As a result, notes AdExchanger editor Anthony Vargas, “Publishers, typically a tight-lipped crowd, have been surprisingly candid about losing 20%, 30% and in some cases even as much as 90% of their traffic and revenue over the past year.”

A survey of media leaders featured in the Reuters Institute’s latest annual predictions report revealed that publishers anticipate a further decline in traffic from search engines of more than 40% over the next three years. “Not quite ‘Google Zero’, contends author Nic Newman, “but a substantial impact none the less.”

In response, companies need to focus on how to address this challenge. And how to do so quickly, as traditional sources of referral traffic continue to hemorrhage. 

Five core factors to address Google Zero

Here are the five core factors that publishers should incorporate into their strategy and workflows.

1. Grasp the size of the problem

The term Google Zero stems from a question posed by The Verge’s Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel who asked what would happen to businesses if their Google traffic were to go to zero?

Changes to social media and search algorithms have reduced referral traffic for some publishers. In the AI era, these dynamics are becoming even more pronounced. The impact of AI-snippets at the top of Google search results means that when users ask a question, they find answers at the top of the page and many don’t click through for more detail or scroll down for more options. 

Data from the Pew Research demonstrates the impact of this: when an AI summary appears, users click traditional search results only 8% of the time, compared to 15% without one. 

Meanwhile, for publishers pinning their hopes on Google Discover, it’s worth remembering that most of the growth in this space comes from breaking news, content which is often excluded from Google AI summaries. 

“Google Discover traffic is mostly a mirage,” contends the media analyst Simon Owens, recommending that media companies “avoid optimizing their content operations around it.” “Publishers never owned those audiences and therefore should never have counted on them,” he added.

Lastly, the situation is further exacerbated by content in replacing carefully crafted headlines from publishers with those generated by AI. Initially confined to content in Discover, this is now happening in Search too. As Sean Hollister, senior editor at The Verge, put it, “This is like a bookstore ripping the covers off the books it puts on display and changing their titles.” 

All of this is to say that if you’re still heavily reliant on Google as an engine for traffic, it’s time to think again. 

2. Understand that this is part of a wider shift in user behavior

Much of the coverage to date has focused on the supply side, centering on publishers and platform dynamics. Far less attention has been paid to the demand side and evolving user needs.

Traditional search feels increasingly outdated. In its place, users are turning not just to AI-generated summaries within Google, but to AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity as they begin their information journey.

A recent study from Eight Oh Two Marketing, surveying 500 active AI users, found that 37% of those sampled now begin their search with these types of AI tools rather than traditional search engines. “Consumers are not choosing AI because it is trendy. They are choosing it [AI] because search has become too noisy, too effortful, and too slow.” 

At the same time, 85% of respondents said they still double-check AI-generated answers using traditional search, using these platforms for verification and deeper exploration.

Publishers need to recognize the implications of these behaviors. Those absent from the first phase, AI-driven discovery, may never be found in the second. Equally, those only visible in the verification phase are absent from the critical entry point of this new information funnel. If they’re not present in both of these environments, then they risk being overlooked and left behind. 

3. Recognize that visibility is increasingly binary

AI environments are far more winner-takes-most than traditional search. Previously, a publisher that ranked fifth on a search query would still earn traffic, as might those even lower. AI-mediated discovery cites a couple sources and if you’re not on the shortlist, you’re unlikely to be discovered.

For media companies, understanding how AI-generated answers are created is critical for ensuring that your content is featured in the places and spaces that LLM’s crawl. The foundations of good SEO, such as authority, clarity, credibility, still matter. Build on your SEO foundation; you don’t need to fully reinvent the wheel. 

Research on AI citation patterns shows that AI systems – like search engines before them – tend to favor sources with strong off-page authority. So, media companies will want to ensure that their content demonstrates the E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust) principles. 

That means having a presence on high-authority external platforms, citations in credible databases, earned media in leading publications, as well as content across the information ecosystem. This includes your own website, to thought leadership demonstrated by execs on LinkedIn and in publications like Forbes, through to engagement on Reddit forums, and material produced for other platforms such as company podcasts, YouTube videos, and so on.

A recent SEMrush analysis of 325,000 prompts across AI platforms found LinkedIn ranking second only to Reddit as a source for AI chatbot responses, particularly for professional queries. 

4. Build content that AI can’t replicate

Not all content is equally vulnerable to AI summarization. Sites that prioritize original storytelling, exclusive imagery, and strong visuals, can still thrive. 

According to The Digital Bloom, People.com saw a 27.52% year-over-year traffic increase through September 2025 by adopting this approach. Similarly, Substack witnessed a 40% year-over-year growth in July 2025. “This growth reflects users seeking authentic voices and first-hand perspectives,” they wrote. These are “content types that Google’s Liz Reid [VP, Search] specifically identified as gaining traffic in the AI era,” they added, referencing a discussion on wider online behavioral shifts that she had with The Wall Street Journal last year.

Conversely, if your content can be summarized in three bullet points by an AI, it is a commodity. That’s one of the reasons why a lot of evergreen content has been cannibalized and its traffic for many publishers has tanked. 

In response, many media companies need to simply produce less content and ensure that what they are doing is better. Content needs to be more meaningful. More impactful. More distinctive. Can it help to drive a conversion – in the form of a registration, a newsletter signup, or a subscription – so that audiences come to you first, and not their AI platform of choice? (And if not, should you be doing it at all?)

Similarly, media companies need to continue to invest in products that reduce dependency on external discovery channels. The New York Times is perhaps the best known proponents of this. Nearly half of Times digital subscribers now pay for more than one Times product, attracted by a mix of games, cooking, audio, news, opinion, product reviews and sport. Each of these are elements that can help to create habits and drive engagement that is independent of search.

5. Rethink what success looks like

The narrative is not so much that “AI is killing search,” but that AI should force us to rethink what search looks like. Search is no longer just a driver of traffic, it’s a multi-faceted arena covering discovery (AI chat), synthesis (AI chat and snippets), and verification (actually going to your content to dig deeper). 

As a result, publishers have to look more broadly at metrics they measure and value. In the AI-era, software company ClickRank, for example, points to areas such as citation frequency, brand mention rate, share of voice within AI answers, AI-driven referral traffic and sentiment of brand references.

And all of this sits alongside core metrics such as subscriber lifetime value, churn rates, and time on site. Chartbeat’s data shows us that “your most valuable traffic source might already be on your site,” reminding us that while addressing shift in search matters, engagement with existing visitors remains a key area of focus. 

As part of this conversation, at an industry level, we also need to move beyond discussing a reduction in referrals to better understand its impact on revenue. We know that clicks are down, but we know much less about what that means for subscriptions and ad yields. Hopefully publishers are already joining up these dots internally, but a wider industry conversation about this would also be beneficial. 

The bottom line

Worries about Google Zero are well founded, although its impact is uneven. Publishers that are most exposed to this shift are typically those with the heaviest dependence on evergreen, easily summarized content and platform-dependent traffic. Meanwhile, those that are best positioned to navigate these changes, are those who produce content that needs to be seen onsite or in-app, and who already have strong direct and habitual relationships with audiences. Off-platform discovery is part of their playbook, but they are not reliant on it.

There’s no point asking whether AI-powered search will disrupt the traditional referral model. We know the answer. Subsequently, Google Zero encourages us to think about distribution and engagement strategies at a time when search traffic is less predictable and the economics are increasingly hard to quantify.

As Press Gazette describes it, search is not dead, it is fragmenting. What the most successful publishers understand is that Google Zero doesn’t require a single response. It requires a range of them. That includes potential partnerships with tech companies and AI providers, optimizing distinctive content for generative engine optimization (GEO), as well as doubling down on user experience within your properties.  

These media companies recognize that we have moved beyond clicks to a more fragmented and distributed media ecosystem, one where value is defined not just by traffic, but by presence, influence, and direct relationships with audiences.

The post The publisher’s playbook for the Google Zero era appeared first on Digital Content Next.

AI inevitably looms large in this mix in 2026, particularly in terms of using these technologies to deliver on promised efficiencies and product innovation. But this isn’t the only issue keeping leaders up at night. Just as important, if not more so, are questions of maintaining and growing audiences, as well as the continued need for revenue diversification.

These issues play out against a backdrop where attracting and retaining attention remains a challenge. In an era of mass news avoidance, that a key consideration for news outlets. However, in an era where we have access to more entertainment sources than ever before, responding to the attention economy is a driver for every media company.

In terms of AI, embracing this technology strategically (without it eating publishers’ lunch) remains a tightrope that has to be walked. And the need for diversified revenue models is more important than ever as referral traffic from major platforms continues to decline.

As the latest predictions from Nieman Lab, Reuters Institute, and Deloitte demonstrate, the industry is grappling with these three interconnected factors. However, there are also opportunities to plot a successful way forward.

1. Tactics for audience growth and retention

Writing at the end of last year, Burt Herman the principal and co-founder of Hacks/Hackers outlined the risks of “People Zero,” noting the growing challenge of getting audiences to come directly to publisher content in the AI age.

As Herman notes, this challenge “pushes journalism to reconsider what we offer as our product.” That’s a sentiment applicable to all media outlets, and one which reinforces the need for publishers to demonstrate value (in terms of quality and cost), as well as distinctiveness, if they are to attract and retain consumers.

Herman argues that “journalism’s future is utility,” pointing to tools and approaches that can help publishers stand out. These include providing unique datasets that audiences can use to inform their lives, creating spaces that foster connection with others, developing immersive media experiences, and strengthening direct publisher-to-consumer communication.

This last point has become especially important as referral traffic from search and social platforms continues to decline. The trend is being further accelerated by AI summaries and chatbots, alongside the continued deprioritization of news on many platforms. As a result, publishers face growing pressure to reduce their reliance on platform-dependent distribution and focus instead on building direct relationships with audiences.

As Debra Aho Williamson put it in an article for The Rebooting, “To thrive, publishers must shift from renting audiences on external platforms to owning relationships through newsletters, direct engagement and differentiated content.”

For many publishers, newsletters are central to this approach. They provide a direct line to audiences, generate valuable first-party data, and offer clear advertising and sponsorship opportunities. The rise of personalized newsletters, along with a shift toward named newsletter hosts rather than anonymous corporate voices, has also made the format more appealing and more human.

Podcasts represent another important channel for deepening these relationships. Hearing the voice of a host creates an immediate sense of familiarity and connection. Like newsletters, podcasts are typically released on predictable schedules. Publishing at consistent times and delivering content directly to inboxes or podcast apps helps build habits, making engagement part of a listener’s daily or weekly routine and supporting retention over time.

By leaning into voice-led formats such as newsletters and podcasts, publishers can also tap into some of the dynamics that have fueled the creator economy. This sector thrives on perceptions of authenticity, personality, and direct connection. Recognizing this, organizations including The Washington Post and CBS are expanding the range of voices they feature, introducing new contributors and republishing material from partner organizations.

Rather than positioning the creator economy as competition (or a threat), partnering with trusted creators can be a way to bring new audiences into publisher ecosystems. This is particularly relevant as audiences increasingly follow individual voices they trust, often independent of institutional affiliation.

Publishers are also responding to these preferences through video podcasts, vertical short-form video, and more personality-led formats across platforms. A recent Reuters Institute survey found that three-quarters of publisher respondents say they will be encouraging their staff to behave more like creators this year. At the same time, Deloitte predicts that global ad revenues for podcasts and vodcasts will reach approximately $5 billion in 2026, representing close to 20 percent year-over-year growth.

Taken together, these efforts reflect a growing focus on aligning content formats, tone, and distribution with audience preferences. As we look at the big trends right now, we see media leaders doubling down on direct engagement, aiming to build stronger, more resilient audience relationships that are less dependent on external platforms.

2. AI: From experimentation to implementation

Alongside audience strategy, the second major priority for media companies is AI integration, specifically the shift from experimentation to practical, day-to-day implementation.

Deloitte’s 2026 TMT predictions describe this as a year defined by less exciting but essential work. This includes data hygiene, governance, and the challenge of scaling AI across organizations rather than launching isolated pilot projects. As Deloitte observes, “New foundational models, or even shiny new enterprise agentic applications, continue to impress,” they note, “but they will likely be more useful in the near term.” 

In practice, publishers are increasingly experimenting with AI-powered summaries, text-to-audio versions of articles, and translation tools that allow content to reach new audiences. These applications point to clear product and workflow opportunities, even as broader efficiency gains have yet to fully materialize.

At the same time, for all the rhetoric about the efficiencies that AI technologies will unlock, much of this potential across multiple industries has yet to be realized. Partly, this is due to the need to fact-check and correct AI outputs. More widely, as The Wall Street Journal observes there is also a disconnect between “how much time workers say the technology saves them on the job is vastly different from what executives report.”

Nevertheless, we can expect to see major investment in AI tools and technologies to continue, even if anticipated gains take longer to become reality than expected. According to a recent report from WAN-IFRA, nearly 93% of respondents to their annual World Press Trends survey identified AI and Automation as a top investment area for the coming year.

At the same time, publishers must grapple with a more fundamental shift. AI is increasingly becoming a primary route to information discovery for many users. Systems such as Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Claude are now intermediaries between audiences and content, raising new questions about visibility, attribution, and value.

As Nikita Roy, founder of Newsroom Robots Lab, incubated at the Harvard Innovation Labs, puts it, “ AI is becoming the new audience.” She argues that organizations will need to return to first principles and re-engineer themselves to meet this reality. That includes building teams focused on creating structured, living information that can surface effectively within AI-driven environments.

Licensing will be part of that mix, but these financial relationships are not necessarily lucrative, and often only the largest players get a seat at the table. All of this makes it incumbent that publishers don’t just optimize for being cited and summarized. They must also continue to build their own products and create reasons for audiences to engage directly with them, rather than third party tools and applications.

Without this, publishers risk becoming little more than content suppliers in an information ecosystem where others own the audience, data, and financial benefit of these behavior shifts. If they fail to do this, publishers will simply be creating a new form of platform dependency. To avoid this, it’s fundamental that media companies can demonstrate value, engagement, and impact on their own terms and across their own properties.

3. Revenue diversification remains central

Lastly, when it comes to broadening their revenue mix, media companies need to keep their foot on the gas.

Global advertising spend is expected to surpass a trillion dollars in 2026, but the percentage of that coming to traditional media companies continues to decline. Instead, the big tech companies, retail media players and influencers/creators ae among those who will benefit the most. The value of US creator economy, for example, is expected to exceed $20 billion in 2026, representing a CAGR of 16.2%, according to EMARKETER’s forecast.

All of this makes it essential for media companies to continue to look beyond advertising to ensure a firm financial footing. Subscriptions will play a role here. However, continued hikes in prices will test the patience, loyalty and wallets of even the most ardent consumers, especially as questions of affordability and the cost of living continue to loom large.

As I’ve previously argued, revenue streams such as live events, e-commerce and non-news content (such as games) are becoming progressively important.

Events continue to be the area that sparks the most interest, and perhaps has the most potential  for many media players. As summarized by Lineup, “events turn media brands into hosts. They deepen loyalty, open sponsorship opportunities, and extend the value of your content into real life.” “For media companies seeking to stay ahead of the curve, hosting, managing and monetizing events is no longer a nice add-on, “ they contend, “it’s a strategic imperative.”

By strengthening audience ties, generating new sponsor income, expanding geographic reach through hybrid and in-person formats, events can be a channel for growth, supporting strategies for audience growth, as well as efforts to move beyond traditional advertising and subscription models.

This is part of a wider trend identified in WAN-IFRA’s latest World Press Trends study. The report revealed that globally non-advertising and subscription revenues now accounts for over a quarter of publisher income. As a percentage, this is almost the same as companies make from digital!

Alongside events, companies are further expanding into areas such as B2B services, grants and philanthropy, and affiliate relationships, as well as more tried and trusted (if potentially volatile) activities such as content licensing and paid partnerships with platforms.

Successful publishers are maintaining their focus on these types of revenue generators, embracing strategies that align with their audience needs and their own content propositions.

Condé Nast, for example, help to generate $600 million in product sales for their partners in 2024. This represented a fivefold increase over four years, enabling the company to grow its affiliate revenues from brands which have editorial authority and strong ties with audiences.

And just as the year ahead is about the less glamorous side of AI, the same can be said in the revenue space. Kimberly Miller, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Operations at Payway, points out the importance of investing in payment systems and payment recovery. “Every declined or expired card represents more than a lost transaction,” she told Editor & Publisher. “Sometimes it is also a lost reader relationship. In 2026, publishers that prioritize payment data integrity and recovery automation will quietly strengthen their revenue foundation.”

The bottom line: Differentiating success from survival

Collectively, these three interlocking challenges will be at the heart of publisher success (or failure) in the year ahead.

The audience crisis is real and accelerating, making it a strategic imperative that media players tackle questions of news avoidance, declining referral traffic and identify how they can best grab – and retain – audience attention.

That means investing in direct relationships through newsletters, podcasts, video-first formats, and creator partnerships. It also requires a “barbell” strategy that prioritizes either snackable social content or deep, high-value consumption.

In terms of AI, the year ahead will see a maturing of efforts designed to improve workflows and products. Publishers will need to decide not only how AI supports their workflows and offerings, but also how their content is surfaced, summarized, or withheld in AI-driven environments. These choices will shape visibility, value, and control in ways that extend well beyond technology teams.

Lastly, building and nurturing multiple revenue lines while investing in retention, habit-forming products, and experiences that audiences actually want, remains key.

For media companies in the year ahead, a focus on deepening audience relationships, diversifying revenues, demonstrating value and deploying AI strategically and realistically, will be the key to success. These areas are firmly interwoven, and increasingly contingent on one another. In 2026, none of these media trends works in isolation. Media companies who understand this, and plan accordingly, will be best positioned to navigate whatever the next 12 months throws at us.

The post How to tackle the three tensions defining media in 2026 appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Publishers have often viewed influencers with skepticism, dismissing them as “YouTubers” or “TikTokers” in much the same way they once talked about bloggers. At the same time, there is growing recognition that this new wave of creators commands the attention of both audiences and brands. Goldman Sachs estimates it is already worth $250 billion annually, while IAB projects U.S. advertising spend alone will reach $37 billion in 2025. That’s up 26% year-on-year, and a growth rate four times faster than the overall media industry.

Given this, it’s no surprise that media companies are now waking up to the power of this sector and seeking to learn from, and partner with, it. As a result, we are (finally) seeing a shift in how traditional media views this sector, with an emphasis on partnerships, talent development and a mimicking of content styles.

Here’s what media companies need to know:

State of play: five models for collaboration

Publishers are increasingly taking the creator trend seriously, according to Nic Newman, Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. “They want to learn from creators but at the same time they need to maintain their editorial control and independence and that is not always an easy line to tread,” he told me.

The approaches vary significantly by vertical. “It is clearly much easier in lifestyle areas such as fashion and sport and much harder to collaborate around hard news and politics,” Newman notes.

George Montagu, Head of Insights at FT Strategies, shared with me a handy typology for understanding how these types of partnerships can work in practice, and examples of what this can look like:

The In-House Creator Model sees news and media organizations nurture internal talent to become quasi-creators. John Burn-Murdoch at the Financial Times, specializing in data visualization, exemplifies this approach.

The Creator Hire Model brings successful external creators into an organization. ESPN’s signing of Katie Feeney (a former Snapchat star) as their “Sports and Lifestyle Content Creator” demonstrates this strategy.

The Creator Contributor Model engages creators on a per-content basis. Der Spiegel’s work with Tara-Louise Wittwer as a columnist illustrates this selective collaboration approach.

The Creator Roster Model sees publishers building a portfolio of creators who, Montagu says “are given full creative freedom to pursue their own career, while feeding back to the “mother org” by virtue of audience.”

He cites Morning Brew’s hiring of Emma Chieppor (Excel Dictionary), as one such example, noting that Chieppor  “is allowed to continue her work on her own channels,” at the same time as helping to enhance the Morning Brew brand.

The Creator Licensing Model sees publishers license specific content from established creators. The Athletic’s licensing deal for Pablo Torre Finds Out, exemplifies this approach. The titular show, named one of TIME’s 100 Best Podcasts of All Time, is hosted by Torre, a Murrow Award winning journalist, and a former staff writer ESPN and Sports Illustrated.

What this looks like in practice

As Montagu notes, “it’s interesting to see all the different types and how they work in practice.” What these, and other examples, demonstrate is a growing convergence between traditional media and the creator economy, showing how they can align around key strategic goals and important points in the content calendar.

NBCUniversal’s strategy for the 2024 Olympics in Paris featured the work—and audiences—of content creators as a cornerstone of its coverage. The company embedded 27 creators into its Olympics output and generated over 300 million views across social platforms during the Games. NBCU has since announced it will adopt a similar approach for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

As Gary Zenkel, President of NBC Olympics, explained at the time, the goal was to “bring a unique perspective to fans of the Olympic Games,” while also reaching younger audiences with “the personalities, content, and voices they consistently engage with in their daily lives.” Capitalizing on established creator brands and giving them access to NBC’s platform helped the company reach new audiences.

Capitalizing on existing creator brands, and giving them access to NBC’s platform, helped NBCU reach new audiences. Moreover, they didn’t try to turn their journalists and  broadcasters act like TikTokers or other online creators, instead they partnered with TikTokers and creators and brought them into their digital fold.

In a further sign of the times, in July 2025, Dotdash Meredith rebranded to “People Inc.”, reflecting a strategic emphasis on a “distinctly human legacy.” The move places “people” front and center in its output, aligning with a broader desire for audiences to engage more authentically with brands and creators.

Meanwhile, at the grassroots level, the American Press Institute has documented how local newsrooms can bridge trust gaps with communities through creator partnerships.

Factchequeado, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, partnered with Latino content creators to counter disinformation among Latino and Hispanic communities in the United States. They worked with established creators who already have loyal audiences, enabling those creators to help spot—and push back against—false online narratives.

Alongside this,  THE CITY, a non-profit local news outlet covering New York recently collaborated with Gerrie Lim, a comedian and host of “The Pigeon Post,” to create explainer videos for the 2025 New York mayoral primary. Lim posts videos on TikTok and Instagram that use a comedic delivery (think The Daily Show) to unpack local NYC news stories. Videos produced via this collaboration were up 147% on THE CITY’s average reach for this type of content.

What’s prompting the shift in publisher-creator relationships

These examples demonstrate some of the ways that media companies are partnering with creators as part of their broader strategies to reach new audiences, deepen engagement, and stay relevant in a fragmented media landscape.

And it’s not hard to see why they are making this shift. IAB-backed research cited by Axios found full-time equivalent digital creator jobs grew from 200,000 in 2020 to 1.5 million in 2024. In the process the sector has attracted audiences, investment from brands and platforms, as well as interest from traditional media companies.

Moreover, as noted in 2025’s Digital News Report (DNR), “personalities and influencers are, in some countries, playing a significant role in shaping public debates.” Their data found that in France, the news creator Hugo Travers (HugoDécrypte) reaches 22% of under-35s, predominantly across YouTube and TikTok. Closer to home more than one-fifth (22%) of the DNR’s U.S. sample had come across news or commentary from Joe Rogan in the week following Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The Institute explored some of these themes further in a recent report on news creators. They found that mainstream organizations often struggle to compete for attention on visual platforms, with news creators especially dominating on YouTube and TikTok.  

As the Indian magazine Creative Brands put it, “the report is the most formal recognition to date by a leading journalism institution that news is being redefined by TikTok explainers, YouTube commentators, Instagram teachers and solo Substack journalists.” “The authority of the news is no longer assured by tradition of reputation.”

Moving forward: from experimentation to intentional strategy

Although there are clear synergies between media companies and creators, this relationship is still constrained by structural, cultural, and editorial obstacles. For those, on both sides, interested in working together more closely, these issues need to be overcome if this potential is to be realized.

Here are three of the most important:

1. Adopt the right model for your organization

Montagu’s typology offers a number of different models that media companies can pursue. Not every approach will work for every organization, and certain verticals – such as sports and lifestyle – will find this easier to embrace than hard news, where editorial norms around impartiality and control are deeply embedded.

As Nic Newman notes, “the issues of editorial control loom large, and impartiality and objectivity are deeply challenged in a creator world where point of view is part of the proposition. That will not sit easily with some publishers,” he observes.

Vox Media’s podcast network offers another model, providing infrastructure and ad sales for creators in exchange for a share of revenues. This model, whereby creators retain control while companies handle the business side, offers another way for media companies to manage their reputation while still dipping their toes into creator economy.

The opportunity for publishers lies not in abandoning standards, but in allowing trusted creators to help stories travel in platform-native ways, and to finding the right way to make this work for your company.

2. Build this into your structure

The American Press Institute stresses that partnerships must hinge on mutual trust, creative freedom, and respect for how audiences connect. Ideally this is built over time, not as a result of one-off collaborations.

Creator collaboration cannot sit on the margins of the newsroom.  It must be built into workflows, incentives, and leadership structures, in line with FT Strategies’ argument that newsrooms require “bridge roles” between editorial, audience, product and external talent.

Similarly, more publishers are developing their own staff as creators. Think about the trend to put star journalists front and center in newsletters and podcasts (including in the title), as an example of how this trend has been bubbling away for some time. It’s now accelerating, a recognition that some audiences are drawn more to individual voices than the wider media brand that they work for.

3. Redefine what success looks like

Traditional metrics such as page views and time on site, tell only part of the story in creator-led environments. Engagement, loyalty, and community strength increasingly matter more. As a result, publishers shouldn’t always default to working with creators who have the highest follower count. Niche, deeply engaged, audiences may be more valuable than large passive ones.

Similarly, as Nic Newman notes, “collaboration with creators for distribution—tapping into networks to help promote stories or coverage,” is an underutilized approach. “Communications teams and politicians have done this successfully (Trump/Rogan/Nelk Boys), but journalists have done this much less,” he says.

Final thoughts on publisher creator collaboration

The creator economy is forcing traditional media to adapt and evolve. Publishers that successfully can combine their institutional strengths (e.g. editorial standards, legal safeguards, and production capacity) with dynamics inherent in the creator economy (such as authenticity, platform fluency, and audience engagement) are best set to prosper in the coming years.

Ignoring the lessons from the creator economy, and overlooking opportunities for partnership, means opting out of the spaces where younger and more diverse audiences increasingly encounter news and information. That’s something few media companies can afford to do.

Importantly, this dynamic is not just one way. Research from the Reuters Institute shows that while audiences are increasingly reliant on creators for news, they also recognize these channels can be sources of misinformation. Moreover, many creators depend heavily on original reporting from established outlets, repackaging it with added context or personal perspective. That means there’s still a place for traditional media, both in terms of original reporting, and in the vigorous standards that underpin it. Working together can extend the reach, relevance, and impact of credible journalism.

Greater collaboration can also help address some of the major challenges faced by many creators, including burnout, platform dependency, shifting audience tastes, and relentless competition. Publishers, meanwhile, can potentially benefit from reaching new audiences, revitalizing their brand, and unlocking new commercial models.

This closer alignment will not happen overnight, and both sectors will continue to march to their own beat. But they can potentially be stronger together. For publishers wanting to capture part of the $37 billion creator marketplace, that means treating creators as partners rather than threats, building structured collaborations rather than one-off experiments, and maintaining their standards while at the same time embracing more personality-led content.

A failure to do this effectively means opting to become increasingly irrelevant to a growing number of audiences. And no one wants that.

The post From skepticism to strategy: media adapts to the creator economy appeared first on Digital Content Next.

In response, effective subscription strategies have become increasingly critical. Growing the percentage, and volume of income, that publishers receive directly from their readers is essential to revenue diversification. 

As a result, the past decade has seen paywalls become mainstream. This has been accompanied by the emergence of diversified reader revenue strategies that include membership programs, event strategies, and e-commerce. 

There have been some notable success stories during this period. By drawing more money directly from audiences, and reducing dependence on advertisers, many media companies have broadened their revenue base and reduced their reliance on volatile advertising markets. 

However, subscriptions, the cornerstone of most reader revenue strategies, are now at something of a turning point. As the Digital News Report noted, “Over the last 10 years, ongoing subscription levels across our basket of 20 countries have more than doubled but they now look to have hit a ceiling.”

Given this, it is important to ask, how we got here, why this leveling off matters and what can be done about it. 

The ad squeeze

Research from WARC in late-2023, clearly demonstrates why publishers must reduce their reliance on advertising. Despite advertising markets growing year-on-year, these additional monies are seldom finding their way to traditional publishers, whereas spend on search, social networks and retail media has continued to grow.

WARC’s data showed that more than half of global advertising spend was already going to five companies: Alibaba, Alphabet (Google, YouTube), Amazon, ByteDance (TikTok), and Meta (Facebook, Instagram).  

That trend line has only continued with advertisers attracted by the targeting offered by these platforms. And when advertisers are spending their dollars with publishers, it is increasingly focused on creators and non-hard news verticals such as lifestyle and sport. 

Professionally created media now receives only 51% of content-driven ad spend. That’s down from 72% in 2019. GroupM forecasts this will fall below 50% in 2026, as influencers and creator-journalists continue to attract a great share of advertiser budgets. These monies aren’t coming back. So that makes revenue diversification – with subscriptions serving as a cornerstone – essential.

Surveying the subscription landscape

More than three quarters (77%) of commercial publishers said that subscriptions are an area of key focus in 2025. 

This emphasis, according to a sample of nearly 300 industry leaders published by the Reuters Institute, is some way ahead of traditional display advertising, which is seen as “important or very important” in 2025 by 69% of their sample. It’s also well ahead of native advertising (59%).

Yet growing subscription income is not easy. As the Digital News Report’s authors note, “Publishers have already signed up many of those prepared to pay and in a tight economic climate it has been hard to persuade others to do the same.” 

Furthermore, across a basket of 20 wealthier countries, the study found that the share of users paying for news has levelled out at 18%.

With most households enjoying only one or two news subscriptions, that typically means that large, established, players like The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, dominate. Smaller publishers, such as local news providers, can struggle to punch through to enjoy their share of the subscription spoils. 

Alongside this, as the Pew Research Center recently observed, the ability to access news for free elsewhere is also a deterrent to taking out a subscription. 

Willingness to pay is further diminished by insufficient interest (32%). Pew notes that “Americans who don’t pay for news say the main reason is that it’s too expensive (10%) or that the news provided isn’t good enough to pay for (8%).”

If publishers are to grow the subscriber revenues, they need to do more than just double-down on their existing subscribers. They also need to broaden their reach, and that means addressing these issues. 

To do that, media companies must provide more content that audiences feel is high quality, relevant, accessible and beneficial to them. This has to be complemented by the availability of different pricing and payment structures, especially in the face of free to access AI snippets and other readily available content.  

Without this, the subscription needle is likely to remain static, stuck at fewer than one in five news consumers. In the face of diminishing returns from advertising, the status quo – when it comes to reader revenues – will not cut it.

3 strategies for counteracting stagnant subscriptions 

Although subscription growth has stalled across the industry, there are proven strategies and approaches that media companies can deploy to retain and develop their subscriber base. Here are three of them.

1. Bundling 

Bundling strategies are becoming increasingly creative and diverse, promising consumers value for money and access to a cornucopia of content. 

The market leader for this approach is The New York Times. It offers a range of digital packages, including an all-access subscription as well as separate non-news subscriptions covering games, recipes, audio, sport, and product reviews. They also offer two Family subscription models, offering up to four individuals access to either all NYT content, or its Games.

This approach encourages daily habits through non-news content, while also creating an environment for non-new consumers to “bump” into your current affairs coverage. 

For media groups with multiple titles, bundling can be used to offer access to content from across their stable. 

In Europe, an early pioneer of this strategy, +Alt from Amedia, now reaches 16% of Norwegian digital news subscribers. Subscribers can access over 100 newspapers and websites in Norway, as well as exclusive and ad-free podcasts on its Untold app, and sports coverage via Direktesport.no. It’s success has encouraged other Nordic publishers, such as Schibsted and Bonnier, to follow suit. 

Bundling isn’t just confined to your in-house products. As Greg Piechota, Researcher-In-Residence at the International News Media Association (INMA), told me earlier in the year, some companies are  “increasingly partnering with other publishers, even competitors, to engage broader audiences.” 

Nieman Lab’s Hanaa’ Tameez reported in March that the Gray Lady has these type of deals with more 20 publishers, including leading European brands such as Politiken, The Irish Times, El Pais, and FAZ. Nic Newman and Federica Cherubini at the Reuters Institute believe we can “expect to see these deals extended to more publications as a way to reduce churn or differentiate a more expensive product.”

2. New products 

Alongside packaging existing offerings, or those of their partners, publishers are also actively investing in new products and services to attract and retain subscribers. 

Podcasts are an area which continue to hold some promise. According to the Digital News Report, 42% of news podcast listeners, across 20 countries, indicated that they would be prepared to pay for news-related podcasts. 

This interest, which also applies to non-news shows, is driven by the connection listeners form with show hosts and a sense that podcasts can provide a deeper understanding of issues. Podcast monetization is further driven by exclusive content, early access, add-free listening, or separate podcast subscriptions at lower price points. 

The Economist’s Podcast+ package is billed as $41.30 for first year, then auto-renews at $59 annually. Schibsted Media’s podcasting platform, Podme, has over 350,000 paying subscribers.

Elsewhere, media companies are expanding into areas such as games, newsletters and lifestyle verticals like food. 

In an era of profound news fatigue, they are also playing around with different formats and presentation styles. Svenska Dagbladet (SvD), a Swedish newspaper, has found success with its Kompakt app, offering short, digestible summaries of the day’s most important news. Its accessible tone is supported by the tagline “Read less, know more.”  

Similarly, in the UK, The Independent launched “Bulletin,” a service for time-poor readers, which uses Google Gemini, to create article summaries. “A new team of (human) editors will oversee all content and sign off before publication, solving the problem of attribution and fact-checking in many other AI initiatives,” the publication said. 

We can expect to see more outlets follow in their footsteps of SvD and The Independent, creating new products and harnessing AI tools, to reach audiences in a style and time-efficient manner which speak to their needs. Afterall, as Kompakt’s leaders contend, “journalism is too important to be boring.”

3. Flexible payment models 

To attract audiences that may be interested in your paid content, but who are resistant to high prices or long-term financial commitments, publishers are once again experimenting with greater flexibility in payment. Examples include day passes, week passes, or cheaper, more limited subscription propositions. 

Last year, the Torstar newspaper chain in Canada launched a pay-as-you-go model. Accessing a single article cost 75 cents, with daily payments capped at CAN$1.50 for full access.

In Finland, the launch of Uusi Juttu (New Story) by the Danish news organization Zetland included a dedicated membership tier for people on low incomes. Readers could access the site for €25 in the first year, rather than the reduced annual membership of €100 offered more widely to early supporters, journalism.co.uk reported. 

In addition to these approaches, dynamic paywalls are also continuing to become more common place. INMA’s Greg Piechota observes that usage has quadrupled to 22% since 2020 among news brands participating in their benchmarking program.

The benefit of this approach, as The Audiencer’s Madeleine White explains, is that because “every visitor to a publisher’s website is different, this strategy allows for adapted and targeted paywall messaging, subscription offers, and engagement journeys to optimize conversion rates for each ‘type’ of reader.” 

As AI tools behind this personalization continue to improve, expect even more publishers to adopt this paywall model, as well as some of the other tactics designed to make content more accessible and equitable.

Subscriptions today: the takeaway

At first glance, subscription levels appear to be stalled. However, this masks a more complex picture. Publishers are being creative through their use of bundles, partnerships, new and expanded products, as well as innovative pricing models. 

There remain real challenges in terms of overcoming willingness to pay for content, especially news, as well as the very real financial pressures many households are under. Nevertheless, subscription stagnation is not universal. Innovating in both product, and distribution, can make a difference. 

Emphasizing quality and utility, as well as highlighting non-news content, and the wider value proposition, can all play a pivotal role in addressing user needs, thereby helping companies retain subscribers and reduce churn. 

Subscription strategies aren’t failing. Rather, they are reaching a new level of maturity. 

Publishers need to balance deepening relationships with early adopters and their most loyal audiences, while at the same time broadening their appeal by demonstrating value and creating new pathways for reluctant readers. The providers who can navigate this tightrope will be the ones most likely to succeed with their subscription strategies in 2025 and beyond. 

The post State of subscriptions 2025: pushing past the paywall plateau appeared first on Digital Content Next.

But, unlike a number of other legacy social networks, the platform continues to go from strength to strength. Back in 2022, I argued on these pages that media companies need a dedicated YouTube strategy, a sentiment that remains equally relevant three years on. 

Here are six reasons why many media companies need to reconsider the value they attach to YouTube, and six proven tactics to help maximize their impact and approach to the platform.

YouTube enjoys huge reach and engagement 

According to the Business of Apps website, YouTube has more than 2.7 billion monthly active users. Over 238 million of these users are in the U.S., the StatsUp site notes. In terms of reach, that makes it either the biggest, or second largest, social network in the world, depending on your source. Either way, it’s a huge audience.

Lastly, engagement dwarves other social networks. “YouTube takes the lion’s share of … social media time,” comments Simon Kemp, the Chief Analyst at DataReportal. “The world spends almost twice as much time using YouTube as it spends using the platform’s next nearest rival, TikTok.” 

Despite this, many publishers continue to treat YouTube as an afterthought compared to shinier, newer, visual-oriented platforms like the aforementioned TikTok or Instagram. 

Esra Dogramaci, a digital news executive and YouTube specialist, who has worked for international broadcasters including Al Jazeera, BBC, DW, and others, agrees. “News organizations [and] publishers should have always been paying attention to YouTube,” she told me. “We often forget that YouTube is the second biggest search engine, and [the] world’s largest video platform.”

It’s a core platform for reaching Gen Z and Gen Alpha

Efforts to more effectively engage younger audiences is a key goal for many media companies. It’s no surprise that YouTube can be a pivotal plank in these strategies. Afterall, as Rande Price, VP, Research at Digital Content Next, recently reflected, “prioritizing video formats that are concise, authentic, and visually native to social platforms is essential to reaching Gen Z.”  

Data published at the end of last year found that more than seven in 10 Gen Z consumers (71%) discover new media content (such as music, podcasts, and TV series) through YouTube, only just behind social media as a whole (72%).

Moreover, 73% of U.S. teens aged 13-17 (a mix of Generation Z and Generation Alpha, a demographic born after 2010) say they use YouTube every day. According to insights from the Pew Research Center, that means YouTube is “the most widely used and visited platform” among this age group. That includes 15% who said that their use of the platform is “almost constant.”

Short-form video is growing in popularity 

There are multiple ways to harness YouTube to attract younger audiences. As Price points out, “tone, pace, and relevance” are intrinsic to this. Those sentiments are applicable to all content on the platform, including YouTube Shorts, an area seeing considerable growth. Last month, Neal Mohan, YouTube’s CEO, revealed that “YouTube Shorts are now averaging over 200 billion daily views!” 

That audience isn’t just Gen Z, although they are a significant share of Shorts consumers. 

Publisher’s short video strategies therefore should encompass YouTube, as well as TikTok, and Reels on Facebook and Instagram. These formats can also encourage consumption of long-form video, as well as acting as their own, standalone, genre.

“YouTube Shorts is… the ‘take away’ version prior to the ‘dine in’ experience,” contends Dogramaci. She argues that Shorts can serve as a gateway to your main channel especially if it is fully optimized. (For tips on how to do this, read to the end of the article!) 

“It appeals to younger audiences with short-form content,” she says, “provided that you’ve done all the housekeeping in terms of channel and video optimization.”

YouTube is becoming a podcasting behemoth 

YouTube now has 1 billion monthly active podcast users worldwide. That’s more users than Spotify, Variety says. 

According to Edison, YouTube is the most popular service for listening to podcasts in the United States, ahead of Spotify and Apple. So, if content creators aren’t distributing their podcasts on YouTube, they are potentially missing out.

Furthermore, “YouTube is often the first place people go when looking for a new podcast,” the platform’s blog claimed earlier this year. To aid with this discovery, in May, the company began releasing a weekly chart of YouTube’s Top 100 podcast shows in the U.S.

And as the differentiation between video and audio content continues to blur, Gen Z is driving much of this trend, Edison found. Their research stated that this age group feels that “video provides a better understanding of context/tone through facial expressions and gestures,” and it also enables consumers to feel “more connected to the podcaster(s).”

It’s big on screens of all sizes 

Although the smaller screen garners a considerable amount of YouTube consumption, the growth of connected TV’s (CTV) has also been pivotal in YouTube’s continued growth. 

In the U.S., YouTube is now watched on TV screens by more people than on mobile. Or, as the company put it at the end of last year, “YouTube is the new television.”

That said, the platform is at pains to point out that this isn’t the same as “the ‘old’ television,” pointing to Shorts (which are popular on TV, just ask my kids), live streams, podcasts, sports, and full shows, as part of the platform’s content mix. 

Emphasizing its popularity, data from Nielsen shows that 11.6% of all TV viewing time in the United States is to YouTube.  That’s ahead of viewing time from the likes of Disney, Fox, and Netflix. 

Given these findings, in an age of investment in FAST channels (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) it’s a reminder that brands and media companies still need to factor YouTube into their video strategies. Its TV audience is simply too big to ignore. 

YouTube matters to news consumers 

The variety of content on YouTube, and its reputation as a source for entertainment, influencers, and User Generated Content (UGC) can mask its popularity as a platform for news and information. New data from the Digital News Report 2025 emphasizes this. Around a third of their global sample uses YouTube (30%) for news each week, just behind Facebook (36%). Given that weekly usage of YouTube for any purpose stood at 63% this is a high percentage of global digital news consumers using the platform for news. 

In major markets such as India, the use of YouTube for news stands at more than 50%, an important consideration for international news brands seeking to gain a foothold in the world’s most populous nation. Large news audiences on the platform can also be found in other major emerging markets such as Nigeria, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Brazil.

Making inroads into these markets won’t necessarily be easy for traditional media brands, however, as much of the consumption is centered around what the Report authors refer to as “alternative media voices.” This category includes online influencers and personalities, independent journalists, as well as politicians who can go direct to audiences, by-passing traditional media gatekeepers. 

Nevertheless, given concerns about misinformation on YouTube – and other social networks – there are opportunities for trusted news and media brands to meet user needs for news and information. And they are in a position to do so in a manner that also offers the credibility that audiences desire.

Conclusion

YouTube’s reach, variety of content offerings, and resonance with younger and news audiences mean that it is an essential distribution platform for publishers in 2025. Of course, it’s not without its challenges. Around 70% of content is algorithmically recommended, meaning that YouTube’s recommendation engine can divert viewers away from publisher channels to other creators. It can also be very difficult to drive traffic from the site back to your own properties. 

Yet, YouTube’s size, versatility, and reach – especially with Gen Z and teens – make it hard to overlook. Whether your goal is audience growth, revenue diversification, or brand-building, a dedicated YouTube strategy will be a must for many content creators. Publishers who invest in understanding and leveraging YouTube’s evolving ecosystem will be best positioned to thrive in the digital content landscape; and the pivotal role YouTube plays in this space. 

The post Yes, YouTube is the future of publishing: here’s why appeared first on Digital Content Next.

These moves are driven by a combination of factors such as fear of missing out and falling behind as Generative AI continues to evolve. Companies also want to have the ability to use these technologies for a range of benefits including efficiencies and the development of new products. 

The opening months of 2025 have witnessed the continued integration of AI into workflows and further developments that promise to yield a range of benefits for content creators. 

Here are four noteworthy AI trends and how media executives should be thinking about the emerging opportunities they present. 

1. Conversational AI enhances connections

Both audio and text-based conversational AI are gaining traction. According to the Reuters Institute, harnessing AI to turn text into audio is the top audience-facing AI application for media leaders in the year ahead. These moves are driven by “advances in voice technologies [that] have made it possible to transform text articles into audio (in multiple languages or tones).” 

Moreover, as noted by ElevenLabs, an AI Audio research and deployment company that works with publishers such as Time, “the shift to AI-driven audio isn’t just about convenience — it’s about survival in a landscape where audiences increasingly prefer to listen rather than read.” (NB: their italics.)  This trend is evidenced at outlets such as The Washington Post which saw daily audio listens double in the first six months of last year. 

And as these AI tools get cheaper, more accessible, and sound increasingly more human, AI-powered consumer experiences will become more mainstream across the media landscape. That includes local – as well as national and international – media outlets. 

Alongside these audio formats, AI-driven chatbots are also becoming more prominent. 

Although there are legitimate concerns about the accuracy of news summaries provided by these tools, the way in which they access content from sites that have blocked their crawlers, coupled with a frequent inability to cite sources or provide referral traffic, these products are becoming more prevalent. This week, for example, saw The Straits Times in Singapore launch a chatbot that answers questions from readers on career-related topics, drawing on an archive of 5,000 stories published on this topic since 2020. 

Sensing the opportunity, businesses like Tars offer a chatbot specifically designed for news organizations. Its functionality allows audiences to interact with news stories in a conversational format, ask follow-up questions, rate articles, and access related visual content.

Meanwhile, several major media providers have signed deals to provide content for AI chatbots owned by some of Silicon Valley’s biggest players. Late last year, Meta revealed it would use content from Reuters to answer user questions in its chatbot about the news and current events. More recently, AP inked a similar deal with Google, which will see news from the Associated Press featured in the tech company’s Gemini app. 

Takeaway

As user needs and preferences continue to evolve, media companies must respond accordingly. Delivery of content via voice and chatbots, may become more mainstream, given the growing demand for more informal and conversational interactions with content. Catering for these audiences will become further engrained in media distribution strategies.  

2. The return of content at scale

AI-assisted content creation is not a new phenomenon. However, it is creating an opportunity for some media outlets to turn back the clock to the era when scale was seen as king.

Patch, the local news provider that was acquired by AOL in 2009 (and offloaded in 2014) has used AI newsletters to expand Patch’s reach over the past few months from 1,100 U.S. communities to 30,000. As Axios explains, these newsletters feature five stories from Patch sites along with material aggregated from other online sources. 

Despite its use of AI to scale, Patch purportedly has 85 full time newsroom employees. However, Nieman Lab reported in January how a company producing AI-generated newsletters in 47 states and 355 towns and cities across the U.S. appeared to be operated by a single person. 

These examples demonstrate the ease with which AI can help curate content at scale. 

Although these efforts can curate content to consolidate coverage, they don’t deliver original journalism. Moreover, it can be difficult to check the veracity and accuracy of content produced at this volume. 

Questions around accuracy and the absence of fresh reporting were similarly leveled at the Italian conservative newspaper Il Foglio, which recently published a four-page edition produced entirely by AI. “The articles were structured, straightforward and clear, with no obvious grammatical errors,” the Guardian notes. “However, none of the articles published in the news pages directly quote any human beings.”

These examples may make some media leaders, and audiences, uncomfortable. Nevertheless, they can be viewed as an extension of some of the ways AI technologies are already being used. 

AP has been using AI to produce stories based on earning reports for over a decade, dramatically increasing the number of stories it produces in this arena as a result. At the same time, Gannett publications in the Boston area have begun harnessing a generative AI tool called Espresso to draft articles from community announcements and press releases. 

Similarly, Semafor has revealed how The New York Times is exploring using AI tools to assist with SEO, research, headline writing, content for social media and other purposes. This can speed up the production process, potentially creating time for employees to produce more in-depth and creative content, as well as increasing the volume of output. 

Takeaway

The use of AI to automate routine tasks has long been cited as a benefit of these tools. Advocates argue AI will enable staff to focus on original and deeper work. However, there is a risk that these technologies will have the opposite effect, encouraging creators to publish more content, much of it low quality “AI slop.” The need for originality and distinctiveness will be the differentiator for most players in an AI-driven world. While some providers can use AI to scale their output, doing so while maintaining quality, distinctiveness and value isn’t always easy or an approach that will work for everyone.  

3. Beyond efficiency: AI as a tool for accessibility

Discussions around AI often focus on efficiencies, the ability to streamline workflows, or harness these tools to create new products. This can certainly be true. Last month, political news outlet Politico launched their Policy Intelligence Assistant — a new AI-powered tool enabling Politico Pro subscribers to generate in-depth policy reports using the company’s proprietary reporting and analysis.

However, at the same time, AI can also be used to ensure that content is able to reach wider, more diverse, audiences. 

Publishers are already using AI to help with translation. But the benefits can go well beyond that. Speech-to-Text tools can generate captions for live broadcasts, webinars, and events, making the information more accessible. Similarly, these technologies – augmented by human input – can aid with audio description, the creation of ALT text, and personalization. This can represent a business opportunity that expands reach and potentially fosters greater audience loyalty.

In Austria, the APA (Austria Press Agency) is developing an AI tool to generate alternative text for infographics. The goal is to help visually impaired users better access data-driven journalism.

Chitranshu Tewari, the Director of Product and Revenue at Newslaundry in India, argues that “AI-driven accessibility isn’t only better product design but also good business.” Reflecting on their own experiences, he comments that  “our accessibility efforts didn’t just make our platform more inclusive — they also attracted new paying subscribers.”

Takeaway

AI can do more than help media companies tick compliance boxes. By making content more user-friendly there are opportunities to better serve all audiences, especially those that have historically been underserved or overlooked. AI can help to embed inclusive design principles, while at the same time making access to your products more equitable and valuable. 

4. Trust and transparency in media’s AI age

As AI becomes more deeply integrated into content production and consumption, media leaders must continue to understand – and address – attitudes towards these technologies among consumers. 

Research demonstrates that public sentiment towards AI in the production of content, such as journalism, varies widely. “On the whole, people are generally positive about journalists’ ability to use technology for professional purposes,” says the Center for News, Technology & Innovation. Nevertheless, attitudes are often shaped by users’ personal experiences and knowledge of these technologies.

This divergence in public opinion reaffirms the need for transparency about the usage of AI technologies. That can be particularly true in the creation of news content. 

Takeaway

In an age of low levels of trust in mainstream media, disclosure and the presence of clear – publicly available –  guidelines around how AI is being deployed, is important. Media companies should be upfront about when and how AI is involved in content creation, as well as the potential limitations inherent within these technologies. For example, do audiences understand how answers generated by your AI chatbot are produced? If they don’t, arguably they should.

Putting the AI pieces together 

AI is already a transformative force that is reshaping the media industry. It is redefining workflows, as well as how content is produced, distributed, and consumed. 

As we’ve seen, some of the trends in this space have only accelerated in the first part of 2025, although they are often underpinned by core principles which have always made good, strategic, sense. These changes touch on the core of what great content looks like: how those stories are made, where – and how – they are consumed, and what trust looks like in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Chief among these, media companies must continue to meet audiences where they are. In 2025, this is increasingly in conversational online environments. Whether it is via voice or chat, AI can be used to create experiences that feel more informal, responsive, and interactive. 

At the same time, even though AI enables publishers to automate routine tasks, freeing up some staff time in the process, outlets should avoid the temptation to flood platforms with more material. In an era of abundance, content isn’t a numbers game. Originality and distinctiveness will determine which providers survive and thrive. 

AI’s role in the origination of creative work also needs to be effectively communicated. Audiences want, and deserve, transparency, ethical clarity, and the knowledge that there is still human and editorial oversight of the content they consume.

And lastly, in doing all of this, it is incumbent on media players to integrate inclusive design into everything they do. This approach isn’t just important from an ethical or compliance standpoint, it can also be commercially beneficial, with AI potentially making this easier to do than ever before.

The strategic use of AI tools and technologies offers media companies considerable opportunities, but leaders also have to recognize that there are also inherent risks too. This includes resisting the urge to use AI simply to do more. Rather, the focus for folks in the C-Suite must be to do better: creating enhanced opportunities for engagement and doing so in a way that is transparent and where accuracy and quality remain paramount. 

The next chapter of AI in the media business is being written now. It’s up to all of us to ensure it’s one worth consuming.

The post Four AI trends and why they matter to media businesses appeared first on Digital Content Next.

The days of easy subscriber growth are over. To drive subscription growth, media companies must double-down on addressing core challenges such as churn, consumer fatigue, declining social referrals, and opportunities afforded by AI to sharpen their engagement strategies.

This will mean focusing on retention and maximizing lifetime value. Media organizations will also need to refine paywall strategies and offer flexible, engaging, experiences to ensure audiences keep coming back – and, ideally, keep paying for your content.

To better understand these trends, I reached out to four leading industry experts: Kevin Anderson, Peter Houston, Greg Piechota, and Madeleine White, and examined the latest insights from WAN-IFRA and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Here’s what you need to know.

Trend 1: Retention is king

“Publishers long ago converted the low-hanging fruit of their most engaged audiences to subscribers,” notes Kevin Anderson, Director Consulting Services at Pugpig. This is one reason why, as the latest Digital News report revealed, subscription growth has largely flattened.

Moreover, in an era of news avoidance and on-going declines in social media referrals, “the flow into the top of the conversion funnels is drying up,” Anderson adds. “Growth is getting harder to find.”

As a result, a focus on retention will a key priority for publishers in 2025. Afterall, as Greg Piechota, Researcher-In-Residence at the International News Media Association (INMA), reminds us, “you make more money with higher retention than with higher price.”

An emphasis on reducing churn and developing long-term customer relationships can be seen across the subscription economy. Recurly’s 2025 State of Subscriptions report found that return acquisitions account for 20% of new subscribers, underlining the value of retaining your audience.

Tactics to successfully do this include payment flexibility (e.g. weekly, monthly and annual plans), and the ability for users to pause a subscription, rather than cancel it.

Local newspapers like the Bangor Daily News in Maine, enable you to pause your print subscription when going on vacation. The New York Times offers something similar. Applying this principle to digital products may reduce cancellations and keep more consumers engaged long-term.

This matters because, as The Daily Beast discovered, subscribers are worth 18 times more than unknown users. And that figure grows to 169% when revenue from first-party data and advertising is taken into account across channels such as newsletters and apps.

Retention strategies therefore need to encompass your whole product stack. Newsletters, apps, podcasts and push notifications aren’t just pathways to conversion. They are a means to drive revenue and deepen audience loyalty across multiple touchpoints.

Trend 2: Harness AI to become truly audience-first

Media companies have talked about being “audience-first” for years, says Madeleine White. But a lot of this potential is unfulfilled, she contends. White, VP Marketing at Poool, and Editor In Chief and co-founder of The Audiencers, believes advancement in AI offers a means to finally deliver on this promise.

AI allows us to segment readers based on interests, engagement levels, and traffic sources. This means that media companies can move away from generic offerings to more personalized experiences that support subscription growth.

White points to TIME’s Person of the Year experience as a case in point. Through the use of Generative AI, audiences could consume the cover story through a range of formats. This included an audio version, a concise summary, an in-depth analysis, and the ability chat with an AI assistant about the winner, President Donald Trump.

“Instead of simply kind of creating this single form, the article becomes shapeless,” White says. “It can be transformed and controlled by each reader, which is basically what audience first, is all about.”

Trend 3: AI-powered paywalls become commonplace

Dynamic AI-driven paywalls are nothing new. But they are growing in adoption and sophistication. And this evolution offers subscription growth.

As INMA’s Piechota explains, “publishers are using data and AI to tailor paywalls more precisely. This boosts conversion by predicting both each user’s and each article’s propensity to subscribe.”

Hearst USA is one such publisher adopting this more sophisticated approach. They worked with Mather Economics to create a machine learning model that uses 75 different variables to trigger actions designed to mitigate churn and engender long-term customer loyalty.

“The biggest challenges lie around putting this into practice,” White contends. Many “publishers are kind of trying to jump the gun and go straight to a very machine learned AI based model,” she says. She recommends a more incremental approach. Articles that provide unique value should sit behind a paywall, White suggests. More “commodity content” can be open to all, in order to get as much advertising revenue as possible.

Argentina’s Clarín, the Spanish-language newspaper with the largest number of digital subscribers in the world, is already adopting this approach. As outlined by Spanish journalist and consultant Ismael Nafría, hindering access to what Clarin calls “decisive articles” is essential to persuading audiences to subscribe. The publication seeks to publish 10 to 12 of these kinds of articles per day.

Trend 4: Bundling 2.0

I wrote about bundling strategies back in May 2023. Since then, a growing number of publishers have sought to innovate and expand their efforts in this space to fuel subscription growth. Piechota observes how companies aren’t just bundling their own products. They’re “increasingly partnering with other publishers, even competitors, to engage broader audiences.” 

One such business, The New York Times, “is obviously the Queen of the bundle,” says Peter Houston, co-founder of Media Voices and the author of The Magazine Diaries.

Last summer it was revealed that nearly half The New York Times’ digital subscribers pay for more than one Times product. The Times offers a range of combined and standalone subscriptions across its verticals for news, cooking, games, audio (a subscription launched in the past year), product reviews (Wirecutter) and sports (The Athletic).

The Gray Lady recently announced it has more than 11.4 million total subscribers. However, that hasn’t stopped it looking for subscription-rooted partnerships, at home and abroad.

Meanwhile, both Anderson and Piechota point to the success of the Norwegian publisher Amedia as a leader in this space. “Amedia is a super bundler,” says Piechota, “selling readers access to more than 100 brands with one price and app.” He notes that 75% of digital subscribers at Amedia upgraded to such a bundle; compared to 50% at the Times.

Trend 5: An emphasis on pricing and value

Media companies are increasingly vying for our time, as well as our wallets. “If Netflix puts its prices up, do you cancel Netflix, which you watch for hours every week, or the hobbyist magazine which you love but only read once a month?” asks Houston. Against this backdrop, the perceived value of your offer will define a consumer’s propensity to subscribe or keep a subscription.

The breadth and depth of content you offer is part of this equation. However, specialist content, which allows you to dig deeper, can also be a major draw. As Houston explains, “super-niche coverage will also become attractive to consumers who want less distraction and more of what they really care about.”

Tortoise Media’s Daily Sensemaker podcast Is a case in point. It hits multiple consumer needs via a daily 10-minute show exploring a single topic, designed “to make sense of the world.”

“Value adds” can also be part of this mix. Membership models have long leaned into this, with a mix of exclusives, events and discounts. Last week the podcast The Rest Is Politics US announced that founding members would be able to join  recordings of new episodes live on YouTube. Everyone else gets to see (or hear) the show a day later.

Print might also be part of the equation. In October, The Atlantic revealed it would return to monthly editions of its print publication due to subscription growth and a return to profitability. The title had been published 10 times a year for 22 years running.

And after a four-year hiatus, Saveur magazine, a 30-year-old gourmet, food, wine, and travel publication, resumed print editions last spring. “We see our print product as the couture of our brand,” Editor in Chief and CEO Kat Craddock told The Publisher Podcast. “It’s for the superfans.”

In short, subscribers want to feel they are getting their money’s worth, both in terms of content and experience. Delivering on both of these fronts is the sweet spot publishers will increasingly need to hit to drive subscription growth.

Assembling strategic pieces for subscription growth

The subscription landscape is beginning to undergo a major transformation, driven by the need to innovate, and the ability to harness AI and audience data to create more tailored and media-rich offerings.  These factors combine to create opportunities for subscription growth.

INMA’s Greg Piechota highlights the key takeaway. “The common thread,” he says, “is a blend of differentiated journalism and engagement-driving products.” And this must be underpinned by “mastery in data analytics, and a willingness to experiment.”

Success in this arena is vital for the financial health of most media companies. A survey of 326 media leaders in 51 countries, as the Reuters Institute’s annual predictions report, found that 77% of respondents said subscriptions were “likely to be important or very important” for their company in 2025.

To succeed publishers must move “beyond long and discounted trials, and targeted price increases at renewal,” Piechota contends. Moreover, as Pugpig’s Anderson points out, although many publishers have been trying to increase the average revenue per user (often through premium bundles), that’s not an option that’s open to everyone.

As a result, in the coming year, expect to see a refinement of subscription tactics, with an emphasis on retention, personalization, and flexibility. These principles will cut across price structures, bundling strategies and wider engagement strategies.

“The bottom line for subscriptions is that people don’t want to waste money or time on them,” argues Media Voices’ Houston. “So many people have a bloated subscription stack and the reckoning is coming.”

With many outlets continuing to see a decline in monies from advertising and print, an emphasis on reader revenue will remain a strategic priority.

As Poool’s White emphasizes, that means it’s more important than ever to deploy user-focused, audience-first approaches. These models value loyalty and long-term relationships more than short-term conversions.

Continued subscription growth is possible for media companies that understand and incorporate these factors. By evolving their subscription growth strategies, they will be most likely to prosper in the year ahead and beyond.

The post Subscription growth trends to watch in 2025 appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Given these financial realities, revenue diversification is essential. Fortunately, there are many ideas out there to learn from. Here are five alternative – and well-established – revenue sources that are poised to become more prominent, and important, for publishers in the year ahead. 

1.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) licensing opportunities

As Generative AI continues to gain traction, many media companies are signing licensing agreements with the companies behind these technologies. 

There are pros and cons to this, with several publishers currently litigating against their content being used by these platforms. However, for some media companies, AI licensing agreements offer an alluring mix of copyright protection and monetization opportunities.

Examples that we have seen in the past year include: 

• Hearst’s partnership with ChatGPT which promises “appropriate citations and direct links.” 

• UK-based publishers including the Financial Times, Guardian Media Group and Sky News, signing a strategic partnership ProRata.ai. DMG Media, home of The Daily Mail, has also taken an equity stake in the company.

• Reuters, Axel Springer and the USA TODAY Network are featured content partners for a voice delivered summary of the news and weather that is built into Microsoft’s Co-Pilot product.

• Reuters also agreed a multi-year deal with Meta, supplying content for queries asked about the news in Meta’s AI chatbot. 

However, not all publishers are ceding the AI opportunity to tech companies, which could offer licensing revenue closer to home. One major publisher, Dow Jones, recently signed up nearly 4,000 news publishers for Factiva Smart Summary, a new Generative AI feature in its business intelligence platform. These licensing agreements span more than 160 countries and 29 different languages. Partners include The Associated Press, Swiss News Agency AWP Finanznachrichten AG, News Corp Australia, and The Washington Post. 

As Generative AI continues to expand, expect more of these partnerships and products in 2025. 

2. Live events and experiences 

Pre-pandemic, live events offered a major source of revenue optimism for publishers. Post-COVID, this has morphed into a mix of in-person, online, and hybrid models. To draw sponsors and sell tickets, events work best when aligned with your brand and the content you are known for, an approach that a growing number of media outlets are leaning into.

Forbes has capitalized on its 30 Under 30 list by wrapping a live multi-day event around it. Their 2025 program includes a private concert, networking opportunities, industry-focused excursions, as well as sessions with speakers. 

Condé Nast leveraged one of its best known brands to launch Vogue World in 2022, which are going strong. Hosted in global fashion capitals like New York and Paris, these annual one-day events are also live streamed. Hollywood is the location for their 2025 event. The company is also hosting an immersive exhibition in London, narrated by Cate Blanchett, which explores the history of the modern runway show.  

The Innovation Consulting Group notes that some publishers derive up to 20% of their income from events. Events, they observe, can “help hike circulation, attract advertisers who might not advertise in the magazine’s media,” as well as “give magazines “face time” with their subscribers and potential subscribers.” 

Given these strategic and financial benefits, we can expect more publishers to explore the burgeoning events market in the year ahead.

3. Podcasting revenue innovation

Podcasts have been a bright spot for many publishers for a while, with many doubling down on the medium despite wider financial challenges. For the biggest shows and brands this can be a particularly profitable space. 

Continued optimism for this medium means that some publishers are looking to expand their podcasting portfolio and innovate on the ways they monetize. 

The New York Times, which recently paywalled their podcasting archive, launched a podcast for Wirecutter, its product recommendation vertical. The move, eight years after they acquired Wirecutter, demonstrates how they are still seeking to expand and monetize this brand, and that the see audio as a key means to do achieve that goal. This follows The Economist’s premium podcast push, in which it leverages podcasts as a critical component of its successful subscription-based revenue model. 

Meanwhile, the merging of events and podcasts is growing in prominence and revenue potential. Fans can connect with hosts and each other, deepening loyalty to brands and shows. All the while, podcasts offer media companies multiple monetization opportunities that go beyond advertising and subscriptions. 

This summer, The Ringer hosted a residency for six of their podcasts at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. “As an audience engagement tool it takes fandom to a different level,” says Geoff Chow, Head of Podcast Studios & Managing Director for The Ringer.

The Wall Street Journal’s recent dive into “The Rest Is History” podcast revealed that its hosts were netting nearly $100,000 a month, through a combination of their podcast, monetizing clips on YouTube and live events. “History professors struggle to get students excited about the past,” the Journal wrote. “Yet at a recent live show in London, Holland and Sandbrook drew a raucous Gen Z audience with a rock-concert vibe.” 

Wondery  is similarly looking to create live tours for some of the most popular podcasts. With more than 200 active shows, over a quarter of which hit No. 1 on Apple Podcasts, they have a potentially large paying audience to tap into. Participants in their membership plan, Wondery+, get early access to these live events, a membership benefit deployed by Slate and others. 

As podcasts continue to evolve, these types of live events and tie-ins with wider memberships programs, will only become increasingly intertwined.

4. E-commerce and affiliate partnerships

With e-commerce now worth nearly $1.2 trillion in the USA alone this year, this is too big a market for media companies to ignore. In response, media entities are progressively integrating e-commerce into their platforms, selling merchandise and other products directly to consumers. 

The Daily Wire generated over $22 million from commerce in 2023. nearly 10% of its revenues. Axios reports that much of this derived from its Jeremy’s Razors products, which produced $19 million in sales. Their merchandise store made up most of The Daily Wire’s remaining commerce income.

Recommendation sites are another area of e-commerce that media players continue to explore. The Associated Press partnered with Taboola in March to launch AP Buyline, offering how-to guides and reviews in areas such as fashion, beauty and wellness, tech, pets and Black Friday deals. 

This launch came against a backdrop whereby some of AP’s core business is being squeezed. Local publishers Gannett and McClatchy ended their long-standing partnerships with AP,  due to a desire to cut costs and invest elsewhere. As the AP themselves note, fees from U.S. newspapers were at one point responsible for “virtually all of its revenue.” However,  diversification means “U.S. newspaper fees now constitute just over 10% of its annual income.”

Across the pond, The Independent, a UK newspaper, reported a 26% increase in revenue from e-commerce in the past year. Although review sections have potentially been impacted by recent changes to Google’s site reputation abuse policies, some publishers are growing their e-commerce revenues, despite inflationary pressures and a cost-of-living crisis. 

Such initiatives highlight how publishers can leverage their editorial authority to benefit from reader’s purchasing decisions. Effectively creating affiliate partnerships can assist audiences and a publishers’ bottom line.

5. The games people play

The last piece of our revenue puzzle for 2025 sees publishers continuing to invest in games. 

As twipe explains, games “engage readers differently than traditional news content.” “They provide a mental break, foster daily engagement, and satisfy psychological cravings… forming daily habits crucial for subscriber retention.” 

Subsequently, games can be a valuable plank in helping to drive loyalty. Jonathan Knight, head of games at The New York Times, says that “when we see subscribers engage with both games and news in any given week, we’re seeing some of the best long-term subscriber retention from that pattern.” Subsequently, the Gray Lady has expanded their portfolio of games. They’ve also made games more prominent on their app, encouraging audiences to “come for the games, stay for the news.” 

In that vein, French outlet Ouest-France publishes a game called “mystery photo of the day”. Readers must match the photo with the article in which it featured.  “It’s a way to get them to discover our articles,” says Emmanuel Chevalier, head of Ouest-France’s  digital acquisition department. Meanwhile, Hearst’s acquisition last year of Puzzmo is another example of a publisher flexing their financial muscles to expand their games offering. 

Games can offer an escape from an often bleak news agenda, providing a means for audiences to come back every day, and thereby create a deeper connection between readers and publishers. Because of this, games are poised to play an even more critical role in engagement in revenue strategies in 2025 and beyond.

Looking ahead at the importance of revenue diversification

From AI licensing to live events, e-commerce, podcasts, and games, publishers are actively diversifying their income strategies in response to shifts in markets and consumer needs. While advertising and subscriptions remain critical components of the media revenue landscape, media companies continue to experiment and innovate to leverage their brand strengths to create other revenue streams. 

Through these efforts, publishers are finding new ways to connect with audiences and drive revenues. In doing this, they are also trying to lay long-term foundations, with several of these strands focused on fostering loyalty, deepening engagement, and connecting with audiences in innovative ways.

As we head into 2025, the challenge will be scaling these initiatives in an increasingly competitive landscape. When many publisher peers are doing similar things, distinctiveness, brand value and relationships, as well as pricing points, will be paramount. 

At the same time, given the need to reduce reliance on traditional revenue models, diversification remains more important than ever. Doing this successfully requires flexibility, creativity, and a willingness to experiment. 

If this is executed well, like some of the examples that we have seen here, then innovative strategies to create income offer more than just means for survival. After all, revenue diversification offers perhaps the only pathway to long-term growth and resilience in an ever-evolving media ecosystem. As such, the need to explore some of the types of ideas outlined in this article, and to actively move away from a reliance on advertising and subscriptions, is non-negotiable.

The post Beyond subscriptions and advertising: 5 proven revenue tactics to try appeared first on Digital Content Next.

TikTok – once viewed as a passive entertainment platform – is evolving into an algorithmically driven engagement powerhouse for content of all kinds. Estimates of its audience size vary, spanning from a massive 1.5 billion to close to two billion users worldwide. Regardless of this variance, there’s no denying that the network has a huge reach, and that it has grown astronomically since launching globally in 2018. It’s now the sixth-largest social network in the world, and its users worldwide spend 34 hours a month on it. That’s way ahead of its rivals in terms of time spent. 

“Roughly 170 million Americans use TikTok,” The New York Times noted earlier this year. “That’s half the population of the United States.” Charting 19 ways the platform has influenced American life, the Gray Lady observes that “Even if you’ve never opened the app, you’ve lived in a culture that exists downstream of what happens there.” 

With that in mind, here are four things media companies need to know about TikTok, and how to harness it to reach new audiences effectively and build brand awareness, while at the same time making their content more accessible and relatable to younger consumers.  

1. TikTok is a highly participatory social network

There’s a widely held misconception that TikTok is a “lean-back,” passive platform. However, new research from Weber Shandwick, a global communications and consulting firm, shows that TikTok consumption is more engaged and intentional than you might realize. 

“Comments are king,” the report states, observing how “the comments section is where people go to learn more, fact-check claims, make jokes and attempt to make sense of what they have seen.” 

Talking to Digital Content Next, Dr. Claire Wardle, a Cornell Professor who worked on this research, shared in more detail how users actively engage with TikTok content through the comments. This includes visiting the comments to determine if they agree, or not, with certain stories, the entertainment value they offer, as well as using insights from their peers to determine the veracity of a video. Many consumers see these behaviors as an intrinsic part of their experience on the platform. 

For media companies, this may mean that engagement on TikTok should go beyond just creating content. It might require active involvement in the comment sections, given that this is where audiences spend a great deal of time and energy. 

Determining the best way to do that, however, isn’t easy. “If I’m a publisher, what am I doing in the comments? What’s my role?” Wardle asks.

One potential solution stems from an idea proposed by Sophia Smith Galer. The freelance journalist and former BBC and Vice staffer has argued that newsrooms should encourage and support  “individual journalist creators” on TikTok. It may be easier for people in that guise, to respond to comments on the platform, instead of through an anonymous brand account. 

Nevertheless, despite the importance of TikTok’s comments section, Weber-Shandwick’s report cautions that this arena can be a home to trolls and other bad actors. Subsequently, “a detailed protocol for engagement in the comments of your own TikTok videos or videos posted by others is a must,” they advise. 

2. Authenticity is key to audience-media connections on TikTok

Authentic was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year in 2023. “Authentic (their italics) is what brands, social media influencers, and celebrities aspire to be,” the company said. 

On TikTok, as with many other visually led social networks, perceptions of authenticity are fundamental to audience engagement. I say “perceptions” because, as Social Sprout points out, seemingly lo-fi content is often actually highly produced. 

Nevertheless, at its heart, this is content that intentionally looks a little less polished. In turn, this rawness can also make it more relatable and accessible. Furthermore, this style of content may be seen as more trustworthy and authentic with younger audiences than traditional media, the latest Digital News Report found.

However, the style of content that often does well on TikTok may fly in the face of traditional media production values, and that can sometimes be difficult to reconcile. 

That’s amplified by an anti-establishment feel that the platform has, a notion “that came through very strongly in the research,” Wardle says.

As a result, TikTok “is not an obvious place for The Wall Street Journal or CNN to turn up,” Wardle reflects. That’s partly based on the style of content on the network, user preferences – which lean towards independent creators – and a concern that media outlets just look like they’re trying too hard to fit in. 

Nevertheless, it’s no surprise that the most successful brands on TikTok lean into authenticity. Morning Brew’s account, in my opinion, is a great example to learn from. It’s funny, irreverent and looks like the creators shot it in their home (perhaps they did). As a result, it fits seamlessly with the style and tone of other content in my feed, while also managing to make some valid points (on occasion).  

For publishers, key ways to curate an authentic aesthetic include using more casual delivery styles, behind-the-scenes content, and collaborating with creators who understand TikTok’s culture. Adapting, or partnering, in this way matters if you want to be relevant on the platform. 

3. Navigating algorithms when familiarity breeds contentment

Reflecting on how Americans use TikTok, the Pew Research Center recently highlighted the value of its recommendation technology, and in particular its “For You” page. For users, this is a highly curatable space, one that enables you to teach TikTok what you want to watch. As Buffer explains, that is part of the app’s secret sauce. “The blend of familiar and new content is tailored meticulously to user preferences, making the social network addictive and fresh,” they explain.

As a result, it’s perhaps not surprising that “users generally like the content the algorithm serves them,” Pew’s research found. Their data revealed that “40% of users say this content is either extremely or very interesting to them.” In contrast, just 14% of their survey respondents said this wasn’t relevant or interesting to them. 

For brands and content creators, this makes it all the more important that users know you’re on the platform. If they’re not following you, it can be hard to find and discover you on TikTok.

The success of this algorithm is a key factor behind users devoting so much time on the app. eMarketer anticipates that Gen Z, adults aged 18-24, spend an average of 77 minutes per day on the platform. 

There are long-standing concerns, however, that algorithms can create echo chambers. This could reduce the perspectives that audiences are exposed to and lay the foundations for misinformation. 

TikTok users, it seems, actively embrace – and are highly cognizant of – these concerns. Users acknowledged that “I know I’m not seeing anything from the other side, but I really love that,” Wardle said. “I love that I never come across people who are different to me.”

Users are aware that they are in echo chambers, but rather than trying to break out of them, they revel in the familiarity of their feeds. And they also feel confident that if they need to step outside of their comfort zone, then they know how to do so. 

Responding to this is challenging, especially for news outlets. But, rather than trying to fight the echo chamber, publishers may just want to lean into it. This may mean producing more non-news content, as well as niche or specialized content that resonates with specific audiences, alongside evergreen content, and material beyond the daily news cycle. 

4. News media and social issues on TikTok

That said, despite these cultural and algorithmic challenges, news does still have a place on the platform. Despite its reputation for entertainment, TikTok has become an important arena for consuming news and discussing social issues. 

In fact, many users report encountering social and political content regularly, even though TikTok is not traditionally seen as a news platform. The latest Digital News Report found that nearly a quarter (23%) of 18–24s in the markets they surveyed, use the platform for news, as did 13% of all digital news consumers. 

“These averages hide rapid growth in Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia,” the authors note, with “more than a third now use the network for news every week in Thailand (39%) and Kenya (36%).” Figures are lower in countries like the United States (9%) and the UK (4%).

Perhaps more importantly, according to Weber Shandwick, although users don’t necessarily seek out news on the platform, they do stumble upon it through trending content​.  

Users often perceive that they see these stories first on TikTok, Wardle told us, with the mainstream media playing catch up. “Our survey results validated this,” Weber Shandwick’s research says, “77% of users said TikTok is where they first learn about news on political or social subjects at least some of the time.” 

However, much of this news discovery does not come from traditional news brands. Instead, individual creators and commentators drive many of these conversations. 

This once again reinforces the need for news organizations to partner with influencers and creators who have already mastered the platform’s style and audience. Encouraging individual journalists to build their own presence on TikTok may also help bridge the gap between traditional reporting and this new media landscape. Collectively, collaboration and empowering journalists to engage with the platform directly could be pivotal for ensuring many publisher’s stories reach and resonate with younger, highly engaged audiences.

So, is TikTok right for your media brand?

The size of TikTok’s audience suggests that the platform is too big to ignore. However, the style of content and community culture that flourishes on it can be difficult to tap into. As a result, publishers need to carefully consider if it is a good fit for them.

Media companies that can adapt to this environment will find opportunities for deeper connections with audiences. Meanwhile, those who simply see TikTok as just another outlet for distributing their content, often doing so in the same format as elsewhere, may struggle to make an impact. 

Worse still, efforts to blend in risk being seen as trying too hard.  “How do you show up in a way that doesn’t look like a dad dancing at the wedding?” Wardle asks. 

Audiences, Wardle says, are “kind of resisting” traditional players, preferring instead to get their content from native providers like Under The Desk News. A consistent favorite with my students, Kelsey Russell is a Media Literacy Influencer and Co-Host of First Stop News. Russell, the self-professed ‘Print Princess’ reads different newspapers and magazines to her audience, and has garnered nearly 100,000 TikTok followers in the process.

The key takeaway for publishers wanting to flourish on TikTok is to balance being relatable and informal, with being useful and entertaining. They need to do so in a way that doesn’t force humor or tap into trends in a way that feels inauthentic and “cringe.” 

That’s potentially a tall order, and these efforts may not drive traffic to your site or other platforms in the way that most publishers have historically used social media. 

Nevertheless, if media companies can foster authentic connections with audiences, this can help to build brand loyalty and awareness, potentially unlocking long-term benefits that go beyond simple click-through metrics. 

As Enrique Anarte, a journalist at Context previously told IJNet, “You’re not on TikTok to go viral; you’re really on TikTok to reach the audience you wanted to reach.” “It’s better to get a video with lower views, but high positive engagement from the people you want to reach,” they added.

For many younger audiences, TikTok may be the first time they encounter your brand, creating a connection that may well pay even further dividends down the line. It won’t be for everyone, but if you’re prepared to play the long game, mix up your video style to fit in, and find the right people to collaborate with, then TikTok might well become a key plank in your social media strategy in 2024 and beyond. 

The post How media companies can authentically connect with TikTok audiences appeared first on Digital Content Next.

Two recent papers, the latest Digital News Report and FT Strategies Next Gen News Study, offer valuable insights into younger audiences and strategies for effectively reaching and engaging them.

Here are the key trends media executives need to be aware of, followed by suggestions about how to act on them to improve engagement among young audiences. 

Trend 1: A preference for digital 

Not surprisingly, we need to start with (or truly accept) the shift away from traditional media habits. Having grown up with media on-demand and the ability to consume on mobile devices, younger audiences tend to access content very differently from their parents.

In terms of news media, as Nic Newman – the lead author of the Digital News Report – notes, younger audiences are “much less likely to use traditional sources such as TV and radio news and much more likely to access via social media, aggregators, and search.”

Instead, preference is usually given to both short-form and long-form video content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. “The youngest group (Gen Z) are most likely to say that social media is their main source of news,” Newman adds. 

Trend 2: Authenticity over traditional credentials

Another critical shift can be seen in concepts of credibility. Traditional benchmarks such as awards and brand recognition, hold less sway with younger consumers, observes FT Strategies’ Liat Fainman-Adelman. 

Instead, perceptions of authenticity are key to this group’s definition of trustworthiness.

“Someone who identifies with a certain community / group or has lived through that event is seen as more credible in covering a related news event,” Fainman-Adelman explains. “Someone documenting their daily life in Ukraine on TikTok may be more popular and trusted than a trained journalist sent to cover the war.”

This trend helps explain the gravitation towards individuals over institutions seen in both reports. 

“Young people want to feel connected to those who are delivering them news and information,” Fainman-Adelman contends. “It’s important for them to see who they really are and understand their underlying motivations.”

Trend 3: A level of news skepticism

Gen Z audiences want to understand the motivations and identities of the people behind the news. However, the formats used by many traditional media outlets often fail to speak to this need. In turn, this has led to a heightened skepticism towards the traditional news media. 

“Individual contributors are seen as more personable and relatable than a faceless byline,” Fainman-Adelman says. 

Subsequently, Newman explains, “because they are exposed to so many different sources, and see so many different perspectives, young people tend to [be] highly skeptical of most information and often question the ‘agenda’ of all news sources including mainstream news providers.”

This tendency is also heightened by the more “lean back” approach seen among many younger users, whereby they consume media in a more passive – and less intentional – manner. Their media experiences are often mediated through algorithms, rather than by going direct to specific sources. 

That means this group is “much less likely to have a connection with traditional news brands preferring the news to come to them,” Newman says, observing how relationships are “driven more by relevance of the content itself rather than where it comes from.” 

Trend 4: Broader definitions of “the news”

Younger audiences also have a looser, more fluid, interpretation of what is news and the trusted sources that are sharing it (e.g. alternative/independent sources, personalities and influencers). 

As Newman outlined in an email interview, “young people make a distinction between ‘the news’ as the narrow, traditional agenda of politics and current affairs and ‘news’ as a much wider umbrella encompassing topics like sports, entertainment, celebrity gossip, culture, and science.

“Often they see narrow(ly-defined) news as a chore to spend as little time with as possible. But are prepared to spend more time with passions and diversions.” 

Trend 5: Navigating information overload 

Participants in FT Strategies’ study were born after the year 2000. “That’s had a pretty significant impact on how they interact with media and technology,” Fainman-Adelman told me via email.

Growing up in the digital age, young audiences are adept at filtering the large volume of content we are exposed to every day to find the material that interests them. That’s one reason why short-form media is particularly appealing to them. 

And despite concerns about shorter attention spans, FT Strategies found that younger audiences do engage in long-form content (e.g. podcasts, online videos etc.) if it is of interest to them.

Five strategic recommendations for media companies to engage younger audiences

Given these insights, media players need to adopt a multifaceted approach to engage younger audiences. Of course, this demographic is not an homogeneous group. Nevertheless, we can identify a number of broad characteristics that publishers should be looking to adopt.

Here are five key approaches media executives need to implement (if you have not already):

Tactic 1: Embrace visually-oriented social networks 

Prioritize platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, where younger people spend much of their time. As Newman notes, the last few Digital News reports have shown that younger audiences are increasingly turning to these networks for news and other content. 

Although media outlets tend to prioritize connections that they can monetize, Fainman-Adelman suggests “developing socially native content to build brand awareness on platforms (and eventually transitioning to more direct relationships).” 

“Engaging the next generation will be crucial for legacy media’s sustainability and reducing the gap now will undoubtedly pay off in the long run,” Fainman-Adelman believes.

Tactic 2: Understand platform dynamics 

YouTube, Instagram and TikTok have some shared qualities, but audiences use them differently. Creators need to tailor content based on the features and audience expectations of each network. 

Fainman-Adelman advises, “Ensuring that news media is highly accessible (e.g., in terms of language, tone, humor) and engaging (e.g., multimedia, interactive, participatory). This “will be critical for building and retaining loyal audiences in the long run.”

Tactic 3: Emphasize authenticity

Shifts in tone are also key to providing a sense of intimacy and authenticity younger audiences crave. The Next Gen News report identifies “how social media personalities’ lived experiences boosted their authenticity and relatability when it came to certain topics.” 

This can be hard for mainstream outlets to replicate. But, the Digital News Report highlights younger players – such as Dylan Page (aka News Daddy) in the UK, Vitus Spehar (best known for Under the Desk News on TikTok) in the USA and Hugo Travers (Hugo Décrypte) in France – which others can learn from. 

Stressing transparency in reporting processes and clearly distinguishing between news, analysis, and opinion can also help build credibility among skeptical younger viewers.

Tactic 4: Embrace diversity

This can take many forms, including using formats such as short videos, podcasts, and interactive articles that are engaging and accessible. Broadening the range of topics covered and adopting a more conversational tone can also make news more appealing to Gen Z audiences.

Meanwhile, FT Strategies make the case for “partnering with creators, empowering editorial talent to share their [personal] stories, and … [hiring] younger and more diverse journalists who are permitted to express themselves in an authentic way, particularly on social media.” 

Sophia Smith Galer (ex-BBC and Vice News) and Taylor Lorenz (The Washington Post) were identified by the report’s Advisory Board as exemplars with large social media followings who enable “their authentic personalities to shine through their work.”

Tactic 5: Change the narrative

“One of the most profound shifts we’ve seen among younger audiences is who and what they see as trustworthy” Fainman-Adelman says.

Media players need to learn from this and avoid doing things the way that they always have done. Afterall, for many younger audiences, these tried and trusted techniques don’t resonate with them. 

Changing the paradigm means being clearer about editorial processes, funding sources, and potential biases. A genuine openness to feedback and audience engagement also matters. 

Incorporating solutions journalism and more positive narratives may also help. Offering content that provides hope and inspires action can resonate with younger demographics (and others), moving away from the “doom and gloom” narrative many consumers associate with the media. 

Bringing it all together

Engaging more effectively with younger audiences requires a deep understanding of their media habits and preferences. There are also potential long-term benefits to this too. As Fainman-Adelman reminds us, “several studies show that young people are often accurate predictors for broader shifts in society.”

Existing trends like widespread multimedia consumption, passively accessing content via social and other indirect ways (instead of doing direct), as well as a desire for shifts in the tone and breadth of content being provided, are here to stay. And they are only going to become more mainstream.

As a result, media players must be willing to experiment with new formats and approaches. These should prioritize authenticity, relevance, diverse content and more diverse voices. Through this, news organizations and publishers will be better placed to build trust and loyalty among younger audiences.

In doing this, Newman reminds us that “mainstream news brands cannot please all young people all the time due to the fragmented ways in which they consume media.” But, he says, “they can give themselves a better chance of being chosen more often.”

As the media landscape continues to evolve, those who adapt will not only survive but thrive. In an increasingly fragmented environment, adopting these strategies to connect with younger audiences can transform media organizations into trusted and preferred content sources for both the next generation and everyone else.

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