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“Piers Morgan Uncensored has driven strong online audiences across [our] digital platforms ... and has consistently ranked within our top five programs for online viewership”, a Sky News Australia spokesperson told this masthead.
“New digital-only content from Piers Morgan will be available on the Piers Morgan Uncensored YouTube channel.”
Morgan is a high-profile media figure globally, making his name at News Corp’s tabloid The Sun before being appointed editor of the now-defunct News of the World at just 29 years old.
He later moved to the Daily Mirror, and led the paper during a period when it was caught up the phone hacking scandal, which later led to the Leveson inquiry. Morgan now writes columns for The Sun and The New York Post.
The move is a further shake up of Sky News’ weekly line up, with After Dark hosts Sharri Markson and Chris Kenny exchanging time slots earlier this year in a bid to attract more viewers in the primetime 8pm window.
International hosts including Morgan, Megyn Kelly, Nigel Farage and Douglas Murray have proved successful for Sky News digitally and a major contributor to the channel’s growing and influential online audience.
Chris Kenny and Sharri Markson have swapped places in Sky’s After Dark line up.
In similar fashion to Morgan’s aired concerns, Sky News’ digital audience far out-rates its traditional broadcast audience.
Outsized audiences on its YouTube and Facebook channels have led to a push away from broadcast content, instead focusing on lucrative digital audiences, particularly with an emphasis on American content, leading to fractures in its newsroom.
This masthead recently revealed that 38 per cent of the Australian channel’s digital audience is based in the United States, with audiences engaging with content on US President Joe Biden, culture wars issues and the royal family, a particular focus point for Morgan.
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Morgan told online news provider Semafor that he co-owns the Piers Morgan Uncensored brand with News Corp.
Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson launched his own digital show exclusively on social media platform X in 2023 after being sacked by the Murdoch network.
The controversial media figure published an interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday morning, the first with a Western journalist since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.