Piers Morgan to leave Rupert Murdoch’s News UK to focus on YouTube
The broadcaster, 59, is to buy the brand for his Uncensored show, and wants to focus on growing it in the US.
Piers Morgan is to leave Rupert Murdoch’s media giant News UK to focus on growing his show on YouTube.
The broadcaster, 59, who is a former editor of the Daily Mirror and the Murdoch-owned News Of The World, has struck a deal to give him ownership of his Uncensored media brand.
Morgan is buying the brand, which has 3.6 million YouTube subscribers, through his production company Wake Up Productions.
He is looking to grow the channel in the US and other countries around the world.
The deal will see News UK, which publishes The Sun and The Times, as well as being behind Times Radio and Talk TV, retain a share of the Uncensored show’s revenues until 2029.
Morgan said: “I have had a great time working back at News and am delighted that we will continue to be partners.
“Owning the brand allows my team and I the freedom to focus exclusively on building Uncensored into a standalone business, editorially and commercially, and in time, widening it from just me and my content.
“It’s clear from the recent US election that YouTube is an increasingly powerful and influential media platform, and Uncensored is one of the fastest-growing shows on it in the world.”
Morgan rejoined News UK in 2021, writing columns for The Sun and the New York Post.
Uncensored was broadcast on Talk TV and saw him interview people including Donald Trump, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin Spacey.
He had previously been a presenter on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, but he left in controversy after comments he made about Meghan Markle.
Scott Taunton, president of News UK subsidiary News Broadcasting, said the deal “gives Piers flexibility to grow his own business”.
“The changing media landscape means we have to be innovative about how we partner with superstar journalists and connect them to global audiences via our established brands.”
