Case study

Cüneyt Özdemir on YouTube

Watch the channel on YouTube

Cüneyt Özdemir is one of Türkiye’s best known TV journalists, with 30 years of experience on CNN and 7M followers on Twitter.

Özdemir started his career on “32nd Day”, the international affairs programme produced and presented by the Turkish journalist Mehmet Ali Birand. In 1996 he became an international war correspondent, reporting from the Lebanese-Israeli border, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other political crisis sites, and covered numerous special stories from war zones.

He opened his YouTube channel in 2010.

Cüneyt Özdemir’s YouTube channel shows that Millennials and Centennials are not apolitical or disengaged: they just need a different narrative.

Cüneyt Özdemir

Growing original content made for YouTube

With the rise of social media, Cüneyt and his team first repurposed TV content for Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and YouTube was just one more distribution channel. When the room for free speech narrowed in Türkiye, they started publishing original content made for YouTube. It quickly became more popular than the repurposed TV content, and that was the signal to make more of it.

Using the audience he already had

Cüneyt used his existing social media following, above all his 7M followers on Twitter, to push the first growth of the YouTube channel. Today he uses TikTok, Clubhouse and other platforms to promote his content and build the “Cüneyt Özdemir” brand.

YouTube Cüneyt is completely different from CNN Cüneyt, and that worked very well with the audience he wanted to reach.

201820192020
Watch time grew quickly over three years.

Growth in 2020

  • +146%watch time Year on year.
  • +752%live watch time Year on year.
  • +43%views Year on year.
  • 1.2Msubscribers On the channel in total.
  • +93%videos published Year on year.
  • +72%average view duration Year on year.
  • +115%channel revenue Year on year.

“Telling stories through your own independent medium means freedom. We own the channel and we are our own bosses. The first and the last word belongs to me and my team.”

Cüneyt Özdemir

Only original formats made for YouTube

  • Daily political commentary

    Format
    Live
    Length
    60 min
    Frequency
    6 times a week

  • Breaking news analysis

    Format
    Live
    Length
    60 min
    Frequency
    As news breaks

  • Short documentaries

    Format
    On demand
    Length
    40 to 60 min
    Frequency
    Once a month

  • Interviews

    Format
    On demand
    Length
    Varies
    Frequency
    Once a month

Made for a young, international and interactive audience

  • More than 60% of the channel’s viewers were between 18 and 34. The formats and the way the stories are told are adapted to that audience.
  • Average view duration rose 72% year on year, and the channel passed 1M subscribers.
  • Comments are read closely, and Cüneyt replies and engages during live streams.
  • The Community tab carries announcements, reminders, polls and promotion across platforms.
  • Most viewers are in Türkiye, and the channel is also watched in several other countries.
  • He covers a very wide range of topics, and many international guests joined his live streams, giving the Turkish diaspora a voice on YouTube.

What other journalists can take from it

Involve real experts where you can
Invite experts to interview and to speak, especially in live streams.
Bring an objective view to the most polarised topics
Do not be afraid of trolls or negative comments; spend the time on what is constructive in social media instead.
Understand how the platform works
Spend time on how social media behaves and watch YouTube content to learn its formats and tone.
Be creative, brave and disruptive
Always try to do more: new features, new formats, new talent.

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