Social-first news start-up The News Movement has acquired short-form video outfit The Recount, nearly four years after the latter was founded.
Semafor reported The News Movement is making the purchase “for an undisclosed amount of equity and no cash”.
The News Movement, which focuses on explainer journalism targeted at young consumers on Tiktok and other social media platforms, officially launched in London in December on approximately $15m in funding.
The Recount was founded in 2019 on $31m. Its content largely comprises clips taken from established US broadcasters.
Semafor wrote that The Recount “burned through [its original $31m investment] in three years without figuring out how to make money. Advertisers do not flock to incendiary clips from Fox News or floor speeches by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, though the videos perform well on Twitter”.
The video clip outlet will remain a separate brand, but its editor-in-chief and six staff will join The News Movement. Asked about the strategy behind the purchase, TNM chief executive Will Lewis told Semafor: “This will make us sound like the least sexy media company in the world, but it’s data, it’s an agency, and it’s a news wrapper. We face the world as a news company and correctly so. That’s where our credibility comes from that defines us.”
The News Movement hopes to reach profit through a mix of social media agency work and data sale. Investors include Associated Press and National World, with the start-up helping to produce short-form video content for both.
[Read more: The News Movement launches in London with mission to ‘really understand’ Gen Z]
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