• by J. Max Robins , Featured Columnist, December 9, 2015

Has “The Young Turks” YouTube newscast really hit its 10^th anniversary? It has, but some things haven’t changed.

For instance, when founder Cenk Uygur hires anchors for his burgeoning video news empire, he still must “deprogram” them. “They come to us hooked on the teleprompter -- and that has to go,” says the political commentator/activist. Reading from a projected script in that Bob Squarehead anchor way is, after all, utterly antithetical to the Young Turks’ ethos.

“TYT” was founded in 2005 by Uygur as a commentary-based newscast when YouTube was a then-fledgling, dancing-cats-heavy Internet platform. The newscast’s success, says Uygur, is based on “authenticity,” not some manufactured he said/she said cookie-cutter reporting of the news. With an über-progressive, conversational approach to public affairs both domestic and international, it has redefined the daily news show, as it exists -- and thrives -- on its demo’s preferred platform.

Still unapologetically “activist,” “TYT”  has grown from a daily flagship YouTube newscast co-anchored by Uygur and his longtime cohort Ana Kasparian (since 2007), to a 60-person operation churning out shows focused on everything from sports to pop culture, occupying 18 YouTube channels. More distribution comes via Roku, Hulu and a popular app. Across all platforms, on average, “TYT” is delivering well north of 60 million views per month and growing.

The show is a key player in the evolving New News Order that’s attracting a young influential audience, as well as gold-label advertisers ranging from American Express to Squarespace. Native advertising is part of the mix, but when “TYT” ventures into those waters, it must be for clients that are on-message, as Uygur told me recently in a sit-down. “We’re not going to be doing native advertising for Ted Cruz anytime soon,” he says. Companies such as healthful snack food company NatureBox are, however, just fine.

It may be significantly smaller than other upstarts in the New News Order space that attract younger demos -- Vice and Buzzfeed leap to mind -- but the stats “TYT” racks up are still mighty impressive. More than three-quarters of its audience is 35 and under. Compare that to the Early Bird Special demos of CNN or Fox, where the vast majority of viewers are well north of 60. Uygur gleefully notes that the average viewer for Fox News’ most-highly rated show, “The O’Relly Factor,” is 72 years old -- or “72 years young!” as some Boomers might declare.

“We don’t see Vice or anybody else that’s attracting a young audience for news as competition. We all help each other by saying there’s a young audience that wants to be informed in a way that traditional news organizations are unable to do,” says Uygur. “What we had going for us was that we were true believers in what we were doing. We built an audience where there’s a true connection, because from the beginning, we were transparent about who we are and what we believe.” You could almost lift that quote from the visionary punk rockers of the ‘70s.

“TYT” actually began its first iteration on Sirius in 2002, helmed by Uygur, a confessed news and politics junkie with a law degree, who fled after six months  at a big law firm to pursue a media career. But when it came time for contract renewal talks, he and his fellow travelers decided to go rogue and build a news organization via YouTube.

Uygur is of Turkish ancestry, and at 45 is, well, middle-aged. He laughs when I mention this. But unlike many in the traditional news space, he’s happy to admit that, if warranted, there are a host of hosts on various “TYT” shows more than able to take his place. Still, “TYT” is “a state of mind,” he adds.

One decade in, the state of the state is sound, and, given the astounding perplexity of the news cycle, it’s more necessary than ever.