Ticker and Leadstory: The startups taking different paths to video news
Ahron Young from Ticker has moved away from ads, towards sponsored content
The grip that traditional media has on the delivery of news has been loosening for some time.
The number of people using alternative sources of news has been increasing as each year passes, especially among younger consumers. In 2026 it is being predicted it will gather further momentum.
“We are still at the early stages of another big shift in technology (Generative AI) which threatens to upend the news industry by offering more efficient ways of accessing and distilling information at scale,” noted the Reuters Institute in its trends report released in January.
Giving consumers new ways of accessing and distilling information is at the core of two young Australian independent digital news operations – Ticker and LeadStory.
Both offer different news content, and both are being led by reporters who have quit traditional media.
From ad-based to sponsorship
The Ticker homepage
Melbourne-based global player Ticker is slightly the older of the two ambitious news plays. Founded by former Sky News Australia reporter and bureau chief Ahron Young, Ticker is described as “both a news channel and a content studio.”
He explained the move away from an earlier business model.
“The company shifted away from relying on advertising revenue, especially from FAST [Free, Ad-Supported TV] platforms, which produced very little income.”
Ticker now produces hourly news updates, editorial interviews and programs plus commercial shows for partners.
Young said the business now focuses heavily on commercial programs and insight interviews.
“Guests appear as thought leaders discussing industry topics, rather than promoting their companies directly.
“After the interview, guests receive a watermarked preview clip. They can purchase that clip for their own marketing and social media use.
“Ticker produces around 20 interviews per day using this model.”
Young continues to maximise audience reach and that audience is serviced by a mix of Ticker content delivered by linear TV, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
“Interviews are typically 10 minutes long, optimized for Youtube viewing.
The channel structure avoids traditional TV intros/outros so clips can be reused anywhere.”
While hosting and running the business by day, Young spends weekends working on tech innovation.
Ticker has been successfully increasing the use of automation and AI.
“Once an interview is recorded a full HD clip is sent to the guest within minutes,” he said.
“That video is automatically uploaded to Youtube and the website. Then AI creates 13 short clips for social media distribution. Editors only review and polish the clips before publishing.”
Ticker distributes its live linear feeds through its own Ticker app and website.
Ticker is also available on global platforms like Xumo (NBC’s US streaming platform) with 350+ channels and 15,000 titles on demand.
Independent data verifying specific audience data from emerging media platforms including streaming and FAST channel platforms is unavailable.
Young quotes social media views when asked about audience size. He shared his Instagram professional dashboard which indicated 8m views in the last 30 days.
For linear viewing, Ticker reports a combined platform audience of 4.3m monthly views over a six-month period.
“That is separate to the views we get on social media for example,” said Young.
He shared his most recent Youtube channel analytics report that showed 1.6m views in a month.
A different approach: Leadstory’s aggregation play
Cameron Price and Cheyne Wallace
Leadstory was launched by former 7News and Sky News Australia reporter Cameron Price and his co-founder, software engineer Cheyne Wallace, in 2021.
While Ticker might have changed its content focus to be more local than global, Price remains focused on Leadstory’s global play.
Price told Mumbrella: “Leadstory is a video news platform that aggregates licensed broadcast content and distributes it in personalised and localised formats.”
Drilling down into its key operating model he further explained: “We aggregate licensed news video from media partners and deliver it via smart TVs, apps, and other screens.
“This allows users to customise topics they want to see. We currently translate content into 50+ languages for global distribution.
“The goal is to modernise how people watch news, similar to how Netflix changed TV and Spotify changed music.
“Leadstory users can choose preferred news categories, filter out topics they don’t want, and consume short, snackable news updates.”
Price said the audience was news enthusiasts and time-poor viewers who want updates quickly in 15 to 20 minutes instead of sitting through a full news bulletin.
He dangled the carrot that Leadstory would soon be increasing the number of publishers it works with. At present that list includes Network 10 news content for Australia, plus international news brands CBS News, CBC, Reuters, CNBC, Al Jazeera, Fox US TV stations, Euro News and many more.
Quoting platform data from various partners (including Amagi and Cascada Analytics) for January 2026, Price said Leadstory has a combined platform monthly audience of around 15m viewers globally.
Audited data is unavailable and Price said specific platform audience numbers require platform clearance before they can be shared.
He claimed the linear feeds see Leadstory ranked in the top five most-watched FAST channels in multiple markets (to see the FAST channel, visit SamsungPlus channel 1024).
Show us the money
Leadstory generates revenue through several streams – display advertising, traditional ad breaks, licensing, and platform deals with device manufacturers and automakers.
Other revenue contributors are branded content and data and polling services.
Brands that have worked with Leadstory include Tourism Fiji, Tourism Northern Territory, NSW Rugby League, Origin Energy, Sydney Water and the American Australian Association.
