Sky News cements role as one of world’s most-watched channels
Sky News Australia has nearly doubled its online audience over the past two years, building an increasingly global fan base as it cements itself as one of the world’s most popular political news channels.
Sky News Australia has nearly doubled its online audience over the past two years, building an increasingly global fan base as it cements itself as one of the world’s most popular political news channels.
The broadcaster has now clocked up more than 7.2 billion total video views on Google’s YouTube platform since launching a channel on the site 6½ years ago, up from 3.8bn plays in October 2023.
The sustained growth has resulted in Sky News Australia breaking into the top 10, most-watched news channels on the platform globally, finishing in ninth spot this month, ahead of British public broadcasting behemoth the BBC, which tallied 6.5bn views to finish 10th, and its namesake channel, Sky News UK, in 16th place with 5.5bn views.
The news outlet’s online success has been driven in large part by the enduring popularity of one of its lighter-hearted segments, host Rita Panahi’s Lefties Losing It podcast, as well as Gabriella Power’s Power Hour show, which have both attracted significant followings in the US.
Panahi’s program peaked in 15th spot on YouTube’s Top 100 Podcast chart in the US in September when the presenter covered the memorial service for assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk from Arizona, surpassing big-name American rivals Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, while Power’s show finished in 38th place.
The UK’s Press Gazette first highlighted Sky News Australia as one to watch online in late 2023, ranking it as the world’s second-fastest-growing publisher on YouTube behind USA Today.
Sky News Australia chief Paul Whittaker said the channel, owned by News Corp Australia, the publisher of this masthead, remained committed to serving its ever-growing global audiences through its digital platforms after moving into new, state-of-the-art studios in the company’s Sydney headquarters this month.
“Sky News Australia has achieved unprecedented success on digital platforms in 2025, now reaching an average of five million unique Australians each month on YouTube,” Mr Whittaker said.
“Our new broadcast facilities at Holt Street, which started to come online from this week, are state of the art and will enable our network to build on this online success, serving not only our Australian viewers but also our growing overseas audience who have discovered our distinct offering of news, analysis and opinion content.”
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