Sarah Khan, Rudransh Mukherjee, Joyojeet Pal
Abstract
With the increasing importance of highly followed accounts of influencers on social media platforms like YouTube, politicians have started considering these as an alternative to mainstream media interviews. We examined this trend and shortlisted five YouTube accounts that have featured high-profile politicians in the run up to the 2024 elections. We find that the political-influencer engagement works to the benefit of both parties involved, that the choice of influencer is driven by a politician’s agenda, and finally that unlike in engagements with mainstream media journalists, where a soft interview can undermine the credibility of a journalist, with influencers this can be done while upholding the respective brand images of both parties. We propose that this is an important trend that is likely to continue as more politicians find influencers as a gateway into untapped audiences to promote themselves without the inconvenience of journalistic mediatization, in turn enabling new spaces for formal political promotion.
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