Soft news in original videos. Adaptation to TikTok of the main Spanish online media

Since the beginning of 2020


Introduction
The coexistence of legacy media with the new media that have emerged as a result of the popularization and generalization of internet access in Western countries has consolidated a hybrid media system in the last decade (Chadwick, 2013) where supply has multiplied, fragmenting audiences and boosting transmedia consumption (Jenkins, 2006).The horizontal communication model generated by the new media -including both digital journalistic media and social networks-has not only enabled the transition to a stage of mass self-communication (Castells, 2009) in which digitally literate citizens can become producers of information (Jenkins, 2006) but has also forced legacy media to seek new, generally younger, audiences so as to continue playing a relevant role in the public sphere (Ibarra-Herrera, 2020).In fact, the involvement of new audiences can contribute to expanding the media message if the media take advantage of the possibilities offered by transmedia consumption (Scolari, 2013).
However, no specific media ecosystems have been analyzed -including the Spanish one-despite the fact that 15% of the global population between 18 and 24 years old -those most present on the application-use this platform to get information.In Spain, only 10% do so (Newman et al., 2022), which shows either a different consumption pattern by the audience or a lower degree of adaptation by the media.
Considering the expansion of TikTok around the world, as well as its lower use in Spain for news consumption, the progressive incorporation of media and journalists to this network, and their need to adapt to its logic, the aim of this paper is to analyze the Spanish media's degree of adaptation to this platform.For this purpose, a mixed methodology of quantitative and content analysis was applied to the 446 videos posted by the official accounts of 20 Minutos, Antena 3 Noticias, El Diario, El Mundo, and El País -the five media outlets with the most prominent online audience in that period-since the creation of the account and until January 31, 2022.Specifically, we looked into: -the activity carried out; -the notoriety achieved, and the interaction obtained; -formats; -topics; -protagonists; and -the most common brand identity elements.
The paper is structured as follows.Section 2 reviews the results of previous academic contributions related to the object of study, articulated around the five dimensions of analysis, and formulates the research questions.Section 3 explains the materials used and the methods employed.Section 4 details the results.Finally, section 5 relates them to previous research, and section 6 offers the conclusions and limitations.

Literature review
Media from all over the world have been trying to position themselves on TikTok since the beginning of 2020 through constant and continuous updates to gain notoriety.According to data compiled by Vázquez-Herrero, Negreira-Rey, and López-García (2022), in February of that year, 234 media and television programs were present on the platform, mainly from Europe, Asia, and North America.Although the most prominent media update their accounts more regularly (Klug, 2020; Sidorenko-Bautista; Herranz-de-la-Casa; Cantero-de-Julián, 2021; Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022) than other actors, such as political parties (Gamir-Ríos; Sánchez-Castillo, 2022), the potential impact of their publications finds a key limitation in the logic of TikTok (Peña-Fernández; Larrondo-Ureta; Morales-i-Gras, 2022).
The platform's recommendation algorithm prioritizes engagement (Bhandari;Bimo, 2022).It does so, according to the patent review of the parallel application Douyin prepared by Zhao (2021), through a distribution strategy that takes into account both the content, genre, subject matter, and popularity of the videos, as well as the interests of users deduced from their past behaviors and predicting their identities -sex, age, location, occupation.This strategy is also continuously learning: the application divides communities of users with similar characteristics into groups of different sizes and starts distributing videos by the smallest group, allowing only the most successful to move up to the next group in size, and so on.The recommendations are reflected in the "For you" feed (García-Rivero; Martínez-Estrella; Bonales-Daimiel, 2022), which is both the access screen to the application and the only consumption space for most users (Vijay;Gekker, 2021).This means, in practice, the decentralization of the content displayed (Zhao, 2021), which is offered not based on interpersonal connection networks but based on a recommendation algorithm (Cervi;Tejedor;Lladó, 2021).All this encourages the creation of mimetic content (Zulli;Zulli, 2022) and causes the most popular videos to accumulate the most views and "likes" (Chen et al., 2019).
As well as other applications for creating and sharing short videos, such as Byte, Snapchat, and the Instagram stories functionality, or the now defunct Vine, Lasso, and Musical.ly(Anderson, 2020 ).On the one hand, some of the most relevant native editing resources are the insertion of text, transitions, stickers, emojis, and visual filters, as well as speeding up or slowing down.On the other hand, the application allows various sound resources, such as the addition of music, voice-overs, and sound effects.The main international media on the platform use some of these tools (Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022).
The application allows uploading and editing pre-existing videos, but it also has three native publishing formats: duets, reactions, and original videos captured through the tool itself.Most of the videos published by the international media who were the pioneers in using the app have been created especially for the platform (Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022), while the remaining minority adapt those published on other networks or already broadcast by the media themselves.
The original native videos usually present specific narrative codes generated by the user community itself.Musical challenges and dances were initially the most consumed and replicated formats (Wang et al., 2022).However, the evolution of the tool has led to the diversification of its content (Schellewald, 2021), so these videos now share prominence with many others (Vizcaíno-Verdú; Abidin, 2022), which is in line with the diversity of users' motivations and interests.
Regarding motivations, a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with 28 Douyin users in China (Lu;Lu, 2019) noted that the main expectations for using the tool are relaxation, socialization, entertainment, feeling fashionably, fear of being discriminated against if not present, the illusion of participation in virtual relationships with content generators, and learning about practical issues of daily life.In turn, a survey of 192 users in the same country indicated that the main rewards they expected to obtain were, in order, entertainment, knowledge, positive energy, intelligent recommendation, music, social networks, and commercials (Lu;Lu;Liu, 2020).Similarly, from the perspective of uses and gratifications, Wang, Gu, and Wang (2019) considered that TikTok satisfies five major needs: cognitive, pleasure, personal integration, social, and stress relief.In fact, a survey of 306 adolescents aged 11 to 16 in Denmark (Bucknell-Bossen; Kottasz, 2020) found that the main driver of preponderant passive consumption is entertainment gratification.
In terms of interests, the videos that users find most attractive are those that convey positive emotions, prosocial behaviors, and knowledge (Lu;Lu, 2019).In line with this, users prefer videos that convey "positive energy" and advocate pro-social behavior, followed by music videos and, in that order, knowledge-sharing, cooking, life advice, tourism, dance, and beauty videos, while news videos only attract 1.9% of users' interest (Lu;Lu;Liu, 2020).
The aforementioned motivations and interests are reflected in the topics of user-generated videos.For example, a content analysis of 1,000 posts published in Germany (Shutsko, 2020) showed the following frequencies: comedy and jokes, 32.4%; musical performances, 13.7%; tutorials, 8.9%; dancing, 8.8%; animals, 8%; personal relationships, 7.5%; and beauty, 7.1%.Another study of 447 pieces posted by 12 users between 11 and 17 years old from Spain and the United Kingdom (Suárez-Álvarez; García-Jiménez, 2021) concluded that the most frequent videos created by them were video selfies, choreographies, music videos, and humorous content.
These types of videos make up an entertainment offering (Anderson, 2020) aimed at the younger population (Ballesteros-Herencia, 2020), which constitutes the platform's main audience and whose thematic preferences are concentrated on soft news (Newman et al., 2022, p. 44), which obviously is in contrast to the traditional agenda of the news media.Despite this, although in accordance with their nature and function, most of the media-generated content on TikTok has an eminently informative purpose (Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022).However, previous research differs Since the beginning of 2020, media around the world have started and intensified their TikTok activity to gain notoriety and reach young people in its majority distribution between topics usually considered hard news (Sidorenko-Bautista; Alonso-López; Giacomelli, 2021) or soft news (Peña-Fernández; Larrondo-Ureta; Morales-i-Gras, 2022).In fact, the media with the highest engagement are specialized on sports and, to a lesser extent, music, youth entertainment, political news, video games, and cooking recipes (Peña-Fernández; Larrondo-Ureta; Morales-i-Gras, 2022).
The main motivators for users' active participation on the platform are the desire to expand their social networks, the pursuit of fame, self-expression, and the search for identity (Bucknell-Bossen; Kottasz, 2020).Similarly, a study (Omar; Dequan, 2020) of 385 people, mostly from China, linked contributory consumption to self-expression.Thus, as evidenced by the types of videos most produced, TikTok is a social media eminently dedicated to protagonist self-representation (Suárez-Álvarez; García-Jiménez, 2021).This is no different for journalists, who join the platform precisely to reinforce their personal brand and reach new audiences (Negreira-Rey; Vázquez-Herrero; López-García, 2022).Several studies have shown the presence of journalists and media on this platform (Peña-Fernández; Larrondo-Ureta; Moralesi-Gras, 2022).However, the accounts of the latter are not personal, but corporate; moreover, although they sometimes include promotional videos, their aim is linked more to expanding their reach (Vázquez-Herrero, 2020), which in personal accounts is closely related to the actions of the protagonists of the videos (Lu;Lu, 2019;Lu;Lu;Liu, 2020).
The adaptation of their products and the development of new content for social networks are important points in the promotion of the digital brand of the media, which initiate new formats of ephemeral content (stories on Instagram or Snapchat) or audiovisual microformats (TikTok) "to disseminate their informative pieces and derive traffic to the web, to promote content, to seek interactivity and user participation, or to create thematic sections" (Silva-Rodríguez; Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey, 2022, p. 380).
As part of building and promoting their brand image in the virtual space, journalists and media companies want to increase their audience and give greater visibility to their products (Pérez-Serrano; García-Santamaría, 2021).They use information and self-representation to promote their brand and their products (Negreira-Rey; Vázquez-Herrero; López-García, 2022), although each one makes this adaptation according to their own characteristics and the logic of the selected platform.In this sense, Vázquez-Herrero, Negreira-Rey, and López-García (2022) detected various strategies in the media who are pioneers on TikTok: use of the logo (42.9%), presence of journalists (39.1%), presence of the editorial staff (13%), and mention of other own editorial products (8.7%), such as newspapers, websites or accounts on other social networks.
Based on the above review, this paper proposes the following research questions: RQ1: How often do the Spanish media with the largest online audiences update TikTok, and what results do they obtain in terms of views, "likes", comments, and shares?RQ2: What duration, editing resources, and formats do these media use, and what visualizations and interactions do they obtain as a result?RQ3: What topics do they focus on, and which ones get the most views and interactions?RQ4: Who are the protagonists of the videos published, and which protagonists obtain more views and interactions?RQ5: Do the Spanish media with the largest online audiences use brand identifiers on TikTok?If so, which are the most common?

Materials and methods
To answer these questions, we analyzed the 446 videos published on the official TikTok accounts of 20 Minutos (@20m), Antena 3 Noticias (@a3noticias), El Diario (@eldiario.es),El Mundo (@elmundo.es)and El País (@elpais) from the time the accounts were created until January 31, 2022.These are the five Spanish media that had the largest online audience in 2021 according to the Digital News Report for that year (Newman et al., 2021), the latest available at the conceptualization stage of this work.The selected accounts represent two types of media, newspapers, and television, far from the information consumption habits of the younger population (Herrero-Curiel; La-Rosa, 2022; Newman et al., 2022); that which uses TikTok the most (IAB Spain, 2022), and their editorial policies cover a broad ideological spectrum, from social democracy to liberal-conservatism.The links to the videos, the accompanying texts, and the figures associated with their impact were obtained via an automated process on February 3, 2022.
The TikTok's logic is different from that traditionally employed by the media system when developing information products.However, the videos that gain more notoriety are those that are more adapted to this logic For this purpose, it combines an exclusively quantitative analysis (RQ1) with the classic quantitative-qualitative methodology of content analysis (Krippendorff, 2004;Neuendorf, 2016) (RQ2, RQ3, RQ4 and RQ5).The methodological strategy is similar to that applied in previous studies on the use of the platform (Gamir-Ríos; Sánchez-Castillo, 2022; Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022).
As in previous research (Gamir-Ríos; Sánchez-Castillo, 2022; Peña-Fernández; Larrondo-Ureta; Morales-i-Gras, 2022; Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022), the quantitative analysis has compared several metric indicators to answer RQ1, referring to activity.On one hand, the update of the media accounts, considering the weekly frequency of publication.On the other, the notoriety of their videos, which observes the number of views achieved.Finally, the interaction generated by the publications, which considers the average number of "likes", shares, and comments obtained by the videos, as well as the corresponding rates relating these variables to the views.
To respond to RQ2, RQ3, RQ4, and RQ5, the content analysis applied a codebook developed from the previous literature review and articulated around the four remaining dimensions, disaggregated into the 13 variables shown in Table 1.The formal dimension (RQ2) studies the length (V1) of the videos; the presence in them of different sound resources, such as direct sound (V2), voice-over (V3), and other added sounds (4); the use of graphic elements, such as text overlays (V5) and stickers (V6); and the narrative code used (V7), which distinguishes between native formats, such as reactions, duets and original videos, and non-native formats, mainly composed of pre-existing fragments.Variables 2 to 6, which are dichotomous, partially replicate those employed by Vázquez-Herrero, Negreira-Rey, and López-García (2022) for the study of the editing of videos published on the platform.The categorization of Variable 7 extends that applied by Gamir-Ríos and Sánchez-Castillo (2022) for the description of narrative codes.The sub-categorization of the non-native narrative codes has been developed by the authors.
The thematic dimension (RQ3) analyzes the predominant theme in each piece (V8), with a first-level categorization that considers the classic distinction between hard news and soft news (Patterson, 2000;Reinemann et al., 2011), to which a third one, news compilation (Sidorenko-Bautista; Alonso-López; Giacomelli, 2021), has been added for cases in which the inclusion of several pieces of information expands the thematic spectrum to the point of making its concreteness impossible.The primary categories of hard news and soft news have been disaggregated to a second level according to the options contemplated in the 2016 Digital News Report (Newman et al., 2016).Despite the academic controversy regarding its thematic distinction (Reinemann et al., 2011), the use of this source and no other derives from the convenience of relating the contents to the informative interests of the young audience (Newman et al., 2016).
The protagonism dimension (RQ4), with a single variable of an equally categorical nature (V9), has been prepared by the authors after an initial approach to the corpus.
The dimension referring to brand identification (RQ5) uses dichotomous variables to study the presence of the media's journalists or recognizable personalities (V10), its logo (V11), allusions to specific news published by the media itself

Activity, notoriety, and interaction analysis
The quantitative analysis of the activity carried out by the five media (RQ1) shows very unequal results (Table 2) in terms of the age and frequency of updating the accounts, the notoriety of publications, and the interactions obtained.
Regarding the first aspect, at January 31, 2022, Antena 3 Noticias had been on the platform for 110 weeks, followed by El Mundo with 37 weeks, 20 Minutos with 23, El Diario with 18, and El País with 16.The media with the highest frequency of publication was El Mundo (6 videos per week), followed by El Diario (3), El País (2.8), 20 Minutos (1.7), and A3 Noticias (0.7).Finally, in terms of interactivity, El Mundo led all indexes in absolute terms, with 1,133,043 "likes", 56,550 shares, and 17,044 comments, in line with its higher frequency of updates and higher average number of views.It is followed by El País in all cases, with 233,605 "likes", 28,717 shares, and 5,349 comments, despite being the last of the media analyzed to create an account.However, El País was the one that registered the best interaction averages, with 5,191 "likes", 638 shares, and 119 comments per publication.It also obtained higher rates of "likes" and shares per view, 8.68% and 1.07%, respectively.El Diario, on the other hand, had the highest rate of comments per view (0.45%).

Format analysis
The study of the format of the videos (RQ2) reflects clear trends in terms of duration and in terms of the presence of sound and graphical editing resources, but not in terms of narrative strategies.Regarding the first aspect, as shown in Table 3, most of the videos published by the analyzed media were between 15 seconds and 1 minute long.Videos in this range almost monopolized the publications of El Mundo (94.2%) and El Diario (89.3%), and were widely predominant in those of El País (75.6%) and 20 Minutos (65.9%).A3 Noticias was the only media in which videos with a length of under 15 seconds predom-https://www.tiktok.com/@elpaisinated (50.6%), although those of up to 1 minute were very close (44.4%).Videos between 1 and 3 minutes in length only recorded significant frequencies in 20 Minutos (22%) and El País (20%), while the presence of photographic compositions was residual or non-existent.However, as shown in Table 4, the videos with the highest average number of views were those between 1 and 3 minutes long (109,591), followed by compositions (102,552), in both cases above the average.Both recorded a similar average number of interactions ("likes", comments, shares): 8,929 and 8,942, respectively.In relation to sound resources and graphical elements, the study offers results that coincide in terms of their presence but divergent in terms of their distribution.As shown in Table 5, the five media studied make intensive use of some of the native editing resources analyzed, which evidences the predominance of videos edited using the application.However, only text overlays are predominant in the videos of the five media, reaching a frequency of 88  * The coding of the sound resources and graphic elements was carried out in response to a multiple-choice question.The percentages of the presence of their categories were calculated over the total number of videos published by each media.
In addition, as shown in Table 6, videos that use voice-over, other added sounds, and text overlays obtain a higher average number of views and interactions than those that do not, whereas those that do not use direct sound or stickers record more views and interactions than those that do.As shown in Table 8, videos that use native formats have a higher average number of views than those that do not, with the opposite occurring in terms of interactions.By category, the videos that obtain the most plays and interactions on average are those composed of B-roll (100,486 and 9,187, respectively), followed by original videos (56,503 and 3,979).

Thematic analysis
The analysis of the predominant topics of the videos (RQ3) shows a clear trend toward the publication of soft news.As shown in As shown in Table 10, publications related to hard news recorded higher average views and interactions than those dealing with soft news.By category, the videos with the highest average number of views were those related to foreign affairs (116,751), sports (113,951), education or health (106,368), and environment or natural disasters (100,433).Those with the most interactions were sports (12,293), followed by education or health (10,424), foreign affairs (7,934), and environment (6,114).
The main Spanish media have tried to The main Spanish media have tried to adapt to the entertainment logic of adapt to the entertainment logic of TikTok TikTok both with the use of native ed-both with the use of native editing resources as well as through the iting resources as well as through the creation of original materials, predomi-creation of original materials, predominantly soft news, about entertainment, nantly soft news, about entertainment, celebrities, and lifestyle celebrities, and lifestyle e320222 Profesional de la información, 2023, v. 32, n. 2. e-ISSN: 1699-2407 11

Analysis of the protagonism
The observation of the protagonism of the videos (RQ4) reveals that a large majority of the updates published by the five media analyzed presents a clear protagonist, animated or inanimate.As shown in  In turn, as shown in Table 12, videos with a clear protagonist obtained higher average views and interactions.Among them, those starring celebrities (83,045 and 6,749, respectively) and journalists from the media itself (56,093 and 3,920) stand out.

Brand identification analysis
The analysis of brand identity (RQ5) indicates that the five accounts analyzed use elements that help to identify and promote the media that publishes the videos.As shown in Table 13, El Mundo is the one that uses them most frequently (96.9%), followed by A3 Noticias (79%), 20 Minutos (75.6%),El País (71.1%) and El Diario (69.6%).The presence of journalists, collaborators, or well-known personalities of the media itself in the piece, as well as the logo, are the two brand identification elements most used by El Mundo (81.6% and 86.1%, respectively), A3 Noticias (43.2% and 40.7%), and El Diario (26.8% and 51.8%).The most used elements by El País are a recognizable personal presence (60%) and mentions of its own news (17.8%), an aspect that is also present in El Diario (12.5%).20 Minutos uses personal presence predominantly (75.6%).A3 Noticias also makes intensive use of mentions of its editorial products (42%), which are also present, although less frequently, in El Diario (10.7%).* The coding of the elements of brand identity was carried out in response to a multiple-choice question.The percentages of the presence of their categories were calculated over the total number of videos published by each media.

Discussion
This work has investigated the adaptation to TikTok of the Spanish media with the largest online audience: 20 Minutos, A3 Noticias, El Diario, El Mundo, and El País.On one hand, we studied the activity developed, the notoriety achieved, and the interaction obtained from the date their accounts were created until January 31, 2022 (RQ1).On the other hand, we analyzed the formats (RQ2), topics (RQ3), protagonists (RQ4), and brand identity elements present (RQ5) in the videos published during this period.
In terms of activity (RQ1), the frequency of publication varies greatly, ranging from 0.7 videos per week for A3 Noticias to 6 for El Mundo, with no clear update pattern based on duration, presence on the platform or the digital native nature of the media.These frequencies are below those detected in the main international media.Of the 19 international media that were verified in February 2020, included in the work of Vázquez-Herrero, Negreira-Rey and López-García (2022), 12 published around two videos per week; the other seven, more than four.Another paper on the activity of 13 major international media during the first four months of 2020 (Sidorenko-Bautista; Herranz-de-la-Casa; Cantero-de-Julián, 2021) found even higher weekly posting frequencies: seven accounts posted up to two videos a week; one posted five; two posted around 10; and three posted 20 or more.Another analysis conducted over a similar period on 46 non-native digital media and 31 native digital media in the United States (Klug, 2020) shows that the accounts of the online versions of traditional media have a very low publication volume if the regional ones are taken into consideration as well as the nationals; the results of our study closely mirror them.
Regarding notoriety, with the exception of El Diario, which always obtains lower figures, the average number of views is between 40K and 70K.On the other hand, interaction is led by El Mundo, the media with the highest frequency of updates and the highest average number of views.The average number of views per video is between 1.6K and 5.2K; also excluding El Diario.Both figures are higher than those detected in international media in the initial phase of their presence on the platform (Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022), but far below the averages observed in news accounts in a later period (Peña-Fernández; Larrondo-Ureta; Morales-i-Gras, 2022), as are shares and comments.In their study, Vázquez-Herrero, Negreira-Rey and López-García (2022) observed an average of 23.1K views, 1.4K "likes" and 13.5 shares; the rate of "likes" received per view was 8%.Based on a longer period, another study on 23,174 videos from 143 accounts belonging to media and journalists from 25 countries (Peña-Fernández; Larrondo-Ureta; Morales-i-Gras, 2022) found higher average views and interactions for corporate accounts: 250,483 views, 22,855 "likes", 575 shares and 301 comments.Another analysis on 28,234 Spanish-labeled videos related to the COVID-19 pandemic published between March and May 2020 (Ballesteros-Herencia, 2020) -not exclusively journalistic-detected an average of 26,352 "likes", 351 shares and 254 comments.
Regarding the format (RQ2), the predominant length of the videos of all media is between 15 seg and 1 min, with the exception of A3 Noticias, which started its activity on the platform during a period of footage limited to 15 seg.This is congruent with the average duration of 22 seg detected in international media (Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022) and is in line with both the current fragmented consumption scenario (Yang; Zhao; Ma, 2019) and the preferences of young audiences on TikTok (Cheng-Stahl; Literat, 2022).
In relation to native editing resources, the five media studied make intensive use of some of the sound and overlay possibilities analyzed, with text overlays being the most frequently used option.Both aspects are in line with what Vázquez-Herrero, Negreira-Rey and López-García (2022) observed in the international context, in which the most used native editing resources were text (49%), transitions (24.5%), some type of stickers (17.9%), visual filters (11.4%), emojis (10.3%) and speeding up or slowing down (7.1%), with a minority of 33.2% of the videos not presenting any of them.Our study also shows that the media that make the most use of these resources (El Mundo, El País and 20 Minutos) are the ones that obtain the highest average number of views.
Finally, native formats predominate with respect to narrative strategies, especially videos originally conceived for the platform, which is also congruent with the global trend detected by the same study (Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022), according to which 85.3% of the videos published by the international media pioneers in using the platform have been created especially for the platform.This shows that, as in the rest of the world, the Spanish media have understood the need to adapt to the logic of this social network.In fact, the only two media in which the adaptation of pre-existing material is superior to the publication of original content, A3 Noticias and El Diario, are also the ones that obtain the lowest number of views per video.
In relation to the topic of the publications (RQ3), soft news predominates globally, again with the only exception of El Diario, which opts for hard news on national politics.In particular, the presence of entertainment and celebrity videos is remarkable, as well as those dedicated to lifestyle and, to a lesser extent, those dedicated to art and culture.This is in line with the results of some previous research.On one hand, the work of Vázquez-Herrero, Negreira-Rey and López-García (2022) found that 58.2% of the content generated on TikTok by the media have an eminently informative purpose, compared to 24.5% with humorous intention, 16.8% for promotional purposes and 0.5% dedicated to challenges; among those with informative purpose, news stood out, mostly dedicated to current issues, with the COVID-19 pandemic and celebrities being the most frequent topics.On the other hand, the research by Peña-Fernández, Larrondo-Ureta and Morales-i-Gras (2022) detailed the predominance of curious and light-hearted content as a complement to the main activity of the media and journalists, with a minority of accounts offering current affairs information adapted to the characteristics of the platform's language.However, the work of Sidorenko-Bautista, Alonso-López and Giacomelli (2021) on the videos published by thirteen verifying media in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic showed the predominance of economic, climate, and technological content, among others (29%), followed by topics of social interest (23%), political (18%) and health (17%).
In terms of protagonism (RQ4), journalists are the most recurrent, again with the exception of El Diario, in whose videos there is a greater presence of political and institutional personalities; in addition, there is a prominent presence of celebrities, with interviews with sportspeople, musicians and influencers.
The Spanish media analyzed publish less frequently than international media, obtain fewer views, and register lower engagement levels; in addition, they do not use their presence on TikTok to promote their other editorial products The findings regarding themes and protagonism are congruent with the information preferences of the Spanish population (Martínez-Costa; Sánchez-Blanco; Serrano-Puche, 2019) and, in general, of young people (Newman et al., 2016).This shows an effort by the main Spanish media to adapt to the algorithmic functioning of the social network (Bhandari;Bimo, 2022;Zhao, 2021) and to satisfy, to the extent that their informative function allows it, the motivations and interests of the user community (Bucknell-Bossen; Kottasz, 2020; Lu; Lu, 2019; Lu; Lu; Liu, 2020), although because of their nature it is not possible for them to replicate the most frequent content on the platform (Shutsko, 2020; Suárez-Álvarez; García-Jiménez, 2021).The presence of journalists is also in line with the start of content generation by professionals (Negreira-Rey; Vázquez-Herrero; López-García, 2022; Peña-Fernández; Larrondo-Ureta; Morales-i-Gras, 2022).Thus, the analyzed media are in line with the trend of international media to use a light tone, although they are among the minority that offers current information adapted to the characteristics of the platform's language (Peña-Fernández; Larrondo-Ureta; Morales-i-Gras, 2022).
Finally, despite the main brand identifier (RQ5) being generally the journalist themselves, the presence of the media logo is also notable, a way of protecting the copyright of the images and audios they generate or provide (Shutsko, 2020), in an inverse relationship to that detected globally (Vázquez-Herrero; Negreira-Rey; López-García, 2022).However, the scarce references to other news of the media or other editorial products of their own, such as printed newspapers, podcasts, websites, television programs or social networks, denotes the lack of connection of their presence on TikTok with their main activity.Thus, the analyzed media use TikTok to disseminate their brand among the young population, but not to establish cross-relationships with their products that would serve to promote them and increase their audience.

Conclusions
Spanish media have tried to adapt to the entertainment logic of the platform both in the use of native editing resources and in the creation of original materials and the development of soft news content.In fact, the media that gain the most notoriety on average are those that have adapted more to this logic, i.e., those that opt for soft news through original videos that use native resources.However, they publish less frequently than international media, their videos get fewer views, and their accounts register lower levels of engagement, probably as a result -except in the case of A3 Noticiasof their limited age on the platform; in addition, they do not take advantage of their presence on the network to promote their products.
This paper has some limitations, derived from its exploratory nature and the limited presence of Spanish media on Tik-Tok at the time of its conceptualization.The first aspect implies the existence of scarce previous literature, which has prevented the establishment of hypotheses.The second aspect has made it impossible to form a corpus that would be representative of the Spanish media ecosystem as a whole; we consider, however, that the sample selected, composed of the five media with the largest online audience in the period analyzed, is sufficiently relevant to be representative of its apex.Future research may focus on the production of content for this platform from the newsrooms, i.e., on the adaptation to TikTok of the practices and routines of professional journalists, as was done at the time with respect to Twitter.They may also evaluate the journalistic quality of such content, as well as the interaction of the audience with it through the comments and whether they serve to articulate debates inherent to a deliberative conception of public opinion.
Regarding the second aspect, notoriety, the media with the most views was El Mundo (15,063,241), in line with its high activity.It was followed by A3 Noticias(3,419,407), despite being the account with the lowest update frequency, 20 Minutos (2,841,717), El País (2,689,760), and El Diario (498,628).However, the videos published by 20 Minutos obtained an average number of views higher than those of the other media: 69,310 per video compared to 67,548 for El Mundo, 59,772 for El País, 42,215 for A3 Noticias, and a much lower 8,904 for El Diario.

Table 1 .
Analysis variables and categories

Table 2 .
Activity, notoriety, and interaction on TikTok of the Spanish media with the largest online audience

Table 3 .
Length of the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audience

Table 4 .
Views and interactions of the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audience according to their length

Table 5 .
Sound resources and graphical elements of the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audience

Table 6 .
Views and interactions of the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audience according to their sound resources and graphical elements Finally, with regard to narrative codes, detailed in Table7, videos produced using native formats almost monopolize the publications of El Mundo (99.1%),El País (97.8%), and 20 Minutos (90.2%), the media that obtained the highest average number of views per video, almost always exclusively due to the creation of original videos for the platform.On the other hand, both A3 Noticias and El Diario mostly use videos whose footage is made up of fragments not originally conceived for TikTok, with frequencies of 65.4% and 58.9%, respectively.In the first case, through fragments of their TV news pro- grams (37%) and B-roll (25.9%); in the second, through statements (32.1%), interviews (16.1%), and B-roll (10.7%).Only El Mundo and A3 Noticias make a small use of duets (1.3% and 1.2%, respectively).

Table 7 .
Narrative codes of the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audience

Table 8 .
Views and interactions of the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audience according to their narrative codes

Table 9 .
Table8, soft news is predominant in 20 Minutos (80.5%),A3Noticias (71.6%),ElPaís (66.7%), and El Mundo (63.7%).Among them, 20 Minutos and El Mundo prioritize lifestyle news (39% and 21.5%, respectively); A3 Noticias, entertainment or celebrity news (23.5%); and El País, arts and culture (31.1%).The presence of soft news is such a majority in these media that the only topics considered hard news that exceed or approach a frequency of 10% are the environment in El País (13.3%), the economy in 20 Minutos (7.3%), national politics and COVID-19 in A3 Noticias (8.6% and 9.9%, respectively), and, once again, the pandemic in El Mundo (8.5%).These frequencies are, in any case, lower than those afforded by the same media to the second most important soft news: entertainment/celebrity and art and culture in 20 Minutos (17.1% in both cases); non-news items in A3 Noticias (22.2%); entertainment/celebrity in El Mundo (16.1%); and entertainment/celebrity and lifestyle in El País (15.6% in both cases).On the other hand, only El Diario opted mostly for hard news (69.6%), particularly news on national politics (39.3%) and the environment (12.5%).Topics of the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audienceThe most viewed video related to hard news was published by El País and was dedicated to the remuneration of internships included in Vocational Training studies (01/20/2022, 1,445,084 views).The most viewed articles published by El Mundo (09/21/2021, 1,227,397) and 20 Minutos (09/20/2021, 182,677) referred to the volcano erupting on the Canary Island of La Palma(09/20/2021, 182,677).That of A3 Noticias, to the health personnel dedicated to the containment of theCOVID-19 pandemic (03/19/2020, 260,427).That of El Diario, to a parliamentary answer of the second vice-president of the Spanish Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, to the then deputy spokesperson of Vox in the Congress ofDeputies, Macarena Olona (12/02/2021, 73,659).In turn, the video with a soft news theme that obtained the most views was published by El Mundo and focused on the personality of the Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal (01/31/2022, 1,772,697).The most viewed of those published by 20 Minutos explained three different ways to wear a scarf (12/09/2021, 444,862).The one from El País explained the reason why the packaging of Sugus pineapple-flavored chewy candies is blue(12/14/2021, 381,994).A3 Noticias showed a plague of rats in the Madrid municipality of Alcorcón (01/09/2020, 344,466).El Diario recommended three Spanish films starring women (10/08/2021, 77,909).

Table 10 .
Views and interactions of the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audience according to their topics Table11, the presence of protagonists is almost total in the videos by 20 Minutos, with a frequency of 97.6%, and very prominent in El Diario (87.5%),El Mundo (85.2%),A3 Noticias (84%) and El País (80%).In addition, four of the media show a clear trend toward videos starring their own journalists or collaborators: 53.7% in the case of 20 Minutos; 37.7% in El Mundo; 37% in A3 Noticias; and 35.6% in El País.As with the subject matter, only El Diario is not part of this general trend, with a greater prominence of political or institutional personalities (42.9%) as opposed to journalists themselves (23.2%), who are in second place.Public celebrities are the second most frequent protagonists in 20 Minutos (19.5%) and El Mundo (17.9%), while in El País they are specific objects (22.2%), and in A3 Noticias, anonymous people (17.3%).

Table 11 .
Protagonists of the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audience

Table 12 .
Views and interactions of the videos posted on TikTok by the main Spanish online media according to their protagonist e320222Profesional de la información, 2023, v. 32, n. 2. e-ISSN: 1699-2407 12

Table 13 .
Elements of brand identity in the videos posted on TikTok by the Spanish media with the largest online audience