For media companies, the start of a new year is an opportunity to take stock of the big trends and reassess priorities for the year ahead.

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.