AI Context Tools Helping Publishers Build Revenue PLUS Website Duplication Costing Publishers Millions

June 03, 2021

UK publishers are seeing sites ripping of their content wholesale, and the Press Gazette says that it's costing them millions of pounds in revenue.

We've got a couple of articles about AI contextual analysis tools are a growing business and a growing source of revenue. Reach in the UK has just landed a couple of big deals selling an AI contextual tool developed with IBM. The tool provides better targeting by analysing content more accurately and also providing brand safety.

A couple of stories with African links. One is a bit of research about the cues that young African audiences use to spot information. Another piece looks at how health investigative non-profits, including one in South Africa, were ahead of the game when the pandemic hit because they already had sources and networks.

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Africa: How Young People Spot Misinformation

Inaccurate information on social media has become a problem in many countries around the world. Researchers know a fair deal about “fake news” in the global North, but much less about what is happening in the global South — particularly in Africa.

Research into the cues that young audiences in Africa use to misinformation.

US: Local News Crisis Driving Decline in Local Political Engagement

The laws of supply and demand aren’t working for local news. The local news business was devastated by COVID-19, even though consumers wanted more of its produc…

"(I)nadequate local news has been linked to more corruption, less competitive elections, weaker municipal finances and a prevalence of party-line politicians who don’t bring benefits back to their districts." And it's making American voters more likely to be one-party voters.

Twitter's Crowdsourced Factchecking Pilot Launced

Twitter is looking to crowdsource its way out of misinformation woes with its new product Birdwatch which taps a network of engaged tweeters to add notes to misleading tweets. Today, Twitter announced that they are starting to roll out the Birdwatch notes to pilot participants across iOS, Android and desktop. The company launched a pilot […]

Twitter's crowdsourced misinformation scrubbing service has been rolled out to pilot participants.

UK: The Indy and Evening Standard Buy AI Ad Tools

The Independent and Evening Standard have licensed Reach’s AI-powered advertising tool. The titles, both owned by Evgeny Lebedev, decided to start using the tool for brand safety and contextual ad targeting as the industry prepares for the post-cookie advertising landscape.

Reach's AI contextual ad tool gets some big new customers. Reach developed the tool with IBM and provides 'brand safety' and contextual ad targeting. It's clever enough to know when nude means naked and when it relates to a colour of lipstick.

How AI Contextual Tools Can Boost

The ongoing coverage of the future of cookies, as dictated by Google, has focused a lot on how publishers will be squeezed the hardest. It’s not hard to see why: three parties dominate the ad market and many publishers are struggling with revenue as it is. The inability to sell targeted opportunities to their on-site …

How AI contextual tools like the one that Reach is selling can help publishers earn more revenue.

UK: News Sites See Copy-Paste Threat

Press Gazette has been reporting on British journalism without fear or favour since 1965. Our mission is to provide a news and information service which helps the UK journalism.

Sites that are copying content from news publishers wholesale is costing publishers millions of pounds in revenue.

Global Non-Profit Health Outlets Had Headstart in Pandemic Coverage

When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold last year, editors scrambled to rapidly assemble teams to cover the crisis. Steps ahead were the outlets already dedicated to investigating health as a subject who knew how to source and build networks of public health and vaccine experts, and crucially, how to investigate both the science and the politics behind the pandemic response.

Health-focused non-profit news organisations around the world. had a head start - the sources and networks - to cover the pandemic. Great piece by Laura Oliver.

US: Right-Leaning Websites See Post-Trump Bump

Press Gazette has been reporting on British journalism without fear or favour since 1965. Our mission is to provide a news and information service which helps the UK journalism.

With President Trump out of office, right-wing websites are seeing a surge in traffic as more mainstream news outlets see slowing growth or a slight decline.