Objective

Start Here explains the news. We help people around the world navigate the complicated world of international news and current affairs by breaking down big stories so they’re easy to understand and engaging to watch. 

It’s hosted by Sandra Gathmann, a seasoned journalist, whose calm, neutral presenting style inspires trust and loyalty from our audience.   

In a world where the news media is so polarized and people are unsure who to trust, our objective is to cut through the noise, explain why a story matters, and give people the information they need to  form their own opinions on issues that matter.

Strategy

Start Here delivers three main types of content: 

• We create deep-dive YouTube explainers that are meticulously researched and creatively produced and edited. In 2024, these included explainers on Hezbollah (2.2M views) and the two-state solution (1.2M views). The latter covered more than seventy years of history in just over 20 minutes and was, according to one viewer in the comments “The most clear explanation on the ongoing conflict between Jews and Palestinians. Thank you”. 
• We get out of the studio and travel to create “on-the-road” episodes, which elevate our digital explainer format with on the ground reporting. For example, we went to the Hague to ask “what’s the point in international law?”, securing rare access inside the ICJ and ICC. And we travelled across Mexico, to explain Mexico’s migrant crackdown and the country’s role an immigration enforcer for the US.  
• We create engaging vertical content for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. This content is shorter and more reactive to breaking news. We guide viewers through big stories as they unfold, like our explainer on the ICJ’s Gaza genocide ruling or on Donald Trump’s election win. And we generate online conversations with content like our video on the challenges that women in Gaza face. Published on International Women’s Day, this video was widely shared and viewed more that 3.7 million times. 

But whatever the platform or type of content, Start Here’s core strategy remains the same. No hype, no agenda, no gimmicks. Just high-quality journalism, engaging storytelling and creative production to cut through the confusion about what’s going on in the world. 

It takes a huge amount of work by a small, but dedicated, production team to make complicated stories simple. We deliberate on every word in the script, we are fastidious about fact checking and we take great effort to seek out a diverse range of guests to provide different viewpoints on a story. 

We also aim to cover stories that may not be topping the SEO rankings, but are no less deserving of the world’s attention. Our episode on the war in Sudan is an example of this - attracting comments like this: 

• “Thank you for talking about Sudan.”
• “Amazing how everyone in the west has completely forgotten about Sudan. Excellent journalism, good work Start here 👍👍”
• “This was VERY informative - thanks for sharing - prayers for the Sudan - my heart goes out those millions of innocent people 🇸🇩”

Results

2024 was another record breaking year for Start Here in terms of content views and engagement. 

Across platforms we attracted more than 38 million views, all organic. Our YouTube episodes had an average retention rate of 51%, showing that once people click on our content, it engages them and they stick around. 

All of our metrics show that there is a strong demand for Start Here’s balanced, clear and calm approach to issues which are often deeply divisive. 

But our impact is also evident in the response from our audience. Students get in touch to tell us how our videos help them with their studies; teachers use them as teaching aids on complicated topics. And as one viewer of our tariffs explainer commented: 

“So yes thank you for the method and presentation I feel informed now about issues that affect me directly,  yet it is rarely exposed in such a clear and concise manner thank you”