Fox News Media has appointed Kate DePetro to a new in-house creator role focused on original, behind-the-scenes programming for its various platforms. DePetro is expected to appear primarily on Fox News Now, the social-media platform launched in June to build connections between viewers and Fox News personalities and shows.
The assignment is not simply a new title for an on-camera employee. It reflects a broader media-industry attempt to translate a traditional television operation into the formats, personalities and more informal access points that social-platform audiences expect. DePetro’s content will cover activity across Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Nation and other Fox News Media properties.
“I’ll have the opportunity to create original content, introduce audiences to familiar faces in a more personal way and share experiences across Fox News Media platforms,” DePetro said in a statement. “It’s a dream opportunity and I can’t wait to get started.”
An insider becomes the guide
DePetro’s background gives the initiative a particular angle: she has spent five years inside the organization rather than arriving as an outside social-media personality. She worked overnight as a production assistant on Fox & Friends and later helped oversee the show’s green room, the off-camera holding area used by guests and personalities before they go on air.
That experience put her in contact with athletes, entertainers and world leaders, as well as many of the network’s familiar faces. David Eccleston, Fox News Media’s senior vice president of brand strategy and consumer experience, described DePetro as “kind of like the ultimate insider,” noting that leading personalities have worked with her and trust her.
Her subsequent job as Dana Perino’s assistant also matters to the shape of the role. DePetro met Perino after reading the anchor and The Five panelist’s book, Everything Will Be Okay, then received mentoring before joining Perino’s team. Across two years, DePetro helped Perino develop a social-media presence.
That is useful experience for a position built around making an established media brand feel less distant. Behind-the-scenes posts are not the same thing as a conventional news segment. They often rely on personality, quick context, access and a feeling that an audience is being welcomed into processes normally kept off camera. A person who understands both the production floor and the people appearing on screen can potentially make that material feel more natural than a generic promotional campaign.
What “creator” means in this setting
The word creator can cover a wide range of work, from independent video hosts to people who make short-form clips for large entertainment and news companies. In DePetro’s case, it describes an in-house role: she will produce original content connected to Fox News Media’s brands and personalities rather than operate as an unaffiliated commentator.
That distinction is important. A creator-led strategy does not mean a legacy network is abandoning its established programming. Instead, it can give viewers more entry points into that programming: a casual explanation, a backstage moment, a personality-focused video or a social post designed for viewers who may not begin their media day by turning on cable television.
The apparent goal is relationship-building. Viewers can encounter a recognizable host in a feed before watching a longer program, or learn what happens around a production through someone who has worked on the inside. Such material has a different job from a live news report. Its value is less about replacing a broadcast and more about improving familiarity, making personalities legible outside their scheduled slots and giving people a reason to follow an account over time.
That shift is consistent with the wider move across television toward social-first work. Sports media has offered clear examples. ESPN hired Omar Raja, who created the Instagram account House of Highlights, in 2020. Raja later appeared on ABC’s pre-Oscars red-carpet program. ESPN also brought sports social-media creator Katie Feeney into the company in 2025. These hires point to the same basic calculation: audiences who are accustomed to consuming personality-led clips online may respond differently to a familiar digital voice than to a conventional network promotion.
The audience migration behind the move
The demographic pressure is clear in the available data. A Pew Research Center survey from August 2026 found that one-fifth of U.S. adults regularly get news on TikTok. That proportion was unchanged from 2025, but far above the 3% reported in 2020.
Another recent Pew finding showed a year-over-year change in stated preferences: 28% of Americans said they preferred to get news from television in 2026, down from 34% in 2025. Meanwhile, the share preferring social media rose to 19% from 14% during the same period.
Those figures do not say that television has disappeared, nor do they establish that everyone who watches a clip on a social platform has stopped watching television. They do show why television businesses are increasingly interested in meeting audiences across several formats. A media company’s challenge is no longer only to make a program people will tune in for at a particular hour. It is also to make the people, ideas and context around that program discoverable in feeds shaped by mobile viewing.
Fox News has reported substantial TikTok growth in that environment, rising from roughly 25,000 followers in 2024 to 12.2 million as of October 2026. Executives have also observed demand for Fox News on Fox One, the streaming subscription service initially designed to bring Fox Sports to a more digital audience.
Follower totals and streaming interest do not automatically reveal how deeply people are engaging with any one show or video. Still, they help explain why a dedicated creator position could be strategically significant. A large potential audience exists outside the cable bundle, and social platforms have their own expectations for pace, tone and presentation.
More than one digital doorway
DePetro’s appointment arrives amid a larger Fox News Media push toward creators, podcasters and digitally native programming. The company’s relationship with the conservative Ruthless podcast continues to expand. On Election Night, the show is scheduled to host a three-hour livestream from a Washington, D.C., bar, running from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern across Fox Nation and Fox News Digital.
Brett Cooper, who built a following through a YouTube show at The Daily Wire, is now a Fox News contributor and leads her own digital program through Fox sibling Red Seat Ventures. The common thread is format diversity: podcasting, livestreaming, contribution to television news and purpose-built online video each reach audiences differently.
A livestream, for example, is generally defined by its real-time nature. It can invite viewers to experience an event as it unfolds, while its looser setting may make it feel distinct from a studio broadcast. Short-form social video works on another rhythm, where a viewer may make a choice in seconds about whether to continue watching. The new DePetro role appears aimed at the latter ecosystem while also drawing on the company’s existing personalities and productions.
For audiences, this could mean more visibility into television’s working machinery: who prepares a show, how guests move through a studio day, and how familiar hosts interact away from the formal structure of an on-air segment. The specifics of DePetro’s upcoming programming have not been detailed, so it remains unclear which formats will become regular features or how heavily each Fox News Media property will be represented.
A career path built backstage
DePetro’s route to the role is also a reminder that digital-facing positions at media companies are not restricted to people who began as influencers. Her early work was operational and behind the scenes. From overnight production assistance to green-room supervision to helping a prominent anchor build social channels, her career has connected production logistics with audience-facing communication.
She has credited Perino as a mentor, advocate and friend who saw potential in her before she did. That professional relationship gives the new job another practical advantage: the assignment calls for introducing familiar faces in a more personal way, and DePetro has direct experience supporting one of those faces as social media became part of the work.
She will continue handling other projects as well. DePetro is working on The Vow, a Fox Nation dating series hosted by Chris Harrison, previously the host of ABC’s The Bachelor. Outside the network, she is a co-founder of Pizza to Pews, an initiative intended to encourage young people around the country to attend church and make friends.
Those commitments suggest a portfolio spanning production, social content and community-oriented work, though the new Fox News Media role is specifically designed around strengthening the company’s digital bonds with audiences.
What success is likely to look like
The most meaningful measure will not necessarily be a single viral clip. Sustainable creator work is often about consistency: whether viewers recognize a host, understand what an account offers and choose to return. It can also function as a bridge, moving an interested social viewer toward a longer video, a livestream, a Fox Nation program or a traditional TV broadcast.
Eccleston said there is “definitely an opportunity to reach a new audience” through digital and social channels. The idea behind DePetro’s role is straightforward, even if executing it will require a careful balance. Networks need content that feels native to social media without losing the identity that made their primary brands recognizable in the first place.
Fox News Media is betting that someone with institutional knowledge, established relationships and experience helping an anchor communicate online can help make that balance work. In a period when audiences increasingly encounter media through creators and feeds rather than channel guides, the person showing viewers around backstage may become an increasingly important part of the show.
For another look at how large media and technology platforms are adjusting to digital-era audience behavior, read our coverage of Spotify’s planned licensed AI remix tool.
