Social Rocket
Daily Mail is significantly expanding its business with social video and its own creator formats. According to statements made to ADWEEK, social video is to account for more than a third of direct advertising revenue by 2027 – compared with around 20 percent today.
This matters above all because the publisher is not just producing more clips for TikTok, Instagram or YouTube. With dmg newmedia and Creator Media, it is building its own creator-driven publishing model: formats are developed close to the platforms, creators are permanently integrated into the company, and the resulting reach is marketed directly for brand partnerships.
Update from 28 October: social-only briefs make up 30 % of new media revenue
A new analysis by Digiday shows how far dmg media has already progressed with the model: 30 % of the revenue of its young new media division is reportedly now generated by briefs designed exclusively for social platforms. This is a different reference point from the target cited above of over a third of the publisher's direct advertising revenue by 2027. The two percentages must not be equated; the company does not disclose absolute revenue for the division.
According to the new figures, the team now looks after eleven social brands, employs more than 100 people – including around 25 permanently employed creators – and produces around 2.000 posts per month for platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. The division relies on creator-led production for about 90 % of brand content. The figure of three billion monthly views also comes from the company's environment; it remains unclear how this number was calculated across channels and formats.
The difference for advertisers is more concrete than a new reach announcement: a brand can commission standalone social production without also having to buy a classic print or website campaign. Some offers, however, continue to be marketed across platforms. This strengthens the case for publishers as creator studios, but raises the same questions as other media-company social franchises: who owns the format and the community, and how can brand impact be proven beyond views?
The new results describe a business mix, not a disclosed margin or independently audited profitability. For German media houses, the key issue is therefore not the individual percentage, but the distinction between social-only revenue, integrated campaigns and measurable return.
Creators are on dmg media's payroll
The restructuring has been under way since autumn 2025. In March 2026, dmg media stated that it had more than two dozen creators on permanent contracts. Together they produce around 10 to 20 original long-form and short-form videos per day on topics such as sport, news, entertainment or money.
The model thus differs from classic influencer campaigns. Instead of buying individual creators on a project basis, the publisher wants to build recognisable personalities, formats and communities itself. The creators take part in editorial meetings, develop topics with the teams and at the same time produce content designed from the outset for social feeds.
According to the company, creator-led content reached an average of around 250.000 to 300.000 views in spring. dmg media cites orders of magnitude of 250.000 to 350.000 views per video for certain recurring formats. These figures come from the publisher itself and should therefore not be understood as an independent platform benchmark.
Social is becoming a product in its own right rather than a traffic channel
The strategic difference is that social no longer merely has to bring readers back to the website. The publisher is building content, reach and advertising products directly within the platforms.
This fits a broader shift among media companies. As search referrals become less reliable, publishers have to monetise attention more directly where it actually arises. Srocket has recently reported how USA Today and the New York Times are restructuring their audience teams for AI search and off-platform discovery. In parallel, publishers are even trying to win back part of lost reach through significantly higher paid search spending.
Social video is the more offensive version of this strategy: instead of only optimising distribution, the platform itself becomes the media surface.
Owned franchises create sellable advertising environments
For advertisers, the key point is that dmg media is building not just reach but its own formats and vertical communities. The publisher names channels for gaming, entertainment and personal finance among others. According to dmg media, the finance format "This is Money" reached around 200.000 followers within a few months.
Such vertical franchises are easier to combine with sponsorship, branded content or recurring partnerships than a heterogeneous publisher feed. dmg media cites a partnership with Nationwide and social activations for brands such as Supercell and Primark as examples.
The company reports more than 160 million followers across its entire social portfolio and between 6 and 7 billion video views per month. These reach figures are also publisher statements, but they indicate the scale on which the model is being developed.
Platform-native video formats are becoming more economically important
The strategy coincides with platforms that are themselves monetising creator and live video more strongly. YouTube, for example, is currently expanding "Watch With" for creator-led live commentary. This creates additional formats in which media rights, creator reach and advertising inventory merge.
For publishers, the economic question is therefore increasingly no longer just: how much referral traffic does TikTok or YouTube bring? Rather: which of their own formats can generate audience and advertising revenue directly on these platforms?
Daily Mail is betting that these revenues will grow fast enough to turn social video from a side channel into a core part of its direct advertising business. The target for 2027 is ambitious – but it shows how far the publisher model has already moved away from classic website traffic.