For decades, the newsroom was the ultimate destination for an ambitious journalist. Big studios, prime-time debates, OB vans, editorial meetings that decided the national conversation. But over the past few years, a quiet yet powerful shift has been underway.
Journalists who once defined mainstream television — Ravish Kumar, Faye Dsouza, Barkha Dutt, Sanket Upadhyay, Subhankar Mishra, Akash Banerjee and many more have stepped away from large media houses to build their own news ventures.
Akash Banerjee, the face behind The Deshbhakt, knows this journey intimately. Before YouTube and memberships, Banerjee spent nearly a decade in mainstream television, working with Times Now during its launch years and later with TV Today, then known as Headlines Today. On paper, he was thriving. Prime-time slots, field reporting, nationwide travel. Yet by 2012, something felt off.
“Something was dying inside the media even back then,” Banerjee recalls. “The impact television had in the 90s and early 2000s was gone. Respectability was down. Creativity was fading. It had become mechanical.”
India, however, was not ready for a late-night political satire show on television. “It would be shut down in two days,” he says. So, Banerjee turned to the internet. His early experiments began with ‘Why So Serious’ on Newslaundry, eventually giving him the confidence to launch The Deshbhakt in 2018. He quit Radio Mirchi and stepped fully into the digital unknown.
Veteran Journalist turned YouTuber Sanket Upadhyay’s transition into digital journalism reflects a parallel realisation. After nearly two decades in television news, Upadhyay noticed something telling. Television channels had begun measuring their success using digital metrics. YouTube views and online engagement were now benchmarks alongside traditional ratings.
“Digital reduced everything to one hyperlink,” Upadhyay explains. “Whether you are a big news empire or an individual journalist, you are one click away from the audience.”
That realisation was liberating. If distribution no longer required massive infrastructure, journalists no longer needed large organisations to reach people. Upadhyay left NDTV in 2023 and went on to co-found digital platforms, first The Red Mike and later Double Check, a venture focused on restoring credibility through rigorous fact-checking.
This transition is not driven by a single moment of disillusionment. Instead, it is shaped by changing audiences, shrinking trust in television news, the rise of digital platforms, and a growing desire among journalists to reclaim credibility, creativity, and control.
From a broader ecosystem perspective, digital media advisor Sanjay Trehan believes independent YouTube news channels are not just a trend but a structural shift. “The creator economy has unleashed the potential of individual journalists,” he says.
Advertisers, Trehan adds, follow audiences. With YouTube numbers soaring, indie creators are already attracting significant ad traction. Yet mainstream media and large-scale events will continue to coexist. “There are markets for both,” he says.
On the other hand, trust is also what brands are watching closely as they evaluate independent news platforms. Ankit Agrawal, Director and Partner, Mysore Deep Perfumery House, the parent company of the flagship incense brand Zed Black, believes independent ventures are carving out a distinct niche. “They may not offer massive scale yet,” he says, “but credibility-driven storytelling makes them relevant for certain brand narratives.”
However, traditional platforms still dominate large advertising spends. “Television and newspapers offer reach and consistency,” Agrawal notes. He added, “If an independent platform demonstrates trust, thoughtful content, and the ability to meaningfully engage consumers, it becomes a viable consideration for collaboration.”
For brands, the checklist is evolving. Audience relevance, engagement, brand safety, transparency, and credibility now outweigh raw traffic numbers. In a fragmented media environment, trust is becoming the differentiator.
Rajat Agrawal, COO of Ultra Media and Entertainment, echoes this sentiment. Independent platforms appeal because they speak to engaged audiences rather than everyone at once. “When audiences trust the platform, brand messaging works better,” he says. While Ultra Media has not made direct investments yet, advertising partnerships and future collaborations remain on the table if platforms demonstrate sustainable growth and editorial clarity.
But independence comes at a cost. Scaling up teams, investing in better research, or increasing frequency often remains out of reach. Despite averaging nearly a million views per episode, advertisers remain cautious. Many express admirations privately, but hesitate publicly. “Advertiser interest exists,” Banerjee admits. “But advertiser fear is greater.”
Today, The Deshbhakt blends explanation, commentary, and civic education. What began as satire has since evolved. “Before laughing at satire, people need to understand what is happening,” Banerjee explains. Viewer feedback revealed a deeper hunger. People were not just missing humour, they were missing basic, verified news “And most people were not getting news; they were getting WhatsApp forwards masquerading as facts.”
Banerjee is clear about his financial model. No institutional funding. No political or industrial patronage. Revenue comes from YouTube ads, memberships, and limited sponsorships. “My idea of success is simple,” he says. “We have not had to beg. We have not had to compromise.” He adds, “I would rather do less content than compromised content,” a philosophy that defines the survival-first mindset of independent journalism today.
In a time when TV news is increasingly questioned for bias, Upadhyay believes credibility can be built and monetised. He said, “Platforms like YouTube actually reward meaningful viewership, not just scale. A smaller but more engaged and informed audience can sometimes generate better monetisation than higher view counts. Beyond YouTube, we remain open to traditional advertising and sponsorships. For me, credibility comes first, and monetisation follows from trust.”
For him, the biggest challenge of the digital age is not opinion, but misinformation. “Opinion became absolute and facts became flexible in television,” he says. “The same risk exists in digital media.” With low entry barriers, journalism often blurs into content creation.
What ties these voices together is not a shared ideology, but a shared reckoning. Journalism is no longer defined by the size of a newsroom or the reach of a satellite. It is defined by credibility, connection, and consistency. Independent ventures may not promise wealth or rapid expansion, but they seem to offer something increasingly rare: editorial freedom.
