Mike Beaudet's two-part investigation at WCVB Boston tracked police officers who quit ahead of disciplinary hearings. On the station's 6 p.m. newscast, its highest-rated, roughly 165,000 people watched. Cut again as a native vertical video for TikTok, the same reporting drew about 444,000 views.
6시 뉴스 16만5000, 틱톡 44만4000 — 미국 지역방송의 ‘수직 전환’과 한국 지역뉴스의 선택
미국 지역방송은 틱톡(TikTok)을 ‘방송 후 홍보 채널‘에서 ‘취재 착수 단계의 편성 대상’으로 옮겼다. 권역(圈域)을 매출 기반이자 도달의 상한선으로 삼아온 한국 지역방송에는, 세로형 유통이 권역 밖 시청자를 처음으로 자산으로 만드는 국면 열어
Jung Han
Beaudet, who runs Northeastern University's Reinventing Local TV News project, does not read that as a story about TikTok's size. He reads it as evidence that local television no longer controls where its journalism first meets an audience. Stations that skip vertical video in the platform's own idiom, Beaudet told TheWrap in a July 31, 2026 report, give up a large share of their potential audience outright.