GB News America is growing revenue following the appointment of its first dedicated US correspondent in April.
The overall GB News business is said to have seen US revenues grow by more than 500% over the past 12 months.
Steven Edginton became the first GB News correspondent based in North America after spending three years at The Telegraph where he was video comment editor.
He first became well-known aged 19 in 2019 for his role in a Mail on Sunday scoop that published leaked diplomatic memos written by the UK ambassador to the US about then-president Trump. He has also worked as video politics producer for The Sun, which poached him after just three weeks at political blog Guido Fawkes, and as a digital strategist for the Brexit Party.
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GB News, similar to these publications, is often described as right-leaning on politics. But Edginton told Press Gazette he viewed the broadcaster’s role as being “an outsider” and “a disruptor” more than having a particular political bent.
He said: “I wouldn’t say we’re pro- anyone… we’re trying to tell stories from different perspectives, from people whose voices have been, I think, ignored by mainstream organisations for far too long.
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“And that’s why Trump and other people are winning these elections, because the people who are voting for him feel that they haven’t had their perspectives told.
“And we’re not going to look down on those people. We’re not going to sneer at them.”
He said that the GB News America is a profitable part of the business already, albeit with a relatively low cost base.
Edginton said people in America’s Rust Belt and between the coasts – essentially those outside New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles – “rightly view the media with complete suspicion because media for decades has been telling them that they’re bigoted or that they’re racist or that they’re evil or something, and I think our goal is to give those people a voice to represent them and I think that’s where we’re distinguishing ourselves from our competitors.”
He added that this is “the exact same in the UK: we want to repeat that model in the US”.
GB News America aiming to reach US audiences with ‘British perspective’
Edginton said the primary aim for GB News America is to reach US audiences and “give them that British perspective on US politics – but also to tell stories that maybe some US media organisations aren’t telling”.
But he also appears on the core TV channel in the UK to explain and react to major US news like Joe Biden stepping down from the presidential race.
About 10% of traffic to the GB News website currently comes from the US, versus 77% from the UK. The next biggest were Australia, Ireland and Canada all on 2%.
GB News has said its internal figures saw it break the 100 million monthly page view mark in July, with 103.14 million page views generated by 21 million visitors. Similarweb puts it on 41.65 million total visits (which can include multiple page views) in July.
Edginton’s work primarily goes out online, with a dedicated America section on the GB News website and playlist within its Youtube channel, but a big interview might also run and be discussed on the linear TV channel.
Alongside Edginton in Washington DC, he said, GB News has a dedicated team in London working on GB News America content as well as the use of a US consultancy firm to help arrange interviews and “enable us to interview and to work with some of the biggest kind of names in the US politics”.
He said highlights of his time so far include a film, available for paying GB News members only, about how Muslim immigration has transformed a city in Michigan.
[Read more: GB News marks milestone of 10,000 paying members]
Referring to the relatively recent arrival and expansion of several legacy British outlets into the US, Edginton said: “What some UK organisations are doing is just sort of churning out content that’s not their own for a US audience, trying to play the digital game a bit, whereas I think what GB News is doing is enabling me to create interesting, original content, like this immigration film…”
He also said that GB News has a “different perspective from Sky and BBC and other broadcasters on America and I think we have better access, particularly on the Republican side of things, and I think we have a different perspective and we can tell stories that the other broadcasters aren’t telling”.
He also pointed to interviews with Donald Trump’s former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and Kimberly Guilfoyle, fiancée of Donald Trump Jr, noting that GB News presenter Nigel Farage helps with accessing senior Republicans.
Edginton has also interviewed British politicians when they visit the US, including ex-home secretary Suella Braverman and former prime minister Liz Truss.
He said: “It’s kind of interesting to get British figures out when they’re in America because maybe their guard’s down a little bit or they’re trying to reach an American audience so the political context is slightly different… they tend to become a bit more radical, or… they’re trying to play for a slightly different audience.”
GB News ‘very ambitious’ about US market
Edginton suggested he can also “get a bit more of a leeway with people” in interviews, whether a high-profile figure or not, because “if you’re an American and you’re speaking to an American journalist, you’ve probably got a view on the media organisation that they work for and you’re probably very sceptical of the media in general.
“I think there’s very low trust in the media here. So speaking to an international broadcaster, a British broadcaster, you might be a bit more willing to maybe speak your mind or be a bit more open minded to speak to us.”
Outside of Edginton’s political focus, he said royal coverage led by GB News presenter Nana Akua is “consistently doing incredible numbers in the States”.
Four months in, Edginton told Press Gazette: “GBNA is a profitable part of the business. I think they’re very happy with how we’re doing.
“We’re reaching the US market, which is always what the aim was, and we’ve seen growth – significant growth.”
GB News overall had operating losses of £42.4m with revenue of £6.7m in the year to May 2023, the latest figures available.
Edginton described GB News as “very ambitious in terms of wanting to expand in the US market”.
For the next few months, the US presidential election provides an “incredibly exciting opportunity for GB News America”, Edginton said.
“I think there’s going to be an interesting opportunity for GB News to, again, give that British perspective to the Americans on what do Brits think about what’s going on? What do Brits think about potentially new President Harris, or Trump coming back?
“But also, again, trying to tell those stories that aren’t getting enough coverage in America for American audiences. So for example, controversial topics around immigration, I’m sure that we’d want to focus on that kind of thing. I think the election is a great chance to tell those stories and to reach a big US audience.”
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