Piers Morgan is exiting Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp media empire after three years to take ownership of his Uncensored YouTube channel.
Deadline first revealed last September that Morgan was unlikely to renew his News Corp deal. Now the former CNN presenter and News Corp have confirmed his departure.
Morgan has agreed to take control of Uncensored through his Wake Up Productions production outfit in exchange for a four-year revenue-sharing deal with News Corp.
“I have had a great time working back at News and am delighted that we will continue to be partners,” Morgan told Sky News. “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.”
Morgan has 3.6M YouTube subscribers and has engaged Red Seat Ventures, a sales agency that has worked with the likes of Tucker Carlson, to grow the channel’s ad revenue.
Morgan inked a three-year contract with News Corp in 2021, joining primarily as the face of TalkTV, Murdoch’s bid to launch a conservative-leaning news network in the UK.
TalkTV was unsuccessful and Morgan announced he would move his show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, solely to YouTube before the network went dark on UK television over the summer.
Scott Taunton, EVP and President of News Broadcasting, said: “This is a new business model which gives Piers flexibility to grow his own business by leveraging his position as a true global opinion former.”
