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Why The Economist rejects AI deals but joins Substack | AI referrals ‘not making up for search losses’
And publishers 'should be making £1m a year' from a successful Youtube channel, said Hearst UK's director of video and audio.
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Welcome to this week’s Press Gazette Future of Media newsletter on Thursday, 18 September.
Today we have a few highlights from last week’s Future of Media Technology Conference for you.
The day opened with a gripping fireside chat between our own Dominic Ponsford and The Economist president Luke Bradley-Jones who was candid about what the brand is doing to grow and thrive in what he described as not just a post-Google world, but a post-search world.
He chose our stage to announce that The Economist was launching a newsletter on Substack for the first time. Although it’s one of their existing newsletters, previously available only through a full Economist subscription, he explained why this won’t cannibalise the main sub - and why they don’t mind the prospect of losing 10% to Substack.
You can read the highlights here or listen to a podcast version of the interview here.
I’ve also written up one of the AI panels, which delved into some data demonstrating the extent to which referral traffic from AI platforms is really not making up for search losses. Despite changing behaviours, it’s still absolutely tiny in fact.
Read about what the likes of the Daily Mail and Bauer are doing to protect themselves in the face of that here. We also have their urgent calls to regulators and to Google.
Are you making £1m a year from each of your Youtube channels? If not, could you be? The excellent video session delved into successful video strategies with great advice on monetisation from Hearst UK’s director of video and audio Brian Whelan and an insight on the “genuine revenue” coming into Sky News from Youtube from managing director and executive editor Jonathan Levy.
And published yesterday: a session about Mediahuis Ireland’s journey to 100,000 digital subscriptions, including its metered paywall disaster and top lessons for publishers early on in their subs journey.
If your journalism has made a difference this year, enter the British Journalism Awards now for a chance of winning the ultimate newsroom accolade. Deadline for entry submissions is next Thursday 25 September.
On Press Gazette
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Why The Economist isn’t doing AI deals but has launched on Substack
The Economist president Luke Bradley-Jones shares his three Ds: differentiation, direct relationships, discoverability.
AI referral traffic ‘not making up for search losses’: How publishers can respond
Bot traffic still increases costs with "no meaningful value exchange".
Publishers 'should be making £1m a year' from a successful Youtube channel
Youtube "feels different" to other third-party platforms in terms of monetising publisher relationships.
British Journalism Awards 2025: Deadline is 25 September
British Journalism Awards are open for entries.
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50 biggest UK news websites in July: Minutes spent with Substack up almost 300% in a year
Newspaper ABCs: Metro slims down free distribution for August