With its TikTok push, C-SPAN is breaking out of its basic-cable confines

While political reporting often treats the subject as a horse race, C-SPAN’s coverage is comparatively dry. Promising “your unfiltered view of government,” as its longtime slogan goes, the 45-year-old network gives viewers a raw look at the process of governance without talking heads or pundits, and viewers can still call in to share their opinions live on air.

Peter Kiley, C-SPAN VP of affiliate relations and communications, says the network’s main product hasn’t changed, but he’s noticed that people of various political beliefs “value C-SPAN differently than they used to. As other media has bifurcated in the consumer’s mind, C-SPAN is seen as the place that’s most down the middle.”

Recently, C-SPAN has been adjusting its approach to make its reportage resonate with a new generation. The changes were prompted by a sharp increase in viewership following the much-watched 15-round vote for House speaker in January 2023. The network knew it suddenly had a chance to prove that it’s more than just background noise in hotels and waiting rooms and can hold its own in the era of streaming and social media.

On TikTok, its refreshingly straightforward coverage of a particularly dramatic election cycle helped C-SPAN double its follower count between January and October 2024 to more than 1.4 million followers. More than a third of those followers are under 35, and many of them “stitch” C-SPAN’s clips of congressional business and presidential press conferences, reposting them with their own commentary.

“There’s a sort of social currency with using [our] video clips,” Kiley says, in part because it “isn’t being handed to them by a pundit pontificating on TV.”

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