The implicit deal publishers had with search – make good content, earn rankings, convert traffic – no longer holds. The publishers in the best position today recognized early that this wasn’t a temporary dip and started planning for referrals to keep declining.

Search was always a rented audience

Search was always someone else’s distribution channel. Google’s incentives lined up with publishers for a 15-year stretch, and most of the industry built acquisition strategies on that alignment. The alignment is over.

It’s a familiar pattern. Social played out the same way. Facebook referral traffic peaked around 2016 and has fallen unevenly since. Any publisher whose acquisition engine depended on organic social reach has already been through a version of what’s happening with search now.

Owned channels are what’s left. The publishers who built them early are ahead and everyone else is catching up.

From traffic intelligence to relationship intelligence

According to Parse.ly data, across the publisher network it works with (more than 400 sites with 15B+ pageviews a month) the pattern is consistent. The publishers whose audience base has held up are the ones that started investing in direct and newsletter channels years before the search decline forced the issue. The ones that didn’t are trying to build that muscle now, during the decline, which is a much harder job.

Most publisher analytics, including ours, grew up in an era when the publisher’s job was to understand what search traffic did once it arrived. Which articles held attention. Which converted. Which didn’t. That’s content intelligence, and it was the right problem to solve when traffic was abundant and external.

The new problem is different. How does a reader move from a first visit to a repeat visit to a loyal relationship? What content earns the second visit? Which acquisition sources produce readers who stay? When should the newsletter signup appear, and to whom?

That’s a different type of analysis – one that we call relationship intelligence.

Three diagnostic questions

The starting point is a traffic-mix audit. This is not to confirm assumptions, but to see where things actively stand. Most publishers are surprised by what they find. Three questions cut to the picture quickly:

1. What percentage of your traffic is direct or newsletter-driven today, compared to 12 and 24 months ago? If that figure is flat or shrinking while search declines, owned audience isn’t developing fast enough to offset the loss.
2. Which pieces of content drive newsletter signups or repeat direct visits, as opposed to the ones that get the highest raw pageviews? These are often different articles, and the conversion-first bias tends to be under-examined in editorial reviews.
3. Where did your most loyal subscribers originally come from, and what was the first piece of yours they engaged with? The acquisition path that produces a long-term subscriber is probably the most underused signal in publisher analytics.

What owned relationships produce

Direct traffic converts to paid subscriptions at a higher rate than search-referred traffic. A reader typing in your URL or clicking through from your newsletter already has a relationship with your site. A search visitor often doesn’t.

Newsletters are the most concrete example. Publishers sent 28 billion emails in 2025 to over 255 million readers, with average open rates above 41%. There’s no intermediary algorithm between the publisher and the inbox, which is the whole point. The Financial Times now gets more than 70% of its subscriber traffic through its mobile app. That traffic doesn’t move if Google changes a ranking signal next quarter.

What’s missing: the audience connection

What’s missing in most publisher analytics today isn’t more pageview data – it’s relationship intelligence. The acquisition path that produces a long-term subscriber. The content that earns a second visit. The newsletter signup that started a ten-year reader relationship.

A reader who found you through a newsletter, opens your app a few times a week, and subscribed because they trust your coverage on a specific beat is not a reader Google or an AI assistant can reassign. That’s a different audience than the one search was providing for most of the last decade. It’s a much more valuable audience. And relationship intelligence is how you build it.

About the author

Bob Ralian is Head of Unified Analytics at Automattic, including Parse.ly, the content analytics platform for enterprise publishers. His team works with publishers to make sense of their audience data, what’s working, what isn’t, and what to do about it.

The post How publishers rebuild audience ties as search falls appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Ofcom’s Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report shows how this caution plays out. Audiences are spending more time online yet feel less positive about the experience, with only 59% saying the benefits outweigh the risks, down from 72% last year. At the same time, 89% feel confident online, suggesting they are comfortable navigating and using digital platforms. But that confidence does not always match their ability to distinguish reliable information from misleading content. These patterns point to broader shifts in how audiences engage with media, evaluate information, and build trust online. 

AI use becomes routine, but trust lags  

AI is moving into the mainstream quickly, with 54% of adults now reporting use, up from 31% last year. At the same time, 75% encounter AI-generated summaries in search. Adoption is not the issue. Trust is. 

Many users, 57%, say they trust AI-generated news less than human-written content. Widespread use does not translate into confidence. Even as AI becomes part of everyday experiences, skepticism remains high. AI may change how content gets surfaced, but it does not replace the need for visible authorship, sourcing, and editorial judgment. The gap between use and trust is not unique to AI. It reflects a broader shift in how audiences evaluate all media. 

Trust shifts while confidence holds 

Most viewers (85%) report using mainstream media, such as the BBC and The Guardian for news. But only 19% say they always trust it, while 21% say they always question it. This is not just a divide between those who trust and those who do not. It signals a deeper shift in how people evaluate information. 

Audiences now validate information socially. About 41% look at comments and reactions to judge credibility. In practice, a story’s reception can matter as much as its origin. Authority still matters, but it now competes with visible social context. Publishers no longer control how their content is interpreted once it enters digital environments. 

At the same time, confidence remains high. About 82% say they can spot scams, and 81% say they can recognize advertising. The results look different when tested, with only 52% correctly identifying paid search results. This gap highlights a difference between perceived ability and actual performance. 

Engagement is receding 

After years of expanding social media activity, behavior is starting to tighten, with posting declining from 61% to 49% this year. Only 14% of users say they explore new websites regularly. People are not leaving the internet, but they are narrowing how they use it. 

Sentiment declines alongside this shift. Only 36% say social media benefits their mental health, and 40% say their screen time feels too high most days. Less exploration and lower satisfaction point to a more cautious and selective user mindset. 

Data awareness is on the rise 

Most users understand that their data gets collected, with 89% aware of this. However, only 31% can identify how that collection happens. 

While 86% use at least one security measure, 26% still reuse passwords. People understand the risks around data privacy and security, but do not always act on them. At the same time, attitudes toward data use remain divided, with 34% comfortable and 37% uncomfortable with personalization. 

Younger does not mean more media literate 

These gaps are not evenly distributed. It is easy to assume younger audiences, particularly those aged 16–24, navigate digital environments better, but the data does not support that view. Younger users perform well in some areas, with 88% correctly identifying fake profiles. At the same time, only 52% recognize paid content in search. 

Older users, especially those aged 55 and over, often take a more cautious approach when dealing with scams or suspicious content. Media literacy depends more on behavior and experience than age, and it develops unevenly across contexts rather than following a generational pattern. 

The audience is recalibrating how it engages online. They still see value but feel less positive about the experience. This shift raises expectations. Trust is shaped by signals that show who created the content, where it comes from, and the context in which it appears. In this environment, clarity is a competitive advantage. 

The post Media audiences are engaged, but selective and skeptical  appeared first on Digital Content Next.

What seemed especially significant was not simply the scale of the change media leaders face. It was the degree to which they recognize what this moment requires. They must move from reacting to disruption to setting terms for it by defending the value of their content, deepening direct audience relationships, investing in unmistakably human differentiation, and applying AI where it creates real business advantage.

This became clear from the four big themes that stood out this year:

1. AI is redrawing the value chain around content

Unsurprisingly, AI was a nearly constant topic across sessions. One idea that cut across the event with unusual clarity, however, was that AI is not just another technology wave. It is forcing a fundamental reset in how media leaders think about the value of content, the economics of publishing, and the terms by which others get to access journalism and other professionally created content.

In his opening remarks, DCN CEO Jason Kint described AI as “the latest and most consequential event of an ongoing story” saying that it is disrupting “the value chain on the Web.”

That sense of responsibility and urgency echoed across many sessions. Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, talked in no uncertain terms about the fact that media leaders must work to shape the model so that publishers “will get the compensation they should,” even as he acknowledged the larger risks around scrapers, declining search, and disintermediation in an “agentic future.” Guardian CEO Anna Bateson emphasized the need to establish “the value of our IP” and protect the investment behind centuries of journalism.

Scott Havens, Chief Growth Officer and Global Head of Consumer of Dow Jones was even more direct about the value media companies bring to LLMs. In describing the way in which agentic AI is reliant on current, quality information, he said, “AI companies need our content and that’s not going to change.” The implication was unmistakable, however. If the industry does not actively assert the value of its work, someone else will define that value.

Perhaps the starkest articulation came from Jon Roberts, Chief Innovation Officer at People Inc. “Index for discovery is fine. Stealing our content is absolutely not.”

2. Audience strategy is replacing reach strategy

For decades, the industry’s growth logic was built around distribution at scale. Reach was the organizing principle. However, AI answers fundamentally change the math. Therefore, search strategies will no longer be reliable or sufficient to drive traffic or revenue.

Axel Springer’s Supervisory Board Chairman Jan Bayer noted that Business Insider has become “more focused on engagement and time spent now, less on reach.” That shift was emblematic of a broader theme. Again and again, leaders returned to the audience as the center of gravity: not traffic, not sheer distribution, but the depth and durability of the audience relationship.

COO Alex MacCallum described CNN as a “consumer first organization” focused on “delivering the most value to their audience.” That language resounded in other conversations about consumption habits, format flexibility, and the need to build around how audiences actually want to consume and engage with information.

At the Guardian, Bateson described a shift from being reader-funded to “audience-funded,” a semantic shift which recognizes that people are consuming journalism in many forms across video, audio, and visual formats. Award winning investigative journalist Julie K. Brown talked about the way her Substack and work for the Miami Herald reach different readers and create a bridge to new audiences. This approach is complementary, she said, rather than competitive. It allows her to use different tones, formats, and distribution models to grow the audience for her reporting.

As discovery is becoming less reliable, the business value of a direct relationship with the audience has risen sharply. This impacts product development and higher-level strategy. Media companies that know the audience, serve focused and meaningful needs, and create value across multiple formats are better positioned than those optimizing for reach. As Ankler CEO and Editor-in-chief Janice Min pointed out, the opportunity is not merely to serve narrow audiences, but to “broaden the total addressable audience” through sharper value and stronger relevance.

3. Human connection, talent, and voice may be the moat

Much of the AI conversation has been understandably dominated by automation, efficiency, and scale. But one of the most interesting through-lines of the event was the opposite idea: that the more abundant and synthetic content becomes, the more valuable human connection, recognizable talent, and editorial voice will be.

That point surfaced when COO Jen Wong described the agentic Reddit search experience as one designed not to replace conversation, but to drive people toward “human communication.” That framing stood out because it runs counter to the grain of so much AI hype. Wong says they must “never disintermediate human communication.” And, as CNN’s MacCallum pointed out: “AI can’t do the human-to-human connection,” which makes it a defensible moat.

That same logic extends to creators and talent. If human connection is becoming more valuable, then the people who embody that connection matter more, not less. In a market flooded with interchangeable output, audiences gravitate toward individuals they recognize, trust, and want to spend time with. That gives journalists, creators, and other distinctive voices a different kind of strategic value: They are not just contributors to the product. They are increasingly central to how media brands build authority, loyalty, and differentiation.

As Christine Cook, Chief Commercial Officer at Bloomberg Media put it: “Aren’t journalists the original creators?” Thus, surfacing their authority, authenticity and lived experience will build loyalty. Carlos King, Founder & CEO, Kingdom Reign Entertainment spoke about the strategic importance of “recognizable talent” and the “creator perspective” in an increasingly fragmented consumption landscape. And Min argued for “the value of voice.”

That connection between humanity and distinctiveness may be one of the most important takeaways from the event. In a noisy world with too much content, what stands out is not generic output but rather trust, perspective, and personality. As others pointed out, what matters is offering information people “can’t get anywhere else” and face-to-face experiences that create “genuine connection.” As King put it, we must harness the power of “human advantage.” Havens talked about the futility of ignoring creators and other talent ecosystems and encouraged his peers to find “ways to work with them.”

For leaders, this means the industry has to stop thinking about talent, journalists, creators, and experiences as nice-to-have complements to the brand. Particularly in an AI-dominated landscape, the people who create our content and human to human connection will define the brand.

4. Operational change is no longer optional

Many of the most grounded comments across the event were not about AI-generated content or media products. They were about AI’s impact behind the scenes to improve workflow, efficiency, product development, emphasizing the practical ways AI can help companies move faster and operate smarter.

Thompson from The Atlantic warned that too many companies are focused on AI in the “front of house” when it is “really useful in the back office.” Min drew a similar line for the deployment of AI in media companies: “On the backend: opportunity. On the front end: not so interesting.”

CNN’s MacCallum categorizes AI as something that can help create “better consumer experiences” and help media companies “be more efficient.” And Bayer from Axel Springer described the need to create experiences that are “personalized and relevant,” while still arguing that content creation itself should remain “a human area.”

These comments point to a meaningful leadership test: It is no longer whether or not to use AI, but rather where, how and to what end. Leaders who approach AI strictly as a shiny consumer-facing feature, or as a way to replace journalists risk missing the deeper opportunity to rethink internal systems, reduce friction, improve decision-making, and better align product, editorial, and business teams. For example, Havens from Dow Jones made a clear case for how AI can help business leaders accelerate the “speed to approval” to enable growth and innovation.

Guiding the future of media

Overall, the tone from the speakers and attendees at this year’s DCN Summit was one of leadership. Of stepping up and owning the challenges they face in order to shape the future.

They recognize that the old search and platform dynamics are weakening, that AI is reshaping the economics of content and that audiences want relevance, flexibility, and value on their terms. They also see that human connection, distinctive voice, and trusted talent are not being diminished by this moment. If anything, they are becoming more valuable.

Media leaders know the value of content and need to set equitable terms around access and compensation. They need to double down on business models that center on audience value rather than reach. A human-differentiated media market requires investing in journalists, creator partnerships, experiences, and products that offer unique value. But that doesn’t mean ignoring the value of AI. Rather, it requires understanding how to use AI where it strengthens the business — behind the scenes, in operations, in product intelligence, in speed and efficiency.

As ever, the future will be neither predictable nor easy. But, as the conversations at the DCN Summit made clear, it can and will be shaped by informed leadership.

The post Four forces shaping digital media and the leadership this moment demands appeared first on Digital Content Next.

But TIME is not just relying on AI companies citing their work. They have also developed and rolled out their own tool, TIMEAI. This is an interactive agent that has been trained on its 103 year archive in order to enrich the user experience on-site.

Time to train

TIMEAI, which appears on the site as a toolbar overlay, was initially tested at the end of 2024 with the annual reveal of TIME’s Person of the Year, Donald Trump. The toolbar was also put live on the three prior Person of the Year honorees; Taylor Swift, Volodymyr Zelensky and Elon Musk.

“There were several hundred articles about all four of them that we trained [the AI] on,” explained Mark Howard, Chief Operating Officer at TIME. “Person of the Year is our single biggest editorial event of the year. So it’s not like we put it on some back catalogue just to see if we could get some basic data. We put it on our most prominent release.”

The tech used was a small language model rather than a large one (LLM), so it was more straightforward to deploy. But it still needed training on TIME’s editorial styles, and guardrails added. TIME’s Editor in Chief Sam Jacobs and some of the newsroom team were brought in to help train TIMEAI in terms of style and tone.

“We had to, given the personalities involved, make some decisions about how it was going to handle questions that had nothing to do with anything we had written about,” Howard said. Even though there is a lot of publicly available information on these public figures, they decided they didn’t want the AI to use content outside of TIME. “It’s not a complete picture when somebody wants to converse, but we made a lot of those trade-offs in a very contained way,” he added.

The version deployed in December 2024 enabled users to translate the article, summarize it in various lengths, chat with it, and even speak to it using voice and audio in 13 different languages. Rather than just having one type of function, Howard said that being able to mix and match requests – for example, to ask for an audio summary then go into detail via text – sets this AI tool apart from many others on the market.

A wider rollout of TIME AI agent

The initial launch was a success. Howard said that the original toolbar was kept live while the team worked on bringing more TIME content into the AI. This wasn’t a straightforward task.

“Because of the way media companies operated over the decades, we had [content] in five different databases going back to the 1920’s, some of them were just PDFs of magazines that needed indexing and digitizing,” he explained. “Now it’s trained on well over three-quarters of a million pieces of content.”

Since November 2025, the TIMEAI agent has been visible on almost every piece of TIME content. Newly published pieces are also indexed in near real-time, ensuring that the answers given are up-to-date.

The team have also been experimenting with ways to get users to interact. The agent has a number of preset prompts to show how sophisticated queries can be. These can range from, ‘Try reading this article out loud’ to ‘Debate AI’s impact on humanity’ using TIME’s reporting and opinion archives.

The results so far have been encouraging. Users who engage with TIMEAI are 139% more likely to return to TIME when compared to those who don’t. Those using the AI agent also double their time spent on the TIME website.

Now, the focus is on encouraging those who may not be as familiar with AI tools to engage. Howard said that this may include putting more instructional overlays in, or feeding more preset prompts into the toolbar. But they are cautious about the extent to which people are routed into the full AI experience, rather than the standard web page. 

For now, Howard sees TIMEAI as an opportunity to increase engagement, rather than a revenue generator. “If we can get people to engage, every surface represents a monetization opportunity,” he added. “But the focus has been on the product itself in the beginning.”

A trusted agentic AI source

Given TIME’s licensing deals with other AI engines, there is a question about why users would come to TIME, rather than ask an AI which pulls in a wider range of sources, including TIME itself.

Howard was emphatic that trust is something the other AI tools don’t yet have, but TIME does. “A lot of people grew up with TIME, knowing and trusting that the red border stood for something, and there was a level of quality that is behind it,” he explained. “We want to carry that forward.”

ChatGPT and other answer engines do cite TIME content, but alongside a wide range of other sources, including sites like Reddit. These answers aren’t always trustworthy, and Howard said that there is a high burden on the consumer to deconstruct what is accurate and what isn’t.

“We think [TIMEAI] can be a trusted source of information to try and help explain the world in a way that TIME can, because of this vast archive,” he said, pointing out that users will only encounter TIMEAI if they’re already on the TIME site. This already signals a level of intent and interest in TIME’s reporting.

“It’s a way for us to pull our archives, our history, our heritage and our brand equity forward in a way that we can present more through an AI-based interface and experience.”

Howard is also clear on the role AI has to play in TIME journalism going forward. “Our journalists get information that only humans could by speaking to their sources and doing the work,” he emphasised. “AI can never do anything like that. It’s not intended to do anything like that. 

“Its purpose is to take the great journalism and then be able to make it accessible to those who want audio briefings, roundups and other formats to be able to better understand everything that we’re publishing.”

Walking the tightrope between using AI tools to help reporting, and letting them take over is something a number of publishers have fallen down on in the past months, with potential long-term implications for audience trust. 

Interactive agents present an opportunity for quality publishers to surface decades of reporting to add context and enrich the user experience. TIME’s approach is cautious, and they are wary of detracting from a carefully-designed web experience. But as similar tools roll out rapidly, readers will become more familiar with what they can do and how to interact with them. TIMEAI’s multi-feature functionality will set it apart as a leader.

The post Inside TIME’s rollout of its TIMEAI interactive agent appeared first on Digital Content Next.

While media companies tend to focus on periodic major events like new releases, fans want a steady stream of engagement with their favorite personalities, teams, and series across multiple platforms. Studies indicate that fans travel freely among formats in search of new content and experiences to satisfy their intrigue. The latest Digital Media Trends report by Deloitte explores how media leaders can engage fans more completely. 

The explosion of streaming, gaming, and digital media has given consumers unprecedented choice, but has also splintered their attention. As competition intensifies, media companies are doubling down on subscriber retention and audience growth. Feeding fan enthusiasm is essential to that effort – because fans aren’t a niche segment; they’re the majority.

The value of fans

About 80% of consumers self-identify as fans, according to Deloitte’s survey of 3,575 U.S. adults. That means they are enthusiasts of at least one entertainment category such as sports, TV series, films, gaming, or music.

Fans aren’t just a majority – they’re also extremely valuable to providers based on behavior. Fans spend almost an hour longer using media and entertainment daily than non-fans. They subscribe to more services (including gaming, music, and SVOD) – and spend more money on those services.

Demographically, fans tend to skew younger and engage more widely. They average 44 years of age (compared with 58 among non-fans). More than half (55%) of all fans, including 70% of millennial and Gen Z fans, say their fandom spurs involvement across multiple platforms, services, channels, merchandise, and events.

Lost Opportunities

While providers focus on new releases, fans often turn to social media to feed their fascination – via creators, user posts, and studio marketing. Half of fans say they discover new entertainment primarily through social media – that figure jumps to 73% of Gen Z and 68% of millennial fans. Yet this “social media first” approach isn’t being fully addressed by media companies.

While fans often discover content on social platforms, they frequently consume it elsewhere, splitting monetization across different services. This disconnect leaves media leaders with little visibility into fan behavior.

Over a third of fans (36%) report relying on fan or companion podcasts to stay involved with their favorites. This means leaving the main IP. Losing fans between new releases means providers spend heavily rebuilding excitement. Providers that can nourish these scattered audiences within their own ecosystems stand to gain in ROI.

Aggregation is key

Keeping fans connected off-season starts by aggregating fan experiences. Media companies don’t need to own every fan touchpoint, but they do need visibility and coordination across them. Embedding experiences like social feeds, podcasts, commerce, or games around their IP, even if powered by partners, would keep fans engaged within a single environment. Many would welcome this: about 40% (and nearly half of Gen Z and millennials) say they want all content related to their favorite IP aggregated in one place.

About a third of fans report buying merchandise related to their fandom in the last six months – a figure that increases to 37% among those who want fandom content aggregated. Fan‑focused bundles could package exclusive content, products, services, and experiences into personalized subscription or membership offerings, creating new partnership and revenue opportunities.

Keeping fans within a unified ecosystem gives providers richer first‑party data to personalize experiences, boost engagement, and drive revenue. With fans – especially younger ones – willing to share data for better personalization, coordinated touchpoints can turn the off‑season lull into a continuous relationship.

What about AI?

Can GenAI drive further engagement without alienating users? GenAI can help media companies produce content faster, personalize experiences at scale, and connect fragmented interactions into a unified destination. Research shows that fans are increasingly open to AI‑generated recaps, highlights, and personalized digests. Many fans report being open to AI‑generated ads, recommendations, and co-creating content, opening the door to more interactive experiences and revenue avenues.

Almost 40% of fans say they would accept AI-created content on SVOD, social media, music services, and in video games – if it is clearly labeled. 27% of fans say they may be interested in AI‑generated personalized digests about their favorite shows, and roughly a third of sports fans would be open to AI-generated custom highlight reels and commentary tailored to their teams and athletes.

But these figures reveal most consumers still have qualms. Media companies who employ GenAI in new ways to target content must develop clear terms of service around transparency and privacy. Reassurance around responsible use of GenAI is wise considering rising awareness of AI harms.

Consumers aren’t the only ones worried– media companies have valid concerns about losing control of their IP with open GenAI tools. Features that let users become creators can pose a risk to brand integrity and security. Embedding features inside their own platforms – with guardrails, tracking and moderation – may help media companies foster fan creativity while still protecting rights and capturing value.

The future of fandom

Fandom has evolved into a dynamic, always-on ecosystem. For media companies, winning strategies will reflect the full spectrum of fan behavior, from discovery to community. Those that capture and sustain that engagement within their own environments will turn fragmented attention into lasting relationships and real business value.

The post How the shift from audiences to fans drives media value appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Social platforms are the gateway to news for Gen Z

The research confirms that social and distributed environments dominate how young people encounter news. TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube now play a larger role than Facebook in news discovery. Only 14% of those aged 18–24 go directly to news sites, while 40% mainly access news through social media.

The implication is not simply about presence on these platforms, but about behavior within them. News organizations need to treat social platforms as a primary point of contact, which requires content designed for how those platforms function. That includes format, pacing, tone, and the expectation that users are encountering news alongside other types of content.

For young audiences, social platforms unavoidable points of entry. However, strategies that rely solely on driving traffic back to owned properties are less effective in engaging these audiences. The challenge is to use platforms to deliver great experiences independently, while creating clear pathways to direct engagement and monetization.

Format expansion requires deliberate choices

Young audiences are increasingly watching and listening to news, but this does not replace reading. Among those aged 18–24, 42% prefer to read news online, compared with 32% who prefer watching and 16% who prefer listening.

For publishers, this requires maintaining strong written coverage while also expanding into audiovisual formats. Short-form video, vertical formats, and platform-native storytelling are becoming standard expectations. These formats need to be developed as core editorial products rather than adaptations of existing content.

The report also points to the importance of presentation. Conversational tone, clear structure, and visual storytelling all contribute to whether content holds attention in competitive feeds.

Relevance and clarity drive news engagement for Gen Z

Many young people describe news as depressing, irrelevant, or difficult to follow. These perceptions contribute to avoidance, even though overall levels of news avoidance are similar across age groups.

This creates a clear editorial challenge. Coverage needs to be easier to navigate and more directly connected to everyday concerns. Approaches such as explainers, contextual framing, and “what it means” formats help reduce complexity. Including a mix of positive and negative stories can also address the perception that news is overwhelmingly negative.

Content priorities may also need to broaden. Younger audiences show greater interest in entertainment, wellness, science and technology, and practical information. Expanding coverage in these areas can increase relevance without displacing core reporting.

Personality-led content shapes connection

Reuters’ report highlights a shift toward personality-led content. Younger audiences often respond more strongly to individual voices than to institutional brands.

For publishers, this points to the need to invest in journalists as visible, distinct voices. Encouraging reporters to build followings, developing in-house creators, and collaborating with external creators can extend reach and deepen engagement. The emphasis is on credibility expressed through voice and perspective, not just brand identity.

Representation and trust require attention

Trust gaps between younger and older audiences are relatively small, and perceptions of fairness in news coverage are broadly similar. At the same time, younger people are more likely to feel underrepresented or treated less fairly, with this sentiment particularly strong among young women.

Addressing this requires changes in both staffing and engagement. Hiring more diverse journalists, creating youth advisory structures, and incorporating audience feedback into coverage can help close the gap between perception and intent.

AI is already part of the news experience

Young audiences are experimenting with artificial intelligence as a way to understand the news. Many are open to its use in journalism, particularly when it helps explain complex topics.

This creates an opportunity for publishers to develop AI-supported tools that improve information accessibility. Potential applications include personalized explainers, chat-based navigation, and features that break down complicated stories into more manageable parts.

Business models need flexibility

Lower brand loyalty and lower willingness to pay among Gen Z require a broader approach to revenue. Micro-subscriptions tied to specific interests, membership models built around community, and revenue from events or creator partnerships are all areas to explore.

The report also suggests that value may be tied less to access and more to participation and connection. This has implications for how products are structured and how audiences are engaged over time. Media companies must convert distributed attention into direct relationships, relevance, and sustainable revenue.

Younger audiences are not disengaged from news. They are engaging on terms shaped by the platforms, formats, and expectations that define their daily media use. For publishers, the challenge is to translate that engagement into something durable: relevance, trust, and direct relationships that extend beyond platform environments. Those that succeed will be better positioned to sustain both audience and business over time.

The post Gen Z values news, but expects clarity and relevance appeared first on Digital Content Next.

The main goal of our social media team is to bring people into The Wall Street Journal universe. And when we consider that 1 in 5 adults are now getting their news on TikTok according to a recent Pew Research survey, it’s a platform of significant importance.

For current subscribers, these videos reinforce the value of their subscription. For non-subscribers, we’re giving them a reason to build a relationship with us and, hopefully, a reason to subscribe.

By focusing on exclusivity, authenticity, and trust—principles that matter more than ever amid today’s ocean of AI-generated content—we sharpened and refined our editorial output. As a result, our audiences responded with sustained attention and deeper engagement. Here is the strategic playbook we used to achieve those results.

Each video has a purpose

Since 2022, we’ve experimented with a variety of styles, topics and formats. But the biggest lesson from our first 1,700 videos is that every piece of content must have a specific intent.

Some will be conversation starters, like our piece about how Italian pasta could be decimated by tariffs, or Billie Eilish’s message to billionaires at our WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards. 

Some will add to an existing conversation. This might be joining sports reporter Laine Higgins in a curling rink when the Winter Olympics made us all obsessed with curling, or explaining how Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance inspired fans to learn Spanish.

Others showcase our exclusive reporting or distinctive storytelling. This demonstrates our value by showing audiences something they can’t get anywhere else. For example, we asked why Americans traveling abroad love visiting Costco, and looked inside the Titan submersible with an interactive graphic. 

By laying out a purpose from the outset, we were able to focus our storytelling and publish each piece with a clear ‘why’, telling the viewer what’s in it for them.

Promote individuals, not just the brand

By launching the Talent Lab, a new team in our newsroom that trains and upskills journalists in audience-building, we’ve been able to expand our focus on the reporters themselves. On social media, audiences want to know the people behind the reporting, and we want our reporters’ expertise to help build the credibility and trust that people crave. 

In the ultimate example, Ryan Knutson, co-host of our daily podcast The Journal, went to a party for people named Ryan and took behind-the-scenes footage for our team to tell the story from the inside. It was a great case of lowering the barrier between the host and the audience, allowing us to connect them in a way that might be more difficult for a straightforward article.

We’ve seen similar success on LinkedIn. Ben Cohen’s video about the Ford engineer who created the dashboard arrow to show which side your gas tank is on was a simple idea expertly executed. We helped produce a piece for Ben that performed exceptionally well on his personal LinkedIn account, which we then amplified across our TikTok and Instagram pages.

The goal here is to move beyond relying solely on our institutional voice. By encouraging reporters to promote their journalism on their individual pages we bring the audience closer to the people who make the Journal what it is. In a media environment where audiences increasingly gravitate toward individual voices over institutional brands, investing in reporter-led audience development positions us to build trust and loyalty in ways that align with how people connect with journalism today.

Social video producers are key

Our social video producers act as strategic bridge-builders. Sometimes they are the faces on screen, such as Julia Munslow, and other times they are coaches, guiding reporters through the technical nitty-gritty of lighting, mic placement and self-filming. On complex pieces, their role shifts to translator—working one-on-one with reporters to turn their stories into a format that feels native to the platform.

While some reporters gravitate toward the camera naturally, some may prefer to keep their focus on reporting and writing. Our social producers are the “village” that ensures their expertise gets the visual treatment it deserves.

Looking toward the next million

Surpassing 1 million followers is a milestone, but the real work is maintaining momentum. We are currently honing our short-form video strategy on LinkedIn, X and Instagram Reels, as well as our own WSJ app. Design updates to our platforms allow us to showcase this format in a way that matches how audiences consume content in 2026.

The goal of our social team is to share our journalism with the widest possible audience by meeting people exactly where they are. We’ve proven that a legacy media organization can be authentic in its social presence: by showing the world the reporters behind our stories, we aren’t just gaining followers, we’re building the next generation of The Wall Street Journal’s audience.

The post How The Wall Street Journal is reaching the next generation on TikTok appeared first on Digital Content Next.

That makes sense: the platform has grown over the last two decades into a service that’s  too big to ignore. Last year it reportedly generated $60bn in revenue, indicative of its might. Even the most reticent broadcaster has experimented with dropping short highlights onto the service. It has also proven to be an excellent place to host video podcasts, with the visual element acting as a multiplying factor in terms of views.

Most importantly, however, YouTube has been consistent in delivering views to its biggest channels.

That consistency will be a welcome respite for publishers. With AI-powered search results reportedly cutting traffic to news sites’ by up to 79%, it’s understandable that they would look to increase their presence on a platform that is, at least, reliable in at least one way. 

To that end we have seen a number of news sites recruiting for YouTube-specialist video producers, suggesting that the platform is climbing publishers’ priority lists in 2026. The Reuters Institute’s ‘Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2026’ found that “in terms of off-platform strategies, YouTube will be the main focus for publishers this year with a net score of +74, up substantially on last year”.

In the UK, for example, Reach Plc’s CFO Darren Fisher noted that Facebook and YouTube “are increasingly rewarding, engaging content”, in the face of falling digital revenue elsewhere. 

Where before the platform might have been seen as a source of supplementary ad revenue, it is now being factored into audience acquisition strategies more directly, as legacy media seeks ways to turn off-platform engagement into a viable audience development strategy.

In the UK the platform is the second most-watched service in the UK, behind the BBC and ahead of the commercial-powered ITV. That provides media businesses with a reliable opportunity to scoop up new fans, who can either be monetized through ads on the platform or converted to paying subscribers on the business’ own site.

YouTube personalities

Typically, the channels that succeed on YouTube have a recurring team of creators and on-camera talent, which is consistent with video consumption trends and preferences. This format, aping the traditional television content alongside which YouTube increasingly competes on CTV, is increasingly personality-driven. There are YouTube news stars whose fame eclipses that of traditional television.

That presents a big shift for some media businesses who typically put the brand front and center over individual journalists.

Chris Gallipeau, director of video and audio strategy at Canada-based Postmedia notes that, indeed, the team has found personality-led content – or at least videos with consistent hosts – has worked especially well across its brands/ “We’ve also found that having a consistent host or voice makes a big impact on engagement, he said. “Videos with a familiar, regular personality often see viewership double compared to those without. 

“The best performing voices or faces are often well-known contributors and popular names from our opinion and commentary sections of the newspapers where audiences already have a strong connection to their perspectives.”

Similarly, The Sun’s Director of Video Jon Lloyd explains that works well on YouTube, with its reliance on thumbnails that prominently feature the hosts:

“We have found through hosts, shows are more likely to become appointment viewing  with viewers. Our viewers for Tactics Exposed love Dean Scoggins and Will Pugh’s football expertise – and let us know in the comments. They come back to it weekly as they know they’re going to have a clearer understanding of the game. They might stay through any dips if they recognize and trust the person speaking, which leads to longer listening sessions and higher completion rates.”

As an example, the group’s Vancouver Sun editor-in-chief Harold Munro is a frequent face on the paper’s channel, speaking with various members of the team in explainer style shortform videos. Some publications have a leg up on that approach, having monetized their personality-led podcasts on the platform for years. 

Chris Stone, executive producer of podcasts and video at the New Statesman, says: “That video extends our audience reach on YouTube but also on social platforms. The purpose of that is to grow the top of our funnel. Having video helps to expand your reach on socials, that’s certainly what’s happening with us… and the easiest way to produce that is from our podcasts.”

Consistency and growth

Gallipeau explains that, even if the form of the journalism has necessarily changed, the group’s editorial strategy is an extension of its coverage elsewhere: “Postmedia has found success in both long and short-form video content on YouTube especially for our major news brands. 

“What seems to really drive success is the topic. For brands like National Post and The Toronto Sun, there is a big appetite for federal and provincial political content. When we produce videos on those subjects, regardless of length, it generally outperforms the average video.”

That lines up with research about the news consumption habits of US adults. Per a Pew Research Center study, 35% of US adults self-report that they ‘regularly’ get news from YouTube channels.

The big question is the extent to which YouTube will remain consistent and prioritize that sort of news-led content within its algorithm. Writing for Nieman Lab, Joon Lee argues that, as it gets squeezed by Netflix, YouTube has recognized the need for legitimacy of the sort that legacy media can confer. 

As Lee puts it, “YouTube doesn’t need journalism to boost ad revenue. It needs journalism to anchor its reputational power in the same way newspapers once anchored civic life.”

Shorts and resources

While YouTube might want legacy content to increase its legitimacy, publishers do have to tailor their content to each platform if they want to succeed. 

Charlie Carmichael, Head of Audience at talkSPORT, states that the brand has seen some significant uptick in subscribers as a result of taking advantage of the subchannel option on YouTube. “This platform-first mindset helped us grow our YouTube revenue by 30% YoY in 2025,” he said. “In addition to diversifying our audience and reducing the talkSPORT main channel’s share of views from 81% to 67%. It’s also unlocked new partnership opportunities, and we’ve increasingly experimented with live-streaming non-traditional rights.”

However, despite a media brand’s popularity on shelves or screens, there is plenty more competition on the video site. As a result there are examples of best practice that even the biggest news brands have to adhere to, particularly with regards to recurring personalities and recognizable series.

Gallipeau explains: “On some of our larger brands, we work to apply YouTube best practices to help our video content stand out. We’ve also found great success in using formats like YouTube Shorts to raise awareness and drive traffic to our channels. This has a significant impact on subscriber and viewership growth.”

The benefit of committing to the Shorts format is that – while tweaking is still required – it allows media business’ YouTube efforts to bear fruit elsewhere. 

At the New York Times, for example, the video team is investing heavily in vertical video of the sort that can sit on YouTube Shorts in addition to TikTok and Instagram. The paper’s video director Solana Pyne told The Hollywood Reporter that “our videos live both on our own platform and on a whole range of social platforms, Instagram, TikTok, also YouTube. We don’t make video that would live only or thrive only on one platform.”

Unsurprisingly, many other newspapers are making their video content work harder on the platform. 

The Guardian, for example, repurposes sections of its longform explainers for the Shorts section. It acts as both a trailer for the ‘main’ video and an antennae that reaches the subsection of the YouTube audience that primarily consumes Shorts.

As YouTube climbs publisher and broadcasters’ priority lists in the face of uncertainty elsewhere, they are to some extent dancing to the platform’s tune in terms of video format Personality-led videos and the parasocial relationships they create with an audience are the order of the day, and Shorts are practically mandatory for discovery.

Alex Rothwell, Head of Video for The Times and The Sunday Times, notes that the team has identified that different forms of video on the platform work towards different ends. He said, “We have different approaches to our multiple YouTube channels to serve specific goals; revenue, audience growth, or a combination of the two.”

He does note, though, that maintaining a consistent identity across those channels is key: “Across all of our YouTube output, we maintain a consistent visual identity by using The Times thumbnail branding. We’ve also developed repeatable formats – such as Explains, Investigates, and Documentaries – which help build a loyal audience over time by establishing a clear and recognisable editorial identity.”

YouTube, then, presents legacy publishers with an opportunity to widen the top of the funnel when it comes to acquiring audiences. It is, though, still a platform over which publishers and broadcasters have next to no control; the trick is in gaming its ability to concentrate audiences around a news channel while increasing investment with the brand itself.

The post Publishers rethink YouTube strategy as search traffic erodes appeared first on Digital Content Next.

That was the question Jonny Kaldor, CEO of Pugpig, posed on stage at Arc XP Connect NYC.

After years dominated by platform distribution, algorithmic volatility, and pageview economics, publishers are once again sharpening their focus on direct relationships. In that recalibration, the mobile app is stepping back into the spotlight, not as a companion product, but as a core offering.

On stage with Kaldor were Ariscielle Novicio, CTO & SVP of Product & Digital Strategy of the New York Post, Kathy Colafemina, VP of Program Management of The Boston Globe, and James Cooney, VP of Product Engineering of Condé Nast. Their organizations differ widely in brand, audience, and business model. Yet one theme surfaced repeatedly: apps may represent a smaller slice of total reach, but they consistently deliver the most engaged, most loyal, and often the most valuable users.

Here’s what that shift means for publishers thinking seriously about mobile strategy in 2026 and beyond.

The most engaged audience is already there

Novicio was unequivocal about the value of the New York Post’s app users: “The most engaged users that we have — and we know this from a lot of research and studies — is with our app.”

These readers don’t just visit. They return multiple times a day. “I’m actually really impressed at how often they come,” she added.

Cooney described a similar pattern at Condé Nast. While apps are not the primary scale driver across its portfolio, “they’re the most engaged audience and they’re paying audiences” on key brands. The Vogue app in particular delivers standout engagement levels.

The takeaway isn’t that apps replace the web. The web remains essential for scale and discovery. But when it comes to direct, habitual relationships, the app environment performs differently.

Retention is the core function

When asked whether apps are retention or acquisition tools, Cooney was direct: “It’s a retention tool.” That clarity shapes how success is measured. At Condé Nast, repeat usage over time is a leading signal. If a user becomes a multi-times-per-month visitor into month three, churn likelihood drops significantly.

Retention isn’t measured by downloads alone. Teams look at weekly users, DAU/MAU ratios, and sustained engagement across months. Habituation is the goal.

The Boston Globe’s strategy reinforces this approach. Colafemina explained that the Globe rebuilt its app in 2024 specifically as a retention product. It is embedded into subscriber onboarding immediately after purchase, making the app part of the reader’s daily routine from the start. Today, more than 40% of Globe subscribers access content through the app.

For them, the app is a mechanism for reinforcing loyalty from day one.

From chasing pageviews to building depth

The renewed focus on apps reflects a broader strategic shift.

“In earlier discussions, we were chasing page views,” Novicio said. “Now we still want to maintain scale, but we’re focused on future-proofing the business by building for loyalty and depth.”

That evolution has shifted product priorities within the app experience. Instead of optimizing primarily for raw reach, the team now looks closely at engagement metrics such as daily active sessions per user, repeat visits per day, and screen views per session. As Novicio explained, the focus is on how often people return each day and how deeply they engage once they’re there.

While depth can be more difficult to earn than traffic, it’s also more durable once established.

Monetization is catching up to engagement

Historically, apps were framed primarily as subscription vehicles. Advertising often lagged behind web performance. But that is changing.

At the New York Post, Novicio described plans for premium areas within the app dedicated to direct sales and high-value sponsorships, alongside expanded e-commerce integration. “I’m focused on the CPMs,” she said, underscoring the importance of monetization and her own goal of achieving web and app CPM parity. Investments in data infrastructure are enabling stronger signal delivery across all audience types. “We’re applying that to 100% of the audience that comes to us,” Novicio explained, referencing anonymous, registered, and opted-in users alike.

At Condé Nast, advertising conversations are similarly accelerating. Rather than replicating every piece of web-based ad logic inside native apps, Cooney described a more focused approach: start with advertiser use cases and design purpose-built solutions.

There is also a competitive lens. Internal comparisons increasingly point to app-first platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Advertisers expect immersive, high-quality environments. Publisher apps must meet that experiential standard while preserving editorial integrity.

Exclusivity drives action

While retention remains the primary function, apps can generate acquisition spikes when they host exclusive experiences.

Cooney pointed to Vogue’s app-only Nicki Minaj group chat as an example. The interactive event was accessible solely inside the app and became “one of the biggest single day drivers of downloads and new starts that we had had.”

Exclusivity created urgency and urgency drove downloads.

The lesson isn’t about locking content behind arbitrary walls. It’s about designing experiences that feel inherently mobile, and valuable enough to justify the download.

Competing on experience, not volume

Vertical video and swipe-based storytelling also surfaced as key areas of experimentation. Publishers recognize they cannot match the output scale of social platforms. The objective is different.

“We’re trying to compete in the sexiness of the experience,” Novicio said. “But as far as content, we still truly want to be ourselves.”

That means adopting intuitive interaction patterns — seamless swiping, strong visual storytelling, easy sharing — without sacrificing brand voice.

That is something apps offer that social platforms cannot: full control over the environment, the data, and the relationship.

A strategic reset

So, is this round two of apps?

In many ways, yes. But it is not a repeat of 2010 enthusiasm. It is a more disciplined, data-informed reset.

The web will continue to play a critical role in driving reach, and social platforms will play a role in discovery. What emerged from this conversation, however, is that the app holds a distinct and increasingly strategic position within that ecosystem. As Novicio, Colafemina, and Cooney underscored, the app environment is uniquely suited to cultivating habit, strengthening loyalty, and generating monetizable engagement within a publisher’s own infrastructure.

For publishers shaping their mobile strategy in 2026 and beyond, the conversation has moved forward. The real opportunity lies in building apps with clear purpose, cross-functional alignment, and a long-term view of audience value.

The post Retention over reach: the strategic reset behind publisher apps appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Despite progress, there remains cultural challenges that could stymie their growth outside of the Far East. As Tom Harrington, Head of TV at Enders Analysis points out, “People have been trying to make drama more snackable in the West for a long time and it has never really taken.” 

Jen Cooper, a vertical drama critic and journalist, sees a change though, with experimentation and interest growing. “America is beginning to tip … people are aware of them and willing to kind of talk about it now. I know from friends in New York that [say they] see people on the subway watching vertical dramas.” However, “America is nine to 12 months ahead of both Europe and the UK,” she says. 

The primary audience is “women aged about 25 to 65 who were looking for romance,” according to Cooper. Henry Soong, founder of US-based microdrama company, Watch Club, notes that many in this category have disposable income to be spent on those microtransactions. 

While several apps have sprung up, there are currently two major players in the field – China-backed Reel Short and Singapore-based Dramabox. According to Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2026 report, downloads of Reel Short increased 115% year-on-year in 2025, with the researchers finding there were 2.3 billion downloads of Short Drama apps over the 12-month period.  

Unsurprisingly, the global media industry has started to take notice.  

Making mega money from Microdramas 

Microdramas are generally monetized via microtransactions; viewers are lured in with free episodes before being asked to cough up cash. Big name brands such as Shein and Crocs are starting to take interest though and back projects, according to Cooper 

Research from Omdia back in October estimated that microdramas would bringing n $11billion globally last year. They said: “60% of global microdrama revenue comes from subscription or transactional payments, often following a free introductory model.” At that time, China accounted for 83% of total revenue. 

The basic monetization model involves making the first seven to 10 episodes of a show available for free. The companies producing the shows then ask for “about 50 cents per minute long episode, or they charge you a weekly subscription, which could bring in $17 USD per week,” explains Soong. Some also provide the option to purchase digital coins or watch an advert in-app.  

The audience hook 

The shows find their audience through heavy marketing on social media, drawing viewers back to the platform on which the show is based. That is how Cooper, a bookseller before becoming an expert in the medium, discovered them.  

Marketing spend is around nine times the production costs. “It’s all about really aggressive customer acquisition, working around the clock with social media ads, pushing them out, seeing what takes off, experimenting,” she says. 

“Spreading on social media is the key. “You want the show to go viral,” says Dan Lowenstein, a director on a many vertical dramas 

Crucial to turning people from casual viewers brought in by social media into paying customers is the hook – the episode at which people are required to pay. This is not just a responsibility of the business team, but the creatives too. Lowenstein says it is “part of…my job to make that hook a reality. So, you can play with that a lot. And that’s the that’s the kind of good part of this format is that there’s room to play and room to experiment.” 

Cooper outlines that a show has production costs of $100,000 to $200,000. That number is ridiculously low compared to traditional film budgets. 

Costs are kept down by very quick shoot times. “The whole thing is that you have these six, seven days to shoot basically a feature film,” explains Lowenstein. “The business plan is about smaller budgets, less risk… you’re shooting on average 12 to 13 pages a day.” That is considerably more than on traditional TVs or movies. The vertical nature of the output helps with this. “You’re not seeing as much you can shoot faster, says Lowenstein. 

Another key element of the revenue strategy is making a huge amount of content, possible due to those low shoot costs. “There’s been a race to just put out more and more,” says Cooper. There is an element of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. Cooper believes that “it does feel with some of the apps it’s kind of quantity over quality.” 

Niche content ripe for growth

The truth is, many of these shows are schlocky and low grade, with an emphasis on romance. Some even veer towards the pornographic. (There is a BDSM tag on Reel Short, for instance.) The acting and story lines are basic and hammy. The range of subject matter and quality may need to mature for the format to gain wider traction.

“I would categorize all of these shows on Reel Short and Drama Box as romance” says Soong. “And the reason why people are willing to pay per episode is because it fills a similar emotional need as OnlyFans does.” I’m sure various show creators and actors would dispute this, but the comment is largely a fair one.  

Platforms like Reel Short and Drama Box have a huge amount of power and, to access their particular shows, you must have their app. Of course, these firms, which, as Cooper explained, are essentially media ventures back by massive tech companies, can further exploit the IP they create. At a smaller scale, Soong is hoping his firm can build a social network around the vertical dramas, again keeping viewers on the platform. 

The content is certainly addictive. I began watching one show when researching this piece and found myself increasingly intrigued as to what would happen next. I later realized I’d watch 26 episodes of a certain show over a couple of different sittings, including navigating adverts to keep going. It wasn’t exactly HBO-style prestige TV, but I had been reeled in.  

While the recent growth of microdrama’s is certainly exciting, one high-profile failure looms large in media memory: Quibi. The app, launched by Jeffrey Katzenberg and led by Meg Whitman, which garnered $1.75B and folded six months after launch, was meant to bring shortform streaming to the US.   

Maybe it was just bad timing, as we headed into the pandemic and people were at home on big TVs, not swiping on the go on their phones.  Maybe the West was not yet ready to consume content in this way, before audiences became acclimated to TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts.  

Vertical dramas have been popular in China for a while now. Though it’s not yet clear whether their growth elsewhere will be a fad or a genuine shift in consumption habits, however the future plays out, there is currently enough interest in microdramas that the format is worth a look. There is a real sense that this is an area for creativity and a way to capitalize on the audience appeal of social vertical video.

The post How microdramas hook viewers and drive revenue appeared first on Digital Content Next.