Video taking off 16x its usual first day

Five planes from a donor's company: David Fahrenthold on Kristi Noem's final DHS deal

The investigative short drew close to 90,000 views in its first six hours, and its comment section had passed a typical full first day's worth of comments many times over.

Channel:

The New York Times Story of October 7, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 218,502 views a day, 16 times a normal first day on this channel (13,529).

Why Did the U.S. Buy These Planes?

Most news channels of The New York Times' size are having an ordinary stretch. Forbes Breaking News, TMZ and Daily Mail World sit close to their usual daily pace, and PBS NewsHour and NowThis Impact run a little above theirs. The Times stands apart, with its daily views nearly double what is normal for the channel.

The biggest single reason is a short with a plain question for a title: "Why Did the U.S. Buy These Planes?" In it, investigative reporter David A. Fahrenthold walks through his reporting on a deal the Department of Homeland Security signed in the last hours of Kristi Noem's time as its secretary. The agreement, worth millions, was to buy five aircraft from a company that, according to the description, is owned by one of her political donors. Fahrenthold, who spent years at The Washington Post following the money around Donald Trump's businesses and charity, is on familiar ground here.

The short passed 85,000 views within six hours, and the comments arrived even faster. More than 500 came in over those hours, about ten times what a Times short usually gathers in its whole first day. Most of the comments are about taxpayer money, and many viewers ask whether anyone will answer for the purchase.

It led a busy day for the channel. Vanessa Friedman's verdict on Haider Ackermann's openly sexy Tom Ford collection in Paris came close behind, followed by Brazil's presidential runoff and Ivan Nechepurenko's search for gasoline in Moscow.

Published on Trari

Where next?

Also in News networks and broadcastersVideo taking off 10x its usual first dayA Putin headline leads to Lavrov's "World War Three" claimTimes Now World's fast-starting broadcast attributes its central statement to Russia's foreign minister in the description, despite naming Putin in the title.Channel: Times Now World · Story of October 24, 2026

A different discovery todayVideo people are talking about 11x its usual commentsZelenskyy tells Steven Bartlett why he needed "ammunition, not a ride"In a nearly two-hour conversation, Ukraine's president moves from sleepless nights and grieving parents to Bucha, Paddington Bear and the morning the invasion …Channel: The Diary Of A CEO · Story of October 24, 2026

Or follow us on Telegram

The facts

Channel: The New York Times
Subscribers: 5,290,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
Channel views, last 7 days: 7,295,253
Channel views, pace per day: 1,215,433 (on a normal day: 627,063)
Video published: October 6, 2026
Video views so far: 86,707 (less than a day online)
Video views, pace per day: 218,502

The numbers

The figures below show a short that took off within hours and a channel running well ahead of its usual pace.

the video's first day

usual first day here

13,529

this video

218,502

subscribers

5,290,000

▲ 10,000 in the last 7 days

total views

1,467,917,977

views per day

1,215,433

typical day: 627,063

the video

views

86,707

likes

8,635

comments

540

days online

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

5,620,000

5,380,000

5,290,000

5,240,000

5,190,000

5,030,000

As of October 7, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.

💡 Test your knowledge

David A. Fahrenthold won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on Donald Trump's charitable giving. Which newspaper did he work for at the time?