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Audiences | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Industry-Research

Diversity is an effective business strategy, not a slogan

As political winds shift and some organizations quietly scale back their DEI commitments, new research suggests this retreat comes at exactly the wrong time. In Tickaroo’s Next-Gen Journalism Report, almost 90% of the 172 journalism students and early-career reporters surveyed said diversity and representation are essential to journalism’s future. Nearly three quarters called for systemic changes in hiring, decision-making, and access to opportunity.

For digital media leaders, these findings offer more than just a temperature check. They provide a strategic warning as well as a roadmap. Embedding diversity into newsroom culture and content is not an HR initiative; it’s a growth strategy. Publishers who embrace this reality will win audience trust, engagement, and establish long-term resilience. Those who don’t face a credibility gap that the next generation of journalists – and audiences – will not overlook.

The risks of DEI pullback

Political and commercial pressures are reframing DEI efforts as expendable. As budgets tighten, organizations scale back hiring programs, pause training schemes, and treat diversity as a “nice to have”. But in digital publishing, this pullback runs counter to key audience trends.

Younger audiences increasingly expect to see themselves represented in the news they consume and quickly disengage when they don’t. Representation has therefore become central to maintaining relevance, building loyalty, and sustaining long-term audience relationships.

In other words, deprioritizing diversity actively widens the gap between publishers and the people they hope to reach.

What the next generation sees

Our survey reveals a profession struggling to reconcile its democratic mission with its internal structures. While young journalists overwhelmingly believe in journalism’s public interest based purpose, their lived experience of entering the industry tells a different story: 74% want improved hiring practices and more inclusive editorial processes, and 72% cite lack of paid opportunities as a barrier to entry. Many describe newsrooms as “exclusive” or “closed to those without privilege.”

In their own words, respondents criticized “surface-level DEI efforts” that fail to impact coverage priorities or shift who gets to tell which stories. This isn’t abstract critique; it is a generation identifying structural weaknesses that directly affect publishers’ ability to innovate, build trust, and grow.

Diversity: Moral framing, or business imperative?

Digital media executives are already familiar with the pressures reshaping the industry: fragmented audiences, advertiser skepticism, rising misinformation, and platform volatility. Diversity is not separate from these challenges: it is one of the most effective levers for addressing them. Newsrooms that reflect a range of lived experiences consistently produce stronger, more accurate journalism because they are less likely to miss important angles or reinforce blind spots that audiences, particularly younger ones, spot instantly.

Diverse teams are more likely to challenge assumptions and create new storytelling approaches that resonate with wider audiences. Just as importantly, representation strengthens trust. When audiences recognize themselves and their communities in coverage, they are far more likely to engage, subscribe, and stay loyal. Without that connection, trust erodes, and with it the revenue models that rely on sustained audience relationships.

Lessons from those getting it right

Luckily, there is a new wave of publishers and organizations demonstrating how embedding representation into workflow, commissioning, and leadership supports audience growth and editorial excellence.

Community-first publishers such as The Mill (UK) and A Mensagem (Portugal) are thriving precisely because they reflect the identities, concerns, and rhythms of their communities. Their growth shows that audiences reward authenticity and representation with attention, trust, and subscriptions.

With a clear global DEI strategy, a dedicated head of editorial standards, and programmes like the New Voices media training initiative, Bloomberg’s structural approach to diversity means it invests not only in who gets hired but also in who gets heard. It is a reminder that inclusion is an editorial responsibility, not a box-ticking exercise.

Bodies such as JournoResources & We Are Black Journos are also building pathways for underrepresented journalists by offering training and support. Their work strengthens the pipeline and ensures that talented reporters lacking traditional access routes can enter (and stay) in the profession.

The commonality across these examples is simple: successful diversity is woven into an organization’s operating system, not pinned to its noticeboard.

What effective integration looks like

Achieving meaningful diversity requires structural integration, not one-off initiatives. It begins with widening access: transparent recruitment, paid early-career roles located beyond a single metropolitan hub, all help ensure that entry into journalism isn’t limited to those with financial privilege and proximity.

Editorial processes must also evolve. Commissioning that intentionally considers underrepresented voices, supported by broader source databases and community engagement, improves accuracy and relevance in ways that top-down planning alone cannot.

Cultural change is equally critical. Newsrooms need environments where a wide range of journalists can thrive, backed by mentorship, fair pay, and sustainable workloads. Diversity cannot be confined to junior levels; it must be present in the rooms where editorial decisions and organisational priorities are set.

Finally, integration must extend to skills and innovation. Our research shows that young journalists feel least prepared in AI, data, and digital competencies: the very skills shaping journalism’s future. Organizations that invest in training and inclusive product development not only broaden their talent pipeline but also accelerate their ability to innovate responsibly and remain competitive.

The commercial case: Diversity drives sustainability

Ultimately, digital publishers cannot afford to treat diversity as optional. The business case is clear:

  • Represented audiences engage more.
  • Representative storytelling strengthens loyalty and subscription revenue.
  • Diverse teams improve organizational adaptability: crucial in volatile markets.
  • Authenticity is becoming a competitive differentiator.

The next generation of journalists, the very people who will shape this industry for decades to come, understand diversity’s relevance instinctively. They are not calling for tokenism; they are calling for transformation.

Diversity is a strategic response to the most urgent challenges facing digital media: trust, innovation, and sustainability. The publishers who succeed in the next decade will be those who understand that representation is a growth driver and who build their organizations accordingly.

-chess king to show credibility is king in AI search-
AI | Supporter Spotlight

AI is rewriting search and credibility is king

For 25+ years, the open web ran on links. You typed a question into Google, got ten blue link results, and clicked on the one that resonated most with you. 

Not anymore. Generative AI is shifting user behavior, from querying and clicking to asking and consuming inside tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. Google’s AI Overviews rewrite results into ready-made answers, turning what used to be a page of links into a single, synthesized suggestion. In its place, we’re entering a recommendation web—a world where every surviving link must have strong context and credibility.

In the wake of AI overviews, search isn’t dying, but the link economy is. 

At Raptive, we see this shift firsthand across 6,000+ publisher partners generating billions of monthly sessions. The data reveals a re-ordering of trust. The winners will be those who modernize for this “answer-first” landscape without abandoning the fundamentals.

Search is no longer a traffic channel; it’s a reputation test. 

Here’s what we’re learning about staying visible and resilient in this new era of search, and what digital media leaders should prioritize. 

1. Traffic patterns are fragmenting

Searches are growing, but click-through rates are declining. Similarweb data shows that zero-click searches have climbed from 56% to 69% year-over-year as Google’s AI Overviews increasingly answer questions directly on the page. Search behavior is being redistributed and discovery is flowing across new channels: AI assistants, social algorithms, recommendation engines, and Google Discover. 

-AI search charts showing AI overview growth and AI overview keywords-
Source: Ahrefs

Executive takeaway: Continue investing in high-quality, differentiated content that strengthens brand reputation. Move away from lightweight informational content that can be commoditized by AI. In a world of algorithmic discovery, originality and authority are the only currencies that hold value.

2. Quality and authorship signals are non-negotiable

Google’s June 2025 Core Update reaffirmed that expertise and trust win. In our analysis, sites with clear bylines, full author names, and robust About pages outperformed those without. Those signals are key ranking factors tied to credibility.

Executive takeaway: Audit your trust signals. Every article should clearly identify who wrote it, when it was last updated, and why readers should trust it. Invest in author pages, structured data, and visible expertise across verticals. “Real names, real voices” is the new SEO.

-chart showing content activity and pageview outcomes from AI search-
Source: Raptive

3. Consistent content activity drives resilience

In a study across independent creators, we found that sites publishing one new post and updating at least five existing ones monthly were far more likely to gain traffic after the June update. We saw the same correlation among larger publishers: steady, consistent activity signals both relevance and reliability.

Executive takeaway: Operationalize content cadence. Build processes for regular updates to evergreen content, and treat publishing frequency as a core SEO health metric, not just an editorial one.

4. Engagement metrics are rising in importance

Across our network, URLs that gained traffic after Google’s June update had 3x more comments and 3x more engagement than those that declined. AI and Google’s algorithms alike are rewarding proof of reader value.

Executive takeaway: Design for engagement and invite readers to interact. Encourage user reviews, comments, and feedback loops. Treat engagement as a credibility metric.

5. Discoverability is shifting toward recommendations

As AI search becomes more personalized, Google Discover is growing as a key traffic source. Discover rewards relevance and freshness, often outperforming traditional search in volume and conversion.

Executive takeaway: Optimize for recommendation ecosystems. Publish consistently, pair content with strong visuals, and prioritize depth and originality. These factors correlate directly with Discover visibility.

-Chart showing Google's AI search and Discover impact on traffic-
Source: Press Gazette

Why “modern SEO” still wins

Despite the hype around “GEO” (Generative Engine Optimization), “AEO” (Answer Engine Optimization), and a growing alphabet soup of new acronyms, the fundamentals of optimization haven’t changed. Today’s AI search is just a bunch of classical searches in a trench coat. Modern SEO—writing for readers, demonstrating expertise, and maintaining technical excellence—is what allows your content to surface in both traditional and AI-driven results.

And while the conversation around AI traffic grows louder, it’s important to remember that AI surfaces account for just 0.02% of total traffic today. In fact, our research found that pages ranking in Google’s top three positions are twice as likely to appear in AI Overviews as those outside the top three. 

Good SEO is good GEO.

And good GEO begins with genuine expertise. 

What to prioritize next

For digital media executives guiding strategy in 2025 and beyond:

  • Diversify traffic sources: Balance your reliance on Google with growth in newsletters, Discover, and direct audiences.
  • Double down on quality and cadence: Content activity and freshness are measurable, defensible advantages.
  • Audit trust and transparency: Author identity, About pages, and schema markup now influence both human perception and algorithmic ranking.
  • Invest in engaged communities: Reader interaction and loyalty protect against volatility in algorithms and AI tools.
  • Stay pragmatic: Don’t chase new acronyms or “AI hacks.” Track changes, test cautiously, and keep your team focused on fundamentals.

The bottom line

The future belongs to those worth recommending. 

People still want what they’ve always wanted: answers they can trust, ideas that make sense, and trustworthy sources. That’s where publishers matter most—not as content factories, but as champions of quality and original content that real people can count on. 

At Raptive, our mission is to ensure that independent voices remain discoverable, trusted, and economically viable in an AI-mediated web. Because the end of links doesn’t have to mean the end of independence—it can mark the beginning of a new era of credibility.

That’s not just good SEO; it’s good business. And, more than that, it’s good humanity.

-concept art to show a checklist for an ethical AI framework-
AI | Supporter Spotlight

Eight pillars of ethical AI: framework for responsible use

As media companies expand the use of AI to drive efficiency, many are seeking best practices to ensure AI is implemented responsibly and with minimal risk. A recent IAB study found that only one-third of publishers, brands and agencies have adopted formal AI governance tools, which underscores the need for greater accountability and transparency when AI is used.

But where should publishers start? An ethical AI framework provides a blueprint for how organizations can manage risk, protect data and demonstrate compliance when integrating AI into their operations.

Here are examples of each of the eight pillars of ethical AI. When implemented together, these best practices create a strong foundation to help media companies strengthen trust with audiences and partners.

1. Ethical AI Policies

Establishing clear policies that define how AI is being implemented provides the foundation for responsible AI governance. These policies should reflect a commitment to trans­parency, accountability, minimizing bias and protecting user privacy, and should be reviewed regularly to ensure they evolve with industry developments and regulatory changes.

Example: The Associated Press created a comprehensive policy around its use of generative AI, including who is responsible for monitoring the accuracy of AI output.

2. Transparency and Disclosures

Transparency helps establish greater trust in media. In addition to having an AI policy, publishers should make these policies publicly available and include disclosures when AI is used. A consistent communication strategy, supported by public-facing AI policies, strengthens accountability and promotes confidence among readers, advertisers and partners.

Example: Bay City News, a San Francisco Bay area nonprofit news organization, publicly shares how the team uses AI and adds in-depth context about the process behind each project.

3. Rights and Permissions

It’s also important that media companies secure applicable rights and permissions and the appropriate level of consent to use the information powering AI solutions. This might include establishing internal safeguards to prevent the misuse of proprietary or third-party content. This helps protect media companies from legal challenges and reinforces ethical content development practices.

Example: The New York Times provides guidelines for its staff that copyrighted material should not be input into AI tools, which prevents potential misuse of third-party content in AI training.

4. Accountability and Human Oversight

Since hallucinations and biases in AI exist, human oversight is essential. A “human-in-the-loop” approach ensures that AI outputs have been reviewed before being published. Organizations should assign clear roles for managing AI tools and outputs, and make sure qualified individuals are accountable for how these systems are used.

Example: The USA TODAY Network adds disclaimers to AI-generated article summaries that explain how key points were created and discloses that they were reviewed by a journalist prior to publication.

5. Bias and Fairness

AI models train on existing data, which can include biases that are then amplified. Media companies must implement strategies to identify and mitigate AI bias such as monitoring AI outputs for fairness and inclusivity. Developing a bias mitigation strategy strengthens credibility and supports fair representation across content and audiences.

Example: The Reuters Institute shared several examples from media leaders on identifying AI bias including how The Financial Times’ teams use internal checklists to assess whether AI-generated output from its content recommender system is unbiased and fair across demographics.

6. Privacy and Data Protection

Responsible AI also means demonstrating a strong commitment to protecting data privacy. Companies must ensure that AI systems comply with privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA and protect user data. Prioritizing data privacy can reduce legal risk and reinforce a company’s commitment to responsible use of technology.

Example: Graham Media Group, a Detroit-based media company, prioritizes reader privacy and security and shares its compliance with data privacy laws on its disclosure page and in its privacy policy.

7. Training and Education

Training and education are essential to implementing AI responsibly. Ongoing training ensures that staff understand the capabilities and limitations of AI tools and are made aware of any policy updates as the technology evolves. This includes both general training for all staff as well as proficiency training for individuals responsible for developing, deploying and monitoring AI systems.

Example: Radio-Canada launched a comprehensive AI literacy program to help staff better understand AI and how it should be used. The program includes a foundational training session to provide an overview of AI concepts and ethical considerations as well as follow-up workshops focused on practical applications.

8. Governance and Risk Management

Effective AI governance requires a structured approach to identifying and managing risk. Organizations should embed ethical AI principles into existing policies, ensure legal and regulatory requirements are met and assign clear accountability for oversight. Regular reviews and feedback loops help detect and address emerging risks, allowing companies to adapt as technology evolves.

Example: Gannett’s AI council brings together members from various departments to discuss ideas and assess risk when using AI in new ways.

Responsible AI isn’t about slowing progress but creating a foundation that supports innovation, transparency and trust. Media companies that integrate an ethical AI framework into processes will increase transparency, minimize risk and maintain the credibility that defines trusted media.

-concept art showing audience in a hand for owning your audience traffic-
AI | Audiences

Owning the audience: how publishers win the AI era

For years, publishers grew by chasing pageviews and search referrals. But that playbook is breaking down. When AI-powered summaries appear in Google results, users are nearly 50% less likely to click through. In fact, just 8% of searchers click a link when an AI summary is present, compared to 15% when it isn’t. Publishers still get visibility, but not the visit.

At the same time, referral traffic from classic search sources masks a deeper risk of user journeys being diverted before they reach publishers’ sites.The funnel hasn’t disappeared—but control over it has.

Meanwhile, social traffic continues to fall, and direct channels only scale when publishers already have a known, consented audience. So the question is no longer How do we get more traffic? but How do we earn more revenue from the traffic we still get?

The new growth model: visitor value > traffic volume

The old model was built on scale; the new one is built on yield. Success is shifting from total sessions to revenue per visitor, lifetime value, and the percentage of traffic that becomes known and repeatable. 

In an AI-mediated world, publishers can’t control how many people arrive, but they can control what happens after the click. The advantage is no longer acquisition, but conversion, retention, and relationship depth. A valuable visitor is a user who can be identified, engaged, and monetized over time.

StageValue SignalMonetization Potential
Arrives anonymouslyPageview onlyLowest RPM, no identity
Gives consentAd targeting + compliance compliance lift+20–40% higher ad yield
RegistersKnown user with email identifierEligibility for newsletters, personalization
Subscribes or donatesDirect recurring revenueHighest ARPU, most durable
Returns repeatedlyEngagement + retention loopsProtects LTV against traffic volatility

Instead of hitting every visitor with the same pop-up, value-driven publishers run sequenced journeys: Consent → Registration → Newsletter → Paywall → Membership.

That’s only possible if data, identity, and prompts are connected. When tools don’t talk to each other, journeys break and AI can’t fix them.

Put simply: Traffic is rented. Visitor value is owned. And AI is widening the gap between the two.

What actually moves revenue per visitor

If “visitor value” is the new north star, the next question is practical: what actually increases it? Across publishers that have already made the shift, four levers consistently move revenue per visitor, and none of them depend on AI alone. They depend on control, consent, clean data, and coordinated experiences.

1. Clean, unified first-party data instead of fragmented signals

AI-powered paywalls, churn models, and personalization don’t work if the same user appears as four different IDs across four different systems. Many publishers still juggle separate tools for consent, registration, newsletters, analytics, and paywalls, each storing data in its own silo. When identity isn’t unified, AI can’t optimize anything.

2. Orchestrated user journeys, not pop-up chaos

A typical publisher page might trigger a consent banner, a newsletter modal, a paywall, and a membership CTA, all from different vendors, all competing for attention. That leads to conflicts, duplicated prompts, and lower conversion at every step.

A visitor-value model replaces this with controlled progression:

  1. Show consent
  2. Then registration
  3. Then newsletter or subscription offer
  4. Remove prompts for subscribers and focus on retention

When the journey is coordinated, each step lifts the next instead of interrupting it.

3. Faster, lighter, more intentional page performance

Every tag, widget, and script adds latency, and latency is now a direct revenue drain. Google data shows a 1-second delay in mobile load time can reduce conversions by up to 20%. Tag bloat is a revenue tax that suppresses ad yield, paywall conversion, and AI-driven personalization. Performance is no longer a “tech issue.” It’s a monetization issue.

4. Direct channels that compound over time

As AI takes over discovery, publishers need channels they own—email, apps, alerts, memberships. An anonymous pageview is worth pennies, but a known, repeat, newsletter subscriber can be worth 30–50× more over a year, even if total traffic falls. That’s why renewal rates stay strong while subscriber growth slows: revenue now follows relationship depth, not volume.

What publishers should do now

The publishers who succeed in the AI era will be the ones who restructure how they measure, monetize, and architect the visitor relationship. That starts with five concrete moves:

1. Audit the visitor journey for fragmentation

Map every prompt, tag, overlay, and data capture point across the site. If three vendors are asking for email, or consent is handled differently by page type, or scripts are loading in random order, you have a journey problem, not a traffic problem. Fixing it raises RPV more than chasing incremental sessions.

2. Reduce tag bloat and duplicate vendors

The average enterprise site now runs dozens of scripts. Every one slows load, competes for attention, and sends conflicting data. Consolidating vendors and tags removes friction from every monetization path (ads, subs, registrations, commerce).

3. Shift KPIs from sessions to yield

If teams are still judged by pageviews, they will optimize for volume. If they’re judged by revenue per visitor, they will optimize for value. A modern publisher scorecard should include:

  • RPV (Revenue Per Visitor)
  • % of consented users
  • Identity match rate
  • Conversion from first visit → registration → subscriber
  • Newsletter opt-in rate
  • Retention / churn risk signals

4. Build direct channels that compound

The most defensible revenue in the next five years will come from:

  • Newsletters
  • Apps
  • Membership + loyalty programs
  • SMS + push notifications
  • Logged-in experiences

These channels only grow if the journey to consent and registration is intentional, not accidental.

The shift that can’t be ignored

AI isn’t killing traffic, but it is killing the assumption that traffic will just keep coming. The gap between getting visits and owning relationships is widening fast.

The winners won’t be the publishers with the most pageviews, but the ones who earn the most value per visitor—fewer anonymous users, fewer scattered tools, more known users and unified journeys powered by first-party data.

AI doesn’t fix that foundation, it exposes whether it exists. Traffic is rented. Visitor value is owned. Only the owners win.

-hands typing on keyboard showing AI search-
AI | Supporter Spotlight

How publishers can survive the AI search shift

Artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of discovery. Search results are no longer a simple list of blue links. With tools like Google’s AI Mode delivering instant summaries, audiences often get what they need without clicking through to the original source. For publishers, this shift is already visible in their analytics. Mail Online reported click-through rates dropping by more than 50% when AI overviews appeared, even when the site ranked first in traditional search results.

For digital media executives, the implications are serious. Fewer visits mean fewer opportunities to monetize, weaker brand authority and a growing disconnect between audiences and the trusted outlets that produce the content. Readers develop loyalty to the aggregator, not the publisher. The challenge now is to reclaim direct relationships and remind audiences why visiting a publisher’s own site matters.

Strengthening the core

The first priority is to reinforce the value of a publisher’s own destination. Strong editorial identity and a clear brand voice give readers a reason to come back. Investigative reporting, live coverage and deeply reported opinion pieces resist machine-generated simplification and highlight a publisher’s expertise. Investing in these formats makes the brand indispensable and difficult for AI to replicate.

Loyalty programs can also deepen ties. Offering exclusive access, community recognition or tangible perks encourages habitual engagement without relying on restrictive paywalls. The goal is voluntary, not coerced, return visits. Readers should want to come back because the experience is worth it., rather than being pressured through paywalls, aggressive pop-ups, or other forms of friction that limit genuine choice.

Expanding discovery and engagement

Relying on search alone is no longer viable. Audience acquisition needs to extend across a wider ecosystem: partnerships with other respected outlets, distributed content on reliable platforms, curated newsletter growth and smart syndication. Each step reduces dependence on any single traffic source and introduces the brand to new readers. Some publishers have shown how effective this can be, with audience acquisition programs generating hundreds of millions of additional monthly page views across participating outlets, helping to fill gaps left by declining search traffic.

Discovery must also go beyond distribution. Publishers can build intentional paths into their ecosystems by embracing products like curated apps, podcasts, and social channels that are designed to funnel audiences back to their owned platforms. The goal is to make discovery a two-way street: audiences find the publisher, but the publisher also actively guides them toward deeper engagement.

Once visitors arrive, their time must count. Interactive storytelling, immersive explainers and vertical video feeds keep users exploring. Research shows vertical video can generate more than triple the time spent compared with high-impact display ads. Formats that encourage longer sessions strengthen the relationship and increase the value of every visit.

Using AI as an ally

Avoiding AI altogether is not the answer. Publishers can harness machine learning to improve personalization and relevance. AI-powered recommendation engines surface content tailored to individual preferences, reinforcing the brand’s value through context and depth. The key is to integrate AI as a tool for engagement while maintaining control of the narrative.

AI can also automate low-value newsroom tasks such as headline testing, tagging, or formatting, freeing journalists to focus on reporting that machines cannot replicate. At the same time, it strengthens the use of first-party data, helping publishers uncover patterns that drive more relevant content and advertising while respecting privacy. Used in this way, AI becomes less a threat and more a tool to deepen engagement, improve efficiency, and support the distinctive editorial voice that sets publishers apart.

Search and AI: navigating the road ahead

The next five years will determine which digital media companies maintain authority and revenue. Those that cultivate direct relationships, amplify unique editorial strengths and create richer on-site experiences will weather the volatility of platform-driven traffic. Those that don’t risk fading behind a layer of algorithms.

What is unfolding is not just a shift in referral traffic but a structural reordering of how information is discovered, trusted, and monetized. Search is no longer the dependable gateway it once was, and AI is accelerating the pace of change. Publishers that thrive will be those who see discovery as an ecosystem rather than a single channel, who treat loyalty as a relationship rather than a transaction, and who use technology to enhance — not replace — their editorial identity.

The future of publishing will not be decided by algorithms alone. It will be shaped by the ability of publishers to assert their value, claim their place in the open internet, and remind audiences that real journalism and original voices are worth seeking out.

---unlock ad sales growth through pre-sales ---
Advertising | Supporter Spotlight

Unlocking growth through pre-sales in ad ops

For media revenue leaders working in ad operations, the pressure is constant: grow revenue, protect margins, and capture opportunities faster in a crowded marketplace. Yet those goals are often undermined at the very start of the process:  pre-sales.

Often an overlooked part of the Order-to-Cash (OTC) process, pre-sales is a critical phase that shapes pricing, product fit, feasibility, and advertiser expectations, which influence revenue outcomes long before an IO is signed. But it’s also where RFPs, media plans, contracts, and approvals are still handled through manual, disconnected workflows that hinder campaign performance.

That’s beginning to change. Ad Operations teams are rethinking the day-to-day workflows in pre-sales. They’re replacing manual effort with automation that delivers consistency, accuracy, and momentum. This shift is building healthier pipelines, stronger margins, and a clearer link between operations and profit.

For media industry revenue leaders, this is more than a workflow issue. The tangible benefits highlight the upside of change. However, they also underscore why pre-sales can’t remain manual. Left untouched, it drags on margins, delays responses, and weakens advertiser trust.

Why pre-sales can’t stay manual

Despite its critical role, advertising pre-sales is still weighed down by outdated processes. RFPs bounce between inboxes, media plans are rebuilt in multiple spreadsheets, and contracts move only when someone manually follows up. Each step slows the deal cycle and multiplies the risk of errors.

The result isn’t just wasted time. It’s missed opportunities, inconsistent pricing, and proposals that reach advertisers too late. Proposals are often prolonged and require repeated rework. And in some cases, deals are lost outright when responses arrive too late. Errors slip in, deals drag out, and the credibility of the entire sales process takes a hit.

For revenue leaders, that’s more than an operational nuisance. Manual pre-sales creates revenue leakage: slow responses mean lost deals, mismatched proposals squeeze margins, and rework inflates delivery costs. In a marketplace where speed and accuracy are decisive, manual workflows put growth goals at risk before a single campaign even launches.

When pre-sales shifts away from manual effort, it doesn’t just remove inefficiencies – it highlights just how much revenue is left on the table until automation takes hold.

The revenue upside of fixing pre-sales

Automation in pre-sales does more than streamline workflows – it creates a stronger engine for revenue. Automated intake, planning, and approvals move proposals to advertisers faster and with greater accuracy. Connected systems eliminate duplicate entry, giving sales and ops teams a single source of truth from the very first step.

Yet tools alone are not enough. Inconsistent use of CRMs and planning systems often leaves downstream teams working from incomplete or inaccurate information.

Structured automation closes those gaps by ensuring proposals are built on reliable inputs and aligned across functions from the start.

Instead of delays and rework, sales teams see deals advance with fewer obstacles and greater predictability. Advertisers receive timely proposals aligned to inventory and pricing, reducing the risk of mismatched expectations. For advertisers, this translates into faster, more accurate proposals that align with their objectives and build trust from the first interaction. Internally, ad ops teams spend less energy on corrections and more time on activities that drive growth – from refining strategy to deepening client relationships.

For revenue leaders, these improvements are operational wins that translate into measurable outcomes: higher proposal acceptance rates, healthier pipelines, stronger margins, and a clearer connection between operational execution and financial performance.

And those gains don’t stop once the IO is signed. The strength of pre-sales sets the tone for everything that follows – from campaign delivery to long-term client relationships.

Pre-sales as the foundation for long-term success

The value of optimizing pre-sales sets the tone for the entire OTC process. Campaign teams inherit cleaner plans, delivery starts with fewer corrections, and client service teams avoid the frustration of resetting advertiser expectations.

Without that consistency, delivery teams often find themselves having to resell deals internally. That means that must translate proposals into what can realistically be executed. Over time, these inefficiencies compound, which inflates delivery costs and weakens advertiser confidence. Renewal opportunities are lost when campaigns fail to meet objectives, and long-term revenue suffers.

By contrast, when proposals are execution-ready from the start, disputes are minimized, renewals are stronger, and organizations can scale without proportional increases in headcount. That’s because growth is built on reliable, repeatable processes rather than manual workarounds.

For revenue leaders in the media industry, the takeaway is simple: pre-sales is more than process. It’s the foundation for stronger margins, lasting client loyalty, and a business built to scale.

-confused about programmatic ctv advertising terminology-
Advertising | Supporter Spotlight | Video

Programmatic confusion is holding CTV back – can we fix it?

If you read the latest analyst forecasts or industry headlines, a clear narrative emerges: programmatic is taking over connected TV. The reality is more complex. While automated deliveries are indeed growing, programmatic’s role in CTV remains widely misunderstood – and sometimes overstated.

This matters for media owners. Confusion around definitions and measurement can distort investment decisions, complicate yield strategies, and cloud how some publishers position their ad inventory in a rapidly evolving market. Understanding where programmatic fits, and where it doesn’t, is essential for anyone making decisions about CTV monetization.

The latest FreeWheel Video Marketplace Report (VMR) found that over 70% of streaming ad views are still delivered directly, outside of programmatic channels. At the same time, some industry forecasts suggest that over 80% of CTV spend is already programmatic. The gap between these figures highlights a deeper problem: the industry still lacks a shared way of defining and measuring programmatic in CTV.

Why the disconnect exists

Programmatic, at its simplest, is about automation. Yet in everyday use, the term has stretched so far that it now covers almost everything. This can include everything from open exchange bidding and private marketplaces to programmatic guaranteed deals, and even digitized versions of old-style insertion orders.

This broad application muddies the waters. For example, guaranteed CTV buys executed through programmatic channels may be classified as programmatic, even though they behave more like direct transactions. At the same time, some forecasts group together very different formats, such as in-stream, outstream, and social video. all under the CTV umbrella. The result is an inflated picture of programmatic’s footprint in premium CTV environments, which has resulted in a narrative that does not always reflect the actual transactions taking place.

For media owners, the problem isn’t just about definitions. It directly affects how buyers perceive value, how inventory is packaged, and how technology investments are prioritised. When “programmatic” can have four or five different meanings, publishers risk being evaluated against expectations that do not align with the real economics of their supply.

CTV is not display, and not linear

Part of the challenge is that CTV doesn’t fit neatly into existing categories. It isn’t digital display, and it isn’t traditional TV. Instead, it combines TV living-room style viewing with digital-style automation.

That in-between status has consequences. Budgets often get split between TV and digital teams, leading to competing KPIs and conflicting expectations. Agencies with more established brand clients may prioritize guaranteed premium placements, while performance-led advertisers may lean towards real-time optimization. Both want automation, but they mean very different things when they use the word “programmatic.”

And then there are publisher realities. Premium inventory is finite. Direct deals remain the backbone when it comes to revenue and they allow tighter control over both supply and the viewing experience. Adding programmatic layers can introduce extra costs and unnecessary operational complexity. Not to mention ongoing issues with signal loss, fraud, lack of transparency, and inventory duplication which all make it harder to trust the open exchange. The idea of pushing all CTV into this model simply doesn’t reflect how premium video is bought and sold today.

The impact of language and alignment

A serious stumbling block for the industry is not the technology but the terminology. “programmatic” is being used to describe multiple, fundamentally different transaction models. Without clearer definitions, buyers and sellers risk building toward different futures. That leaves publishers in a difficult position. Do they double down on auction-based infrastructure, channel resources into tools that support direct guarantees, or try to straddle both? Without greater industry alignment, even the most carefully designed strategies can end up misfiring.

Buyers, too, grow wary when CTV is labelled as “programmatic” but still depends on direct negotiation. The result is a disconnect between expectation and reality. That, in turn, can hold back spend, despite CTV’s growing share of consumer attention. The confusion makes it harder for publishers to position their inventory correctly, and for buyers to evaluate its true value.

A more grounded future

A large share of premium CTV deals still happen within closed publisher ecosystems, using formats and configurations that escape conventional measurement tools. The real challenge isn’t just automation – with the risk of mirroring the display advertising model – it’s figuring out how to make programmatic truly fit CTV without reinforcing the fragmentation that already limits transparency and scale.

This will mean new models that reflect the economics of television, rather than forcing CTV into frameworks designed for other channels. It will also mean new tools that allow publishers to maintain supply control while offering buyers efficiency, better transparency, and the ability to tailor how they transact.

For media owners, progress requires pressing for greater alignment on terminology, more transparency in measurement, and continued investment in infrastructure that supports both efficiency and control. The challenges are real. But so are the opportunities.

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Advertising | Supporter Spotlight

How smart publishers are winning in a squeezed media economy

Publishers are under siege. Platforms and AI are siphoning off traffic, ad dollars are consolidating, and the rules of digital media are being rewritten in real time. According to a recent forecast by eMarketer, 85% of programmatic display ad dollars will transact via programmatic direct and PMP in 2026, leaving smaller players fighting for scraps. This isn’t a passing storm. It’s a structural reset of the media economy that threatens to push many publishers to the margins.

Yet moments of disruption can be moments of reinvention. Publishers that once relied on stability must now build resilience. They need to diversify revenue streams, cultivate loyal audiences, and lean on partners who can shoulder the heavy lift of technology, brand safety, and optimization. Survival in this market doesn’t come from standing still. It comes from adapting with speed and purpose.

What’s causing the squeeze

Advertisers are consolidating spending on fewer, trusted partners—supply sources that deliver quality, brand safety, performance, and scale. For independent publishers, that means competing against much larger players with deeper pockets and more sophisticated technology.

Meanwhile, running an in-house programmatic stack has become unsustainable. Effective yield management requires continuous testing, demand path optimization, identity and brand safety investments, dynamic pricing strategies, and strong demand partner relationships. 

The result? Media companies are being crowded out. Without adapting, many publishers risk losing visibility and revenue in a marketplace dominated by scale.

The power of programmatic scale

The growth of sales houses isn’t accidental; it’s structural. As the dedicated monetization partner for multiple publishers and a one-stop shop for advertisers, sales houses combine diverse ad inventory in a single channel. The model rests on significant fixed-cost investments in technology, teams, and innovation beyond what a single publisher can rationalize. 

By aggregating supply, sales houses can unlock efficiencies and command more attractive demand relationships. At Raptive, we run over 750 optimization experiments annually across 6,000 sites, generating insights no single publisher could replicate. We believe that, by tapping into that level of learning, publishers can turn programmatic into a resilient engine of sustainable growth.

This explains why the sales house category has grown by 31% in three years: many publishers are tapping into those benefits rather than going it alone. 

The bottom line: ad management is a strategic advantage. It allows publishers to increase revenue, cut costs, compete with scaled players, and adapt to the changing flow of ad dollars. 

Four strategies for surviving the squeeze

What can publishers do in the face of so much change? The rules of digital media are shifting fast, but with the right programmatic approach, audience focus, and monetization plan, there are clear ways to stay competitive. Here are four smart moves to help publishers grow stronger and smarter in today’s disrupted media landscape.

Build your brand

Brand is the ultimate differentiator—and the most reliable antidote to platform volatility. As Gen Z matures beyond its “TikTok generation” reputation, it seeks trusted sources to guide decisions around home ownership, careers, and finances. They value authenticity and expertise, not clickbait or surface-level content. 

Advertisers follow the same logic. They value publishers whose audiences already see them as credible. And strong brands don’t just win loyalty; they also drive more direct traffic, as readers bypass intermediaries and head straight to the publisher’s front door. That kind of audience relationship is invaluable in an era of shrinking search referrals and shifting algorithms. The risk of inaction is steep: our research shows trust drops by nearly 50% when readers suspect content is AI-generated. Publishers who invest in building strong brands now will secure resilience. This results in reader loyalty, advertiser trust, and a steady stream of front-door traffic.

Diversify traffic sources

AI-generated results and the rise of zero-click searches mean that search is an increasingly unreliable source of traffic—an existential threat for publishers who lean too heavily on SEO. Expanding reach through alternatives like Google Discover—already rivaling search in some categories—along with emerging platforms such as Newsbreak, opens new pathways to audience acquisition. 

Social referrals have declined but remain a vital offset to search dependency. For lean teams, subject-matter expertise and dedicated resources are critical to uncovering and executing creative strategies that balance traffic sources and protecting long-term growth.

Prioritize direct sales

Programmatic may be gobbling up advertising budgets, but that doesn’t mean publishers should completely abandon direct sales. The 20% of ad spend not going to programmatic is worth fighting for. In fact, combining private marketplace sales with direct sales can boost inventory value to 2-3x that of the open market. For media companies, the challenge is scale: partnering with the right sales house extends your reach, unlocking premium demand without adding overhead.

Invest in identity solutions

Google hasn’t killed cookies, but that doesn’t mean publishers can afford to sleep on authenticated traffic. The pressure is still mounting—from regulators, from savvier users demanding privacy, and from the nearly one billion people worldwide now invisible to advertisers due to ad blockers. Maximizing email-identified traffic and leveraging the right technology can deliver 30–90% more revenue in cookieless environments. The challenge is scale: no single publisher can match the reach of major platforms alone. But by tapping into networks that have invested in ID solutions for years, publishers can benefit from identity matching across thousands of sites—unlocking richer data, stronger advertiser demand, and long-term competitive strength.

Gain power through partnerships

Sales houses provide access to expertise, technology, and scale that individual publishers can’t easily build on their own, reducing operational strain, unlocking competitive advantages, and freeing up resources to focus on what matters most—delivering the kind of authentic, trusted content that keeps audiences coming back.

In an era defined by shifting algorithms, rising privacy expectations, and tighter resources, resilience won’t come from going it alone. Resilience, and success, are built by combining authentic brands with smart strategies and the right partners.

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AI | Supporter Spotlight

The year of now: an AI turning point for publishers

In the media industry, AI’s hype cycle has officially entered its hard reality era. As Arc XP’s Chief Technology Officer Joe Croney put it during our recent webinar Real Automation, Real Agents, Real Impact, 2023 was “the year of wow,” 2024 “the year of how,” and 2025 is “the year of now.”

AI in media has matured beyond experimental pilots and workflow quick wins. The question is no longer if you will use AI. It’s how you’ll use it to stand out in a marketplace where speed, volume, and even exclusivity are no longer differentiators.

Arc XP’s latest report with Digiday, surveying 108 publishers and broadcasters to understand how media organizations are incorporating AI into their newsrooms, confirms the stakes:

  • 97% of publishers are investing in AI.
  • 88% are prioritizing AI to elevate content quality, not just efficiency.
  • Yet only 1% have scaled AI across their organizations.

For the rest, the gap between AI experimentation and AI transformation is the opportunity and the risk.

Beyond automation: the rise of agentic workflows

The first wave of AI in the newsroom focused on automation by reducing labor time, accelerating production, and streamlining repetitive tasks. Those gains are real: 86% of publishers report reduced labor time and 85% report faster creation.

But the next wave, already underway, is about agentic workflows. Here, AI-powered assistants work in the background or are embedded in storytelling. They are designed to support journalists, not replace them.

Arc XP’s vision, as described by VP of Arc Intelligence Joey Marburger, is clear: “AI is like a junior reporter. Train it, guide it, but never expect it to replace your newsroom.”

In practice, this means agents that:

  • Check style guides automatically.
  • Suggest metadata and keywords in real time.
  • Surface relevant video, photo, and archival content instantly.
  • Summarize research while keeping humans in the editorial driver’s seat.

This “human-in-the-loop” approach is essential to maintaining trust, brand integrity, and editorial judgment, qualities AI cannot replicate.

Content has been commoditized. Insight has not.

Generative AI can repackage, summarize, and distribute stories faster than any newsroom. That means the old competitive advantages—speed, volume, and exclusivity—no longer guarantee audience loyalty.

What AI can’t replicate are journalistic instincts, mission, and audience. That’s why leading publishers are using AI to free up time for original reporting, local engagement, and audience-driven experimentation.

By pairing AI tools with secure, flexible, media-focused workflows, news organizations can focus on what machines can’t create: voice, context, originality, and trust.

Multi-modal storytelling for audience 3.0

Our State of AI in the newsroom report revealed AI is accelerating multimedia production—82% of publishers use it for video editing, 87% for image optimization. However, many remain dissatisfied with quality and consistency.

Arc XP’s AI roadmap tackles this head-on with a vector-based asset database, enabling instant retrieval of relevant photos, video clips, and audio. This makes it possible to reformat content across modalities, turning a text story into a video or podcast, or transforming audio interviews into publish-ready text, without sacrificing editorial quality.

This is critical for “Audience 3.0,” where engagement is immersive, adaptive, and co-created. In this environment, text-only strategies aren’t enough; audiences expect stories that move, speak, and adapt to their preferences.

An AI business imperative

AI isn’t just an editorial tool. It’s a business weapon. Our research shows forward-looking publishers are using AI to:

  • Personalize content delivery
  • Improve accessibility
  • Unlock new revenue streams by protecting and monetizing premium content from AI crawlers and bots

These capabilities are also part of a broader shift toward strengthening direct audience relationships. This is particularly important at a time when referrals are declining and chat-based AI platforms are changing how people discover content.

The clock is ticking

In 2025, the divide is clear: publishers who treat AI as a strategic advantage are redefining their markets. Those who don’t risk irrelevance.

The winning formula is already visible:

  • Treat AI as a platform, not a plug-in.
  • Align editorial, product, and engineering around shared goals.
  • Protect and monetize your intellectual property.
  • Prioritize originality, insight, and human voice over scale alone.

The transformation window is open now. But it will not stay open forever. The choice is stark: lead the market by building intelligent, human-centered AI systems that multiply your newsroom’s impact, or watch from the sidelines as competitors redefine the media business without you.

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Innovation

Live, interactive news: real-time trust and real-world impact

The 2025 Reuters Digital News Report provides a sharp snapshot of the current state of digital journalism: audiences are overwhelmed, trust is fragile, and the format of news delivery matters more than ever. These aren’t new challenges. However, the urgency has intensified, along with the opportunity for publishers ready to meet audiences where they are.

How we deliver news can play a crucial role in why audiences return. Live, interactive news formats are more than a content style. They are also a tool for rebuilding trust, deepening engagement, and strengthening the bottom line.

Trust is fragile, but fixable

This year’s report confirms an ongoing crisis of trust in news. Yet it also offers a glimmer of hope. Encouragingly, 38% of people say they turn to trusted news outlets first, while only 14% go to social media. This reinforces what we’ve long believed: audiences want credible information, but they want it delivered in a way that fits the fast-paced, mobile-first world they live in.

Live blogs and real-time updates play a crucial role here. By showing how information is gathered, when it’s updated, and who is reporting it, live coverage inherently encourages transparency. It’s a format that invites accountability and provides a natural space for in-context fact-checking, source attribution, and even conflict-of-interest disclosures.

Süddeutsche Zeitung saw seven out of its 10 most-read articles in 2023 come from live blogs. They use the format not just to update but to explain, embedding transparency cues and structured fact-checks within its real-time coverage. FAZ achieved over 8x longer retention rates on live blogs than traditional articles: proof that real-time transparency helps retain trust and attention.

There’s also an untapped opportunity in building meta-coverage—live blogs that relate to the reporting process itself. Who broke the story? How was it verified? What questions are still open? During the 2024 U.S. election, Der Spiegel deployed a collaborative newsroom effort, where 33 journalists contributed to a single live blog. Readers could see not just the unfolding story but the multi-perspective editorial process in action. The approach blends speed, transparency, and team-driven insight in one coherent stream. This kind of behind-the-scenes work can help restore confidence in an age of skepticism.

Instant, micro-content

Another key finding from the Reuters report is the growing demand for shorter, more accessible formats, particularly among younger readers. At a time when many consumers feel overwhelmed by endless scrolling and algorithmic content streams, live blogs offer something different. They offer a coherent, time-stamped narrative that delivers key facts quickly, yet with enough context to foster a deeper understanding.

Unlike social media snippets, live blogs are built around editorial judgement. Unlike long-form articles, they’re agile and responsive. They give audiences real-time coverage of politics, sports, and community events on one coherent platform.

For example, during election nights, we’ve seen publications use live blogs not only to report results but also to explain shifting trends, share expert commentary. They also link to explanatory articles—all within one feed. It’s the ideal format for audiences who want to stay informed without being overloaded. A powerful example comes from Stears in Nigeria, which garnered more than 10 times the traffic on its live blog compared to its standard articles during the 2023 elections.

Interactive news as a differentiator

Today’s audiences don’t just want to consume the news; they want to engage with it. Interactive news is the answer. The Reuters report shows increasing interest in formats that allow for interaction and explanation, especially among younger and more skeptical readers.

Live blogs are ideal for interactive features like reader polls, Q&As with journalists and experts, and moderated comment threads, all embedded directly into the coverage. This turns passive readers into active participants and reinforces the human side of journalism.

This is part of a broader trend. For instance, Stuff in New Zealand regularly engages readers through polls and live Q&As. Its Met Gala coverage received over 1,000 reader responses, while Taylor Swift ticketing coverage triggered more than 400 comments in real-time. These aren’t just passive metrics; they reflect an audience eager to feel part of the conversation.

Sustainability and innovation

For publishers facing revenue pressure, these formats aren’t just good for engagement, they’re good for business. Customizable, brand-integrated live feeds open up new opportunities for native sponsorships, affiliate placements, and reader subscriptions. They also drive reader loyalty through habitual check-ins and notifications.

At regional German paper Westfälische Nachrichten, the paywalled soccer live blog achieved a 7.3% subscriber reach—a particularly strong result that demonstrates how high-value, recurring live formats can support subscription strategies. Whether it’s covering a local election or a global sporting event, live blogs are proving to be not just editorial assets but commercial ones.

A strategic roadmap for newsrooms

If there’s one clear takeaway from the 2025 Reuters report, it’s that format is strategy. As automation and AI transform the backend of journalism, publishers must also reconsider the front-end user experience.

Live blogs offer a versatile way for publishers to respond to today’s challenges. By prioritizing transparency and making editorial processes visible in real-time, they help reinforce trust with audiences who increasingly want to understand where their news comes from. At the same time, features like multi-reporter collaboration, easy formatting, AI-powered tools, and partner integrations make live blogs more efficient for editorial teams, allowing them to focus on what matters most: delivering compelling, real-time storytelling. They also meet the growing demand for bite-sized, easy-to-navigate updates, providing a clear, chronological narrative that cuts through information overload.

Crucially, live blogs also create space for deeper engagement. Whether through interactive Q&As, embedded polls, or moderated comments, they transform readers from passive consumers into active participants. And from a business perspective, they unlock new value through repeat visits, increased dwell time, and formats that are ready for sponsorship or brand integration.

Trust isn’t just built on accuracy; it’s built on experience. Audiences want news they can believe and a format that respects their time, attention, and intelligence. With the right tools, publishers can deliver both. Live, interactive news won’t solve all of the industry’s challenges, but as this year’s Digital News Report makes clear, it’s a critical piece of the puzzle, and one that’s ready to scale.

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Supporter Spotlight | Video

3 ways broadcasters can expertly navigate streaming

The shift to streaming hasn’t just changed what we watch or how we watch, it’s changed everything behind the scenes, too. The premium video playbook has largely been rewritten. And while the audience now enjoys more content and control than ever before, media companies are working just as hard to keep up.

For broadcasters, the challenge can appear especially acute. Unlike streaming-first platforms, broadcasters aren’t digital natives. They are often navigating change while juggling strict regulations, legacy systems, broad audience demographics, and a different media economy. But with the right focus, they can keep pace and also lead. In this article, we explore three areas where broadcasters can take control and future-proof their business and find streaming success.

1. Make the viewer experience the priority

Audiences today have many options to choose from when watching content. While broadcasters still have an edge when it comes to trusted, high-quality content, they can’t afford to take it easy when it comes to UX. The viewing experience – especially the ad experience – can make or break a viewer’s loyalty.

As we’ve seen, advertising is becoming a conduit to access premium video. Viewers aren’t against it; they just don’t want a bad ad experience. Repetitive, irrelevant, or disruptive ads are what turn people away. For broadcasters making their journey into streaming, there are ways to address these issues. Our research at FreeWheel shows that simple steps like managing ad frequency, rotating creative more effectively, and improving relevance go a long way toward keeping viewers engaged.

Tools that smooth out the ad experience can help broadcasters strike the right balance: keeping viewers satisfied while delivering results for advertisers. But it’s not just about tech. It’s also about data. By building stronger first-party data strategies, broadcasters can better understand what drives their audiences’ choices, and how to attract new viewers.

This data can inform everything from better content recommendations to granular ad targeting. It also makes it possible to serve more relevant ads across devices, which matters more than ever as viewing continues to fragment. A data-led approach leads to a viewing experience that feels consistent, relevant, and personal, whether someone’s watching live sports on streaming or catching up on dramas on VOD. That kind of seamlessness builds deeper customer trust, and keeps viewers coming back.

2. Be ready for live, technically and strategically

Live programming has always been a stronghold for broadcasters. Sports, news, and major televised events are all familiar territory. But in the streaming world, live comes with new demands.

When audiences tune in en masse for a live event, there’s no room for error. Spikes in viewership, inventory exclusions, and creative approvals not lining up are just a few of the critical challenges. When they have an impact, it’s not just the experience that takes a hit. It’s also revenue and the value of the inventory.

This is why tech readiness is critical. Broadcasters need the right infrastructure to handle the unpredictability of live events in a streaming environment. That means being able to adjust campaign pacing in real time, ensure creatives are pre-approved and ready to go, and facilitate access to a broader range of advertisers, even those without the optimal tech stack.

Traditionally, programmatic technology has offered an answer to some of these issues. And recent advancements have made it easier to automate and scale ad delivery on live content. Even when viewership spikes unexpectedly, advertisers can still reach their intended audiences, and broadcasters can capture the full value of that demand.

This is where technology and live experience can intersect to create seamless transactions and efficient audience targeting. Broadcasters know how to do live. With the right tools in place, they can now do it better, faster, and more profitably in a streaming world.

3. Streamline access to unified inventory

The push for simpler, more efficient supply paths isn’t new, but with the evolution of the premium video landscape, it has taken on a new meaning. Advertisers want easier, direct access to quality inventory. However, that inventory is now fragmented across screens, channels, and types of transactions. So, while broadcasters have what advertisers seek – premium, brand-safe environments with scalable reach – the trick is making those connections easier in a unified manner.

A streamlined, unified access to inventory doesn’t just help advertisers. It helps broadcasters, too. It enables them to gain better visibility across all demand sources, optimize ad decisions (including pacing and frequency), and reduce friction in transactions. It ultimately unlocks more value across all screens and sales channels.

Bottom line: Focus on the viewer

As the lines between traditional TV and streaming continue to blur, broadcasters who focus on the viewer, live content and unified inventory, can position themselves to lead. Yes, they already have unique advantages, including the quality of the content, audiences at scale and engaged viewers. However, there are other areas that TV stakeholders will need to further work on to compete effectively, not least working together and facilitating access to their inventory.

This is an increasingly important issue which deserves to be looked into separately. Ultimately, broadcast (premium video) quality will continue to be the gold standard. So, it is important that advertisers and their agencies consider these points carefully when planning their media buys.

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Audiences | Marketing | Supporter Spotlight

You can’t outsource loyalty

In digital publishing, loyalty is everything. Yet most of today’s traffic still comes from platforms we don’t control: social media, search and aggregators like Google Discover. That worked for a while. But now, the rules are changing fast. And, to build a loyal audience, you’ll need to change your approach. 

Google recently announced that AI-generated summaries will appear in Discover previews. This means fewer clicks to publishers, and more time spent inside Google’s own environment. Even DiscoverSnoop, a tool built specifically to track Discover performance, warns that they don’t offer annual plans because they don’t know if Discover will still be relevant in a few months. 

Social traffic is shrinking, too. Facebook has reduced visibility for news links by over 80% since its pivot away from journalism in 2021. And with AI summaries becoming more common in search results, even Google Search is becoming less reliable as a traffic source.

That leaves one source of traffic with long-term value: people who come to you directly. The good news is that this has been perfected by many publishers, and it’s an easy strategy to emulate.

Direct traffic means real connection

Direct traffic isn’t just a number in a dashboard. It’s a sign of trust. It means someone typed in your URL, opened your app, clicked a bookmark, or followed your newsletter link. They didn’t stumble onto your content. They came to you on purpose.

In the Nordics, we see publishers with 80–90% of their traffic coming direct. This is not a coincidence. It’s a result of long-term product decisions that support reader habits: live coverage, frequently updated and often personalized front pages with high click-through rates, well-timed and relevant push notifications that bring readers back in real time, newsletters tailored to reader interests and sent at moments when your audience is most likely to engage, and strong editorial presence.

Subscriptions follow loyalty

Many publishers try to win subscriptions from users who come through search, Discover, or social. That’s fine, but most of these readers are only there for a single article. And most won’t stay on to become loyal audience members.

The most valuable subscriptions come from users who already know your brand. They return often. They read more than one story. They come back even without a link.

Recent research from Northwestern’s Medill Spiegel Research Center confirms that reader regularity – how often a subscriber visits your site – is the strongest predictor of retention. This finding held across 107 U.S. newspapers, beating out pageviews and time on site as indicators of subscriber health.

In fact, a Medill study of a business weekly showed that having readers who read more often is 10 times more important than having them read more articles.

A subscription model built on one-off clicks amounts to renting your audience rather than building a lasting relationship.

How Stuttgarter Zeitung built more direct traffic

One example comes from Stuttgarter Zeitung. In a recent LinkedIn post, Carsten Groß shared how the paper almost doubled its direct traffic in 18 months. They didn’t rely on hacks. They focused on five areas:

  1. Clear targeting of core audiences
  2. Supporting teams with data and feedback
  3. Building ecosystems around newsletters and video
  4. Improving on-site value for loyal audience members
  5. Strong breaking news coverage

The result was not just more traffic, but more predictable, repeatable, and resilient engagement.

What remains when platforms disappear

Platforms will continue to change. Some may disappear. The only thing they have in common is that they are not serving your long-term interests. The only audience you control is the one that comes to you directly.

Any publisher that expects to remain relevant in the years ahead needs a clear strategy for increasing direct traffic. Without one, you remain dependent on systems you do not control. That is a risk no publisher can afford to ignore.

The front page is your most important habit-forming tool

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear describes how habits form through a loop of cue, craving, response and reward. This loop is driven by dopamine.

Source: Atomic Habits, Figure 9

The same mechanism applies when a reader visits a news site. The front page is the cue. If the visit is rewarded, the habit is reinforced. If not, the impulse weakens.

In the beginning (illustrated as A in the diagram), dopamine is released when the reward is experienced. Over time, as the habit takes shape (B), dopamine begins to rise earlier—at the moment the cue is recognized—because the brain now expects the reward. This anticipation creates a sense of motivation and reinforces the habit.

But when the expected reward doesn’t come (C), dopamine drops. The result is disappointment, and over time, the habit may stop altogether.

This applies directly to how readers interact with a front page. Each visit is a response to a cue—often formed by habit. If the page offers something new or relevant, the reward is delivered and the habit is strengthened. But if the content is unchanged, predictable, or uninteresting, the reader leaves with nothing—and the loop is broken.

Earlier in this article, I referenced research from Medill showing that visit frequency is more important than article depth when it comes to long-term subscription value. Readers who come back often are far more likely to stay. But to support that pattern, each visit needs to deliver something fresh.

That’s why personalization must begin at the top of the page. Not halfway down, and not just in selected modules. For it to work in a newsroom context, it has to be done responsibly—with editorial oversight and clear boundaries. A news brand cannot personalize like a social platform. I’ve written more about what responsible personalization looks like here: Informed personalization: editors in charge, trust at stake.

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