{"id":46692,"date":"2026-01-22T07:34:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/?p=46692"},"modified":"2026-01-23T08:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:32:21","slug":"which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/","title":{"rendered":"Which audience-facing AI initiatives are publishers seeing success with?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"shariff shariff-align-flex-start shariff-widget-align-flex-start\"><ul class=\"shariff-buttons theme-round orientation-horizontal buttonsize-medium\"><li class=\"shariff-button twitter shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#595959\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcontentnext.org%2Fblog%2F2026%2F01%2F22%2Fwhich-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with%2F&text=Which%20audience-facing%20AI%20initiatives%20are%20publishers%20seeing%20success%20with%3F&via=DCNorg\" title=\"Share on X\" aria-label=\"Share on X\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; background-color:#000; color:#fff\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"shariff-icon\" style=\"\"><svg width=\"32px\" height=\"20px\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path fill=\"#000\" d=\"M14.258 10.152L23.176 0h-2.113l-7.747 8.813L7.133 0H0l9.352 13.328L0 23.973h2.113l8.176-9.309 6.531 9.309h7.133zm-2.895 3.293l-.949-1.328L2.875 1.56h3.246l6.086 8.523.945 1.328 7.91 11.078h-3.246zm0 0\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"shariff-button linkedin shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#1488bf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/sharing\/share-offsite\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcontentnext.org%2Fblog%2F2026%2F01%2F22%2Fwhich-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with%2F\" title=\"Share on LinkedIn\" aria-label=\"Share on LinkedIn\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; background-color:#0077b5; color:#fff\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"shariff-icon\" style=\"\"><svg width=\"32px\" height=\"20px\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 27 32\"><path fill=\"#0077b5\" d=\"M6.2 11.2v17.7h-5.9v-17.7h5.9zM6.6 5.7q0 1.3-0.9 2.2t-2.4 0.9h0q-1.5 0-2.4-0.9t-0.9-2.2 0.9-2.2 2.4-0.9 2.4 0.9 0.9 2.2zM27.4 18.7v10.1h-5.9v-9.5q0-1.9-0.7-2.9t-2.3-1.1q-1.1 0-1.9 0.6t-1.2 1.5q-0.2 0.5-0.2 1.4v9.9h-5.9q0-7.1 0-11.6t0-5.3l0-0.9h5.9v2.6h0q0.4-0.6 0.7-1t1-0.9 1.6-0.8 2-0.3q3 0 4.9 2t1.9 6z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"shariff-button mastodon shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#563ACC\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s2f.kytta.dev\/?text=Which%20audience-facing%20AI%20initiatives%20are%20publishers%20seeing%20success%20with%3F https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcontentnext.org%2Fblog%2F2026%2F01%2F22%2Fwhich-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with%2F\" title=\"Share on Mastodon\" aria-label=\"Share on Mastodon\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; background-color:#6364FF; color:#fff\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"shariff-icon\" style=\"\"><svg width=\"75\" height=\"79\" viewBox=\"0 0 75 79\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M37.813-.025C32.462-.058 27.114.13 21.79.598c-8.544.621-17.214 5.58-20.203 13.931C-1.12 23.318.408 32.622.465 41.65c.375 7.316.943 14.78 3.392 21.73 4.365 9.465 14.781 14.537 24.782 15.385 7.64.698 15.761-.213 22.517-4.026a54.1 54.1 0 0 0 .01-6.232c-6.855 1.316-14.101 2.609-21.049 1.074-3.883-.88-6.876-4.237-7.25-8.215-1.53-3.988 3.78-.43 5.584-.883 9.048 1.224 18.282.776 27.303-.462 7.044-.837 14.26-4.788 16.65-11.833 2.263-6.135 1.215-12.79 1.698-19.177.06-3.84.09-7.692-.262-11.52C72.596 7.844 63.223.981 53.834.684a219.453 219.453 0 0 0-16.022-.71zm11.294 12.882c5.5-.067 10.801 4.143 11.67 9.653.338 1.48.471 3 .471 4.515v21.088h-8.357c-.07-7.588.153-15.182-.131-22.765-.587-4.368-7.04-5.747-9.672-2.397-2.422 3.04-1.47 7.155-1.67 10.735v6.392h-8.307c-.146-4.996.359-10.045-.404-15.002-1.108-4.218-7.809-5.565-10.094-1.666-1.685 3.046-.712 6.634-.976 9.936v14.767h-8.354c.109-8.165-.238-16.344.215-24.5.674-5.346 5.095-10.389 10.676-10.627 4.902-.739 10.103 2.038 12.053 6.631.375 1.435 1.76 1.932 1.994.084 1.844-3.704 5.501-6.739 9.785-6.771.367-.044.735-.068 1.101-.073z\"\/><defs><linearGradient id=\"paint0_linear_549_34\" x1=\"37.0692\" y1=\"0\" x2=\"37.0692\" y2=\"79\" gradientUnits=\"userSpaceOnUse\"><stop stop-color=\"#6364FF\"\/><stop offset=\"1\" stop-color=\"#563ACC\"\/><\/linearGradient><\/defs><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Media organizations are getting to grips with AI. Across the industry, teams are experimenting while leadership works to put strategies and guardrails in place. Much of this activity has focused inward, using AI to improve efficiency across areas like data analysis, marketing, and sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Customer-facing applications have been slower to emerge. That caution is intentional. When AI moves closer to audiences, the stakes change. Trust is central to publisher value, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inma.org\/blogs\/Content-Strategies\/post.cfm\/ai-integration-soars-but-audiences-distrust-media-disclosing-usage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">audiences remain wary<\/a> of AI\u2019s role in content and news-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, some publishers are testing where AI can serve audiences without undermining credibility. These efforts are not about replacing journalism, but about improving access, context, and usability. From conversational tools to article summaries and content repackaging, these experiments point to how AI can deepen engagement when it is clearly constrained and grounded in trusted source material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ai-powered-q-amp-a-as-a-subscriber-benefit\">AI-powered Q&amp;A as a subscriber benefit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One publisher seeing success with customer-facing AI products is Harvard Business Review. In late 2024, they launched Ask AI, a subscriber-only conversational tool which brings source-linked answers to leadership and management questions directly from HBR\u2019s own archives. It also draws on video and podcast transcripts from the publisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the HBR team first looked to develop this feature, it was in response to some very specific customer challenges. Subscribers sometimes come to the site ready to engage with full articles and in-depth analysis. But other times they are faced with time constraints and don\u2019t have time to read deeply to find out what they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a couple of different use cases for it,\u201d explained Erika Heilman, VP and Deputy Publisher. \u201cSome use it as a coach or mentor, with back-and-forth interaction. Others see it as a more trusted source than just going to a foundational LLM, because it\u2019s got a pure corpus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt has very specific guardrails against it\u2026 and we made sure to pressure test it against hallucinations.\u201d Dave Lefort, Managing Director of Digital Product Strategy added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HBR has been pleased with the take-up so far.&nbsp; A quarter of HBR subscribers have used Ask AI, and of those, a third have interacted multiple times.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/HBR-Ask-AI-scaled.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"995\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/HBR-Ask-AI-995x1024.png\" alt=\"- HBR'S ask AI tool, an example of A successful audience facing Publisher AI initiative-\" class=\"wp-image-46693\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.9716886200585929;width:364px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/HBR-Ask-AI-995x1024.png 995w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/HBR-Ask-AI-292x300.png 292w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/HBR-Ask-AI-768x790.png 768w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/HBR-Ask-AI-1493x1536.png 1493w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/HBR-Ask-AI-1990x2048.png 1990w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 995px) 100vw, 995px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Now, the team is looking to increase usage and improve onboarding. This includes multimodal search toolbars offering quick AI-generated summaries of articles and the Ask AI tool, as well as showing the option to \u2018Ask AI\u2019 within articles. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for ways to integrate it more into the subscriber experience more holistically,\u201d Lefort explained. \u201cSo while you\u2019re reading, you can query the article about anything, ask it to help me apply this to my situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heilman noted that Ask AI shows potential as a powerful retention tool. \u201cThe key for us going forward is to make sure that we are not trying to compete against \u2018good enough\u2019 free answers,\u201d she said, explaining why it\u2019s a subscriber-only benefit. \u201cWe are trying to create something of value for senior leaders who are, frankly, making consequential decisions every day, and are unlikely to do that from a chat-based foundational model. A trusted source is really key.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ai-article-summaries-as-a-reading-companion\"><strong>AI article summaries as a reading companion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Like HBR, the Financial Times is also experimenting with AI conversational search. Ask FT is being used by their B2B brand \u201cFT Professional\u201d to search and summarize FT journalism going back to 2004. But this is not the only place the publication is using AI to engage readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FT has been experimenting with using AI-powered summaries in its articles. Similar to HBR, they acknowledged that sometimes readers come wanting the facts of a story quickly, but other times they settle down for a deeper reading experience.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AskFT_AISummaries.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"820\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AskFT_AISummaries-1024x820.png\" alt=\"-AskFT, , an example of A successful audience facing Publisher AI initiative-\" class=\"wp-image-46695\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.2487656665400684;width:420px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AskFT_AISummaries-1024x820.png 1024w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AskFT_AISummaries-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AskFT_AISummaries-768x615.png 768w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AskFT_AISummaries-1536x1230.png 1536w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AskFT_AISummaries.png 1860w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Bullet point summaries of longer articles aren\u2019t a new idea. Many publishers have tried variants over the years, and AI has enabled faster production of article summaries without involvement in the actual content creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On FT content, rather than overviews appearing at the top of an article, readers are offered the option in a separate toolbar to summarize or translate the piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the Definitive AI Forum in London, FT CEO Jon Slade said that these were proving successful, and actually increasing engagement. AI summaries \u201chave led to more people reading more depth of the article,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey\u2019ve used it as a means to understand, is this an article I want to spend more time with, rather than replacing their reading of the article.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ai-embedded-to-improve-the-product-experience\">AI embedded to improve the product experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>FOX is also integrating AI into their customer-facing products, albeit less explicitly. John Fiedler, FOX\u2019s EVP of Product &amp; Engineering outlined that they look at where AI and generative AI experiences can be built into different levels of products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A recent example of this is FOX One, a direct-to-consumer streaming service which offers all of FOX\u2019s news, sports and entertainment content. It launched in August 2025, with a price point of $19.99 monthly or $199.99 annually.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FOX-One.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"587\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FOX-One-1024x587.png\" alt=\"-FOX One uses AI behind the scenes to improve product and audience experience, an example of a successful audience facing Publisher AI initiative-\" class=\"wp-image-46697\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.7444879175487304;width:330px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FOX-One-1024x587.png 1024w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FOX-One-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FOX-One-768x440.png 768w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FOX-One-1536x880.png 1536w, https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FOX-One-2048x1174.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>FOX One is powered by AI at a number of different levels. Fiedler explained that one of the more obvious touchpoints consumers will be aware of is their generative AI-style customer support tool. \u201cWe started using GenAI for customer care under the premise that traditional customer care, whether it\u2019s a phone or email address or old-school chatbot, is antiquated,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can likely replicate an agent conversation with GenAI, and have it be a better and more successful user experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Users of FOX One can do more than just access customer support. They can ask the AI what shows are coming up, upgrade or cancel subscriptions, or even handle issues like outages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fiedler noted that this feeds into many other functions AI can then help with. \u201cAI is really good at understanding what a video is about, what a live stream is about\u2026certain person\u2019s history and behaviors, and how that should affect things like recommendations within the product,\u201d he outlined. \u201cThat\u2019s giving us a much deeper understanding of content through AI than we\u2019ve been able to do in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within FOX One, there is also a space for short-form video, much like YouTube Shorts or TikTok. The team uses AI here in multiple ways to help production. Fiedler explained that the technology can \u2018watch\u2019 the live stream of their channels, and identify interesting moments, or \u201cspicy takes\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSay in a sports studio, you have a heated debate about what happened in the game last night, that\u2019s a hot moment,\u201d Fiedler outlined. \u201cSo you cut out the beginning and the end, and now you have a clip. But it\u2019s still formatted from a 16&#215;9 resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo we pass that through another layer of [AI] technology that converts it into a vertical video where it overlays the right people, and the right layouts, and makes sure that it\u2019s formatted nicely for vertical consumption. Then it will put words on the screen, and pass it through to the product.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This kind of streamlining makes the content teams much more efficient at creating and reformatting video. Fiedler was keen to emphasize that it speeds up the workflows, but there are still humans approving every step of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-early-audience-facing-ai-experiments-suggest\">What early audience-facing AI experiments suggest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Taken together, these examples show publishers experimenting carefully with where AI fits into the audience experience. The common thread is not novelty, but restraint. In each case, AI is used to help people find, understand, or repurpose existing journalism and video, rather than to generate new content or make editorial decisions. Human oversight remains explicit, and the underlying value proposition stays rooted in trusted source material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That approach reflects a broader reality for publishers navigating AI in public view. Audiences may be curious about new tools, but their tolerance is closely tied to clarity and purpose. Where AI is introduced to meet a specific need, such as saving time or reducing friction, it can support engagement. Where it feels unnecessary or opaque, it risks eroding trust. Right now, publishers appear to be setting the terms, introducing audience-facing AI on their own conditions rather than racing to deploy it everywhere.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shariff shariff-align-flex-start shariff-widget-align-flex-start\"><ul class=\"shariff-buttons theme-round orientation-horizontal buttonsize-medium\"><li class=\"shariff-button twitter shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#595959\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcontentnext.org%2Fblog%2F2026%2F01%2F22%2Fwhich-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with%2F&text=Which%20audience-facing%20AI%20initiatives%20are%20publishers%20seeing%20success%20with%3F&via=DCNorg\" title=\"Share on X\" aria-label=\"Share on X\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; background-color:#000; color:#fff\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"shariff-icon\" style=\"\"><svg width=\"32px\" height=\"20px\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path fill=\"#000\" d=\"M14.258 10.152L23.176 0h-2.113l-7.747 8.813L7.133 0H0l9.352 13.328L0 23.973h2.113l8.176-9.309 6.531 9.309h7.133zm-2.895 3.293l-.949-1.328L2.875 1.56h3.246l6.086 8.523.945 1.328 7.91 11.078h-3.246zm0 0\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"shariff-button linkedin shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#1488bf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/sharing\/share-offsite\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcontentnext.org%2Fblog%2F2026%2F01%2F22%2Fwhich-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with%2F\" title=\"Share on LinkedIn\" aria-label=\"Share on LinkedIn\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; background-color:#0077b5; color:#fff\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"shariff-icon\" style=\"\"><svg width=\"32px\" height=\"20px\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 27 32\"><path fill=\"#0077b5\" d=\"M6.2 11.2v17.7h-5.9v-17.7h5.9zM6.6 5.7q0 1.3-0.9 2.2t-2.4 0.9h0q-1.5 0-2.4-0.9t-0.9-2.2 0.9-2.2 2.4-0.9 2.4 0.9 0.9 2.2zM27.4 18.7v10.1h-5.9v-9.5q0-1.9-0.7-2.9t-2.3-1.1q-1.1 0-1.9 0.6t-1.2 1.5q-0.2 0.5-0.2 1.4v9.9h-5.9q0-7.1 0-11.6t0-5.3l0-0.9h5.9v2.6h0q0.4-0.6 0.7-1t1-0.9 1.6-0.8 2-0.3q3 0 4.9 2t1.9 6z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"shariff-button mastodon shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#563ACC\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s2f.kytta.dev\/?text=Which%20audience-facing%20AI%20initiatives%20are%20publishers%20seeing%20success%20with%3F https%3A%2F%2Fdigitalcontentnext.org%2Fblog%2F2026%2F01%2F22%2Fwhich-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with%2F\" title=\"Share on Mastodon\" aria-label=\"Share on Mastodon\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; background-color:#6364FF; color:#fff\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"shariff-icon\" style=\"\"><svg width=\"75\" height=\"79\" viewBox=\"0 0 75 79\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M37.813-.025C32.462-.058 27.114.13 21.79.598c-8.544.621-17.214 5.58-20.203 13.931C-1.12 23.318.408 32.622.465 41.65c.375 7.316.943 14.78 3.392 21.73 4.365 9.465 14.781 14.537 24.782 15.385 7.64.698 15.761-.213 22.517-4.026a54.1 54.1 0 0 0 .01-6.232c-6.855 1.316-14.101 2.609-21.049 1.074-3.883-.88-6.876-4.237-7.25-8.215-1.53-3.988 3.78-.43 5.584-.883 9.048 1.224 18.282.776 27.303-.462 7.044-.837 14.26-4.788 16.65-11.833 2.263-6.135 1.215-12.79 1.698-19.177.06-3.84.09-7.692-.262-11.52C72.596 7.844 63.223.981 53.834.684a219.453 219.453 0 0 0-16.022-.71zm11.294 12.882c5.5-.067 10.801 4.143 11.67 9.653.338 1.48.471 3 .471 4.515v21.088h-8.357c-.07-7.588.153-15.182-.131-22.765-.587-4.368-7.04-5.747-9.672-2.397-2.422 3.04-1.47 7.155-1.67 10.735v6.392h-8.307c-.146-4.996.359-10.045-.404-15.002-1.108-4.218-7.809-5.565-10.094-1.666-1.685 3.046-.712 6.634-.976 9.936v14.767h-8.354c.109-8.165-.238-16.344.215-24.5.674-5.346 5.095-10.389 10.676-10.627 4.902-.739 10.103 2.038 12.053 6.631.375 1.435 1.76 1.932 1.994.084 1.844-3.704 5.501-6.739 9.785-6.771.367-.044.735-.068 1.101-.073z\"\/><defs><linearGradient id=\"paint0_linear_549_34\" x1=\"37.0692\" y1=\"0\" x2=\"37.0692\" y2=\"79\" gradientUnits=\"userSpaceOnUse\"><stop stop-color=\"#6364FF\"\/><stop offset=\"1\" stop-color=\"#563ACC\"\/><\/linearGradient><\/defs><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Media organizations are getting to grips with AI. Across the industry, teams are experimenting while leadership works to put strategies and guardrails in place. Much of this activity has focused&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3338,"featured_media":46702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5014,3041],"tags":[2320,1932],"coauthors":[3564],"class_list":["post-46692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-featured-post","tag-ai","tag-product-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Audience-facing AI initiatives publishers are seeing success with - Digital Content Next<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From conversational tools to article summaries and video workflows, publisher experiments offer insight into how AI is used for products.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Which audience-facing AI initiatives are publishers seeing success with?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Media organizations are getting to grips with AI. Across the industry, teams are experimenting while leadership works to put strategies and guardrails in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Content Next\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-22T12:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-23T13:32:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"867\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mediavoicespod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DCNorg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8627548f52a6011cdf44d5d3242fda50\"},\"headline\":\"Which audience-facing AI initiatives are publishers seeing success with?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-22T12:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-23T13:32:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1355,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png\",\"keywords\":[\"AI\",\"product development\"],\"articleSection\":[\"AI\",\"Featured Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/\",\"name\":\"Audience-facing AI initiatives publishers are seeing success with - Digital Content Next\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-22T12:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-23T13:32:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"From conversational tools to article summaries and video workflows, publisher experiments offer insight into how AI is used for products.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png\",\"width\":867,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"-person interacting with AI text on screen and AI assistant to show successful publisher AI initiatives-\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/22\\\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Which audience-facing AI initiatives are publishers seeing success with?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Digital Content Next\",\"description\":\"Official Website\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Digital Content Next\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/DCN-Logo-Large.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/DCN-Logo-Large.png\",\"width\":2050,\"height\":1276,\"caption\":\"Digital Content Next\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/DCNorg\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/online-publishers-association\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8627548f52a6011cdf44d5d3242fda50\",\"name\":\"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/03c9d87548685cae3fd5b14e2e2e16e80925098d6fcd372b92b0621560861725?s=96&d=mm&r=g5a1f23deb7dac5c190454b8189cc1439\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/03c9d87548685cae3fd5b14e2e2e16e80925098d6fcd372b92b0621560861725?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/03c9d87548685cae3fd5b14e2e2e16e80925098d6fcd372b92b0621560861725?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/estherkeziathorpe\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/mediavoicespod\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/digitalcontentnext.org\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/estherthorpe\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Audience-facing AI initiatives publishers are seeing success with - Digital Content Next","description":"From conversational tools to article summaries and video workflows, publisher experiments offer insight into how AI is used for products.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Which audience-facing AI initiatives are publishers seeing success with?","og_description":"Media organizations are getting to grips with AI. Across the industry, teams are experimenting while leadership works to put strategies and guardrails in","og_url":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/","og_site_name":"Digital Content Next","article_published_time":"2026-01-22T12:34:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-23T13:32:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":867,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mediavoicespod","twitter_site":"@DCNorg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/"},"author":{"name":"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8627548f52a6011cdf44d5d3242fda50"},"headline":"Which audience-facing AI initiatives are publishers seeing success with?","datePublished":"2026-01-22T12:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-23T13:32:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/"},"wordCount":1355,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png","keywords":["AI","product development"],"articleSection":["AI","Featured Post"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/","url":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/","name":"Audience-facing AI initiatives publishers are seeing success with - Digital Content Next","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png","datePublished":"2026-01-22T12:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-23T13:32:21+00:00","description":"From conversational tools to article summaries and video workflows, publisher experiments offer insight into how AI is used for products.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AudienceFacingPublisherAIInitiatives.png","width":867,"height":400,"caption":"-person interacting with AI text on screen and AI assistant to show successful publisher AI initiatives-"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/22\/which-audience-facing-ai-initiatives-are-publishers-seeing-success-with\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Which audience-facing AI initiatives are publishers seeing success with?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/","name":"Digital Content Next","description":"Official Website","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/#organization","name":"Digital Content Next","url":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DCN-Logo-Large.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/DCN-Logo-Large.png","width":2050,"height":1276,"caption":"Digital Content Next"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/DCNorg","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/online-publishers-association"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8627548f52a6011cdf44d5d3242fda50","name":"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03c9d87548685cae3fd5b14e2e2e16e80925098d6fcd372b92b0621560861725?s=96&d=mm&r=g5a1f23deb7dac5c190454b8189cc1439","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03c9d87548685cae3fd5b14e2e2e16e80925098d6fcd372b92b0621560861725?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/03c9d87548685cae3fd5b14e2e2e16e80925098d6fcd372b92b0621560861725?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Esther Kezia Thorpe \u2013 Media Reporter"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/estherkeziathorpe\/","https:\/\/x.com\/mediavoicespod"],"url":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/blog\/author\/estherthorpe\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46692"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46719,"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46692\/revisions\/46719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46692"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalcontentnext.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=46692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}