize each other.

The open question for the next year is whether more recognisable, host-led shows can turn a publishing side-bet into a durable revenue line — and whether advertisers keep paying seven figures to reach audiences who never touch the paper.