by Simon Larcey, Managing Director, Viztrade
As someone who used to run an expat media business in London and who has ended up building an advertising technology company, I love everything about AI and what it means for media owners and content creators. The costs associated with production and operations are vast and AI has made it less expensive and more efficient. I believe AI is going to give traditional media a second wind and is going to be beneficial to journalism and news media.
From a commercial perspective, Big Tech has taken away the majority of advertising revenue from media owners over the last two decades. It’s been a blood bath with multiple media operators shutting down and large organisations restructuring and creating new revenue streams to subsidise the loss of advertising revenue. Big Tech today publishes news on their own platforms pulling traffic away from news sites and subsequently diminishing their audience sizes.
The problem with Big Tech is that all of their content is user generated or supplied by third parties with little fact checking or vetting. This in itself is not news. It has created issues for brands over the years as they only want to be associated with “brand safe” content and this can be risky. But advertising is advertising, brands and marketers want to make money and with some safety perimeters in place, these issues can be navigated.
The consumer perspective
This is not the case when it comes to trusting content as a consumer. If you see news on Big Tech, there is quite often that thought, I should check this and make sure it is real. And when it comes to checking news, you check it direct from a trusted source. Whether that be a local paper, the BBC, a specialist media, it is a trusted provider you turn to and it becomes the single source of truth.
A recent whitepaper produced by 72 Point Group and Purposeful Relations entitled – Hold the Front Page, found that out of 5020 UK adults polled, only 24% trusted social media as opposed to 55% trusting news and traditional media.
As AI takes over our world, these trusted sources of information are going to become more and more critical. It will drive people back to these destinations and reintroduce some of the traffic they have lost over the past two decades. This will have an effect on audience size and subsequently boost advertising revenue. Quality content from trusted sources is and will always be in demand. Publishers must embrace AI not only for efficiency and automation but for driving consumers back to their platforms and other trusted media sources.
The opportunity for publishers
So how can we do this? Publishers have never been that good at marketing themselves because they were the platforms brands use for advertising and marketing. Over the years brands have moved to big tech and have spent a fortune on social media advertising and making themselves visible on search engines through paid advertising and search engine optimisation (SEO). But with the introduction of AI, they are having to change their strategy.
The “Hold the Front Page” white paper articulates the importance of AI and generative engine optimisation (GEO). When comparing GEO to SEO, the Whitepaper says that where traditional SEO rewarded volume and technical manipulation, GEO rewards authority and trustworthiness.
Chris Pharo, CEO of 72 Point Group, said: “Generative AI has changed the fundamentals of how people find and interpret information. Generative AI learns from journalism. It uses patterns of reliable reporting to define what look likes truth. Every headline, quote and correction becomes part of that model” He continues: “If you want to appear in tomorrow’s search results, you must be in today’s headlines. Credibility and visibility have become one and the same.”
This whitepaper was obviously produced to share with clients and demonstrate the importance of quality communications and how being mentioned in trusted media is beneficial to your visibility across AI platforms. What I found interesting was that it also stated most of the references across the multitude of AI platforms come from earned media, real journalism with quality, factual information. This is great news for publishers, as it prioritises authority and knowledge and will provide back links.
A second wind
Don’t get me wrong, we know Open AI and others are launching advertising solutions, but it is unlikely to undermine the key purpose of the AI platform, i.e. to give the best possible answers and advice when prompted.
There is no denying that traditional media still has its challenges. There has been a generational change to use Big Tech and these platforms are becoming incredibly influential. However, the rise in AI platforms will help draw back traffic to trusted sources and give news a second wind. Brands and marketers will channel more of their budgets back to premium media and brand safe environments. One only needs to look at the growth of platforms like the Ozone Project to reinforce that premium news media is in demand and we can be optimistic about its future.
Long live the news and long live quality journalism!
