AI is changing the rules of content discovery. With content scraping and declining search traffic among top industry concerns, publishers need to rethink their strategies for reaching new audiences.
At AAM’s recent board of directors meeting, Jacob Cohen Donnelly, founder of A Media Operator, shared how publishers can succeed by focusing on creating niche content their audiences truly value.
Prioritizing audience over reach
AI is significantly changing content discovery. A study from TollBit found AI-powered search engines send 96% less traffic to news sites than traditional Google search.
“The era of free traffic is over,” Donnelly said.
In response, publishers must become marketers. While platforms have the advantage in mass reach, publishers need to focus on serving unique, valuable content to niche audiences.
“We must get better at marketing and focus on our audience. If you deliver premium content your audience can’t get anywhere else, that’s something valuable that AI can't replicate.”
He cited the New York Post as an example. While the outlet saw a 32% drop in traffic year over year, it increased revenue by investing in first-party data and targeting.
“Their CPMs increased because they captured more data about their audience,” he explained.
Donnelly encourages publishers to prioritize lifetime value (LTV) of their audiences over reach. “We need to become more focused on the LTV of every incremental person, rather than trying to reach as many people as possible.”
Advertising investment follows high-quality audiences
With niche audiences and valuable content, Donnelly said publishers should consider restricting the most valuable content to paying subscribers. “Some content should be open, while the rest should live on an application layer bots can’t access.”
Print media could become a signal of trust in an AI-saturated landscape. “Since it costs a lot of money to print a magazine, it adds to a brand’s legitimacy.”
Print products and paying audiences could become signals of quality used to attract more ad revenue.
“Advertisers will follow the high-quality audiences. If you can get your audience to pay, that is proof of quality.”
Donnelly also urged publishers to move away from nostalgia and embrace experimentation.
“We should not be sentimental about history and complacent about how we’ve always done things. We need to ask, ‘What do we need to try now? How can we evolve?’”
Donnelly is bullish about media’s future and believes publishers hold a unique advantage in the marketplace.
“We know who our audience is. We’re great at creating content and we have distribution. Having all three of these things is something other content creators lack.”
