Mongabay’s videos about unusual animals have proved popular, but the environmental newsroom is also working to draw viewers to complex reporting on subjects such as shrimp farm pollution and deforestation linked to cacao farming in Liberia. Its approach: take audiences behind the scenes and put reporters on camera.
Video managing editor Lucia Torres said Mongabay began experimenting with behind-the-scenes Instagram reels in late 2024, when the platform’s reels typically received 2,000 to 3,000 views. An early video about pollution from shrimp farms drew about 14,000 views, while later videos from California and Indonesia each attracted around 6,000.
Torres said the strongest results came from videos showing investigations or collaborations in progress, with reporters filming in the field or speaking from their desks. Mongabay has since started planning multimedia packages for major investigations from the outset, including behind-the-scenes footage in its production plans.
The newsroom publishes roughly 150 to 200 videos each year with four full-time producers and one part-time producer. Its output ranges from vertical clips for Instagram and YouTube Shorts to explainers, features, investigations and short documentaries. Mongabay has about 83,000 Instagram followers and 60,000 subscribers to its English-language YouTube channel; its Indonesia account has 109,000 followers.
Mongabay’s broader experience with audience response has also influenced how it presents environmental stories. Founder and CEO Rhett Butler said analysis of 3,422 articles published from June 2025 to August 2026 found that stories featuring hope or solutions received 41% more median traffic than pieces focused only on a crisis or threat. Stories about actions confronting a threat received 43% more.
Butler said 71% of the 100 most-read stories on Mongabay’s English-language site were classified as focusing on hope, solutions, agency or action confronting a threat. Twenty-one percent were classified as “doom only.” The newsroom has expanded projects on solutions, including Indigenous-led conservation, agroecology and conservation technology.
For video, Torres said Mongabay’s “Strange Creatures” series starts with the appeal of wildlife before introducing conservation or endangered-species themes. She described the newsroom’s wider approach as emphasizing solutions, action, communities or engaging subjects rather than leading with climate as a problem.
Mongabay does not currently expect video to become a significant source of revenue. Butler said most of the organization’s income comes from contributions and grants, while advertising, licensing and events remain insignificant. He also cautioned that building video around advertising can reward views even when the most-viewed stories are not necessarily those most likely to inform decisions or prompt action.
Sources: Nieman Lab.