Los Trusted Media en YouTube: volumen y visibilidad de los medios públicos en los resultados de búsqueda

Adrián Padilla; Òscar Coromina; Emili Prado

doi:10.4185/rlcs-2025-2336

Authors

Adrián Padilla Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7668-1322
Òscar Coromina Autonomous University of Barcelona https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6306-4154
Emili Prado Autonomous University of Barcelona https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4871-2472

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-2025-2336

Keywords:

YouTube, Public media, Legacy Media, Misinformation, YouTube API, Trusted Media, Digital Methods

Abstract

Introduction: This research aims to describe the treatment of news content coming from public media in YouTube search results. Methodology: To this end, by using the platform's API, search results were extracted for a set of 4 keywords over 60 days. Results: The analysis indicates that public media are a minority (3,70%) among the channels appearing in the search results, and they do not achieve better positions in the search results ranking. However, the algorithm proportionally selects more content from public media than from other sources, causing an overrepresentation of this type of media. Content published by public media also reappears more frequently in search results and lasts longer. Private media also receive slight benefits, at the expense of native channels and other sources, which are underrepresented in the search. Conclusions: The results suggest that YouTube selectively favors media outlets in search results, especially public ones, selecting more content from them, which indicates a curation and moderation process of content in the search aimed at limiting the appearance of misinformation. With this, YouTube would be trying to redirect audience attention to safe sources in contexts where misinformation exists, implying the invisibilization of other sources and not applying direct censorship to potentially harmful content.

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Author Biographies

Adrián Padilla, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Adriań Padilla holds a PhD. in Audiovisual Communication and Advertising from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His studies focus on the social and cultural impact of digital platforms and social networks. He specializes in the use of digital Methods and computational methods for the collection and analysis of data from the digital environment. He teaches digital analytics, audience analysis, big data and data visualization at UAB and EUNCET Business School (UPC).

Òscar Coromina, Autonomous University of Barcelona

El Dr. Òscar Coromina, profesor Serra Húnter en Comunicación Audiovisual y Publicidad, combina investigación y educación, guiando a futuros profesionales. Con roles internacionales, ha coordinado programas de maestría y presentado en conferencias sobre Marketing Digital. Su investigación aborda el impacto del marketing digital en la sociedad y las dinámicas de redes sociales, explorando tendencias emergentes en métodos de investigación. Su último trabajo sobre Marketing Digital como Métodos Digitales se publicó en Big Data and society, con otras contribuciones sobre plataformaización de culturas creativas en Convergence, First Monday y Social Media & Society

Emili Prado, Autonomous University of Barcelona

Catedrático emérito de Comunicación Audiovisual y Publicidad de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona de cuya Facultat de Ciències de la Comunicació ha sido Decano y Director del Grup de Recerca en Imatge, So i Síntesi, y de Los observatorios de la televisión Euromonitor y Usamonitor y de las redes sociales OXSI. También ha sido Decano fundador de la Facultade de Ciencias da Comunicación de la Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Ha sido profesor e investigador invitado de las Universidades de Quebec en Montreal, de California Berkeley, de Nueva York, de Burdeos, de Pisa, de Sao Paulo y en diversas universidades españolas.

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