Political coverage drives engagement growth on X in Q3

X saw a notable shift in Q3 in our Social Publishing Index, with hard news and political coverage driving the biggest spikes in engagement, and becoming the main driver of what audiences are interacting with on the platform.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Fox News is now the top publisher on the platform from the SPI group, with 17 million engagements
• There was a rise in engagement for conservative news outlets on the platform
• Upworthy returned to X, showing there’s still space for feel-good content

Battle between hard news and sports

X is now the second platform where Fox News leads (the other being Facebook), having overtaken Bleacher Report with 17 million engagements — nearly doubling its Q2 total of 9 million.

Bleacher Report was previously dominating the platform, driving roughly a third of all engagement from the group of 50 publishers in this report. But things have tightened in Q3, with Fox now leading with 23% of total engagement, while Bleacher Report follows with 19%. 

This signals a major shift in the top performing content on X, with ESPN also falling from third to fourth place in the rankings, showing that hard news outlets are now seriously battling for attention over sports and entertainment. 

Top Posts

The trends above also carried over into the top individual posts themselves, with conservative publishers including Fox News, Breitbart, and the Daily Wire all having posts in the top 10, whereas Bleacher Report was responsible for nine of the top 10 posts in Q2. 

A major theme on X this quarter was the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the developments that unfolded afterward. The story dominated conversation and likely contributed significantly to the overall rise in engagement among conservative outlets. Fox News, Breitbart, and The Daily Wire all had posts in the top 10, highlighting how breaking political news continues to shape what resonates most on the platform.

Bleacher Report still held its own with four of the top 10 posts, with the most engaged being about Jeremy Lin’s retirement from Basketball. 

The outlier shifts 

In Q2 we saw no direct relationship between posting frequency and engagement on X, and while that pattern is still largely in place, Fox News has moved further to the right on the engagement axis, showing that its content is now resonating much more strongly this quarter, despite still only posting moderately compared to others. 

Bleacher Report was the clear outlier in Q2, which showcased just how strongly sports content performs on the platform. However, Fox News’ shift, along with the NY Post’s small but noticeable move to the right, we can clearly see how much political content rivaled sports this quarter.

Upworthy makes a comeback 

Upworthy was not even close to being one of the top publishers this quarter, but it was the only one from our group of 50 that went from having no presence on X to establishing one.

The publisher, known for its positive news storytelling, receives the majority of its engagement from Instagram and Facebook, where it’s a notable contender. This quarter though, it started posting on X again, after seeming to have not done so since October of last year. While it generated just shy of 1000 engagements, it marked a meaningful return to the platform, especially with such a strong surge in engagement with political news. 

When Elon Musk took over X, many users scaled back or stopped posting entirely, with uncertainty about brand safety and shifting audience behavior. But despite the rise of rivals like Threads and Bluesky, none have managed to act as a complete replacement, resulting in some publishers testing the waters again. Upworthy’s return is a reminder that there still might be space for lighter, human-centered storytelling on the platform.

For more insights from our Social Publishing Index, read our topline analysis, which also links to every different platform.