How media leaders need to think about how AI will affect their businesses

AI is one of the most talked about topics in media in 2023. On the surface, much of the talk is about the threat to journalists' jobs, which is understandable with all of the pressures in the industry and the precarity of journalism employment. However, the only way to improve the employment situation is to understand the broad uses of AI and how it can support business growth. Here is some smart thinking about where AI might be employed, which is to automate tasks that it can do to free up time for journalists to do the job that only they can do - namely original reporting. Ezra Eeman, the change director at Mediahuis, gives a few examples such as automating transcription and the addition of metadata. He calls on journalism leaders to think more broadly about the value chain and how it will impact how they distribute news but more importantly how it will impact the news business model.

CNN rolled out its new CMS, Stellar, which cut down its reliance on third-party vendors and reduced the time it took for the broadcaster to publish across multiple platforms. As I work for an app developer that also sells a site CMS, I might have a different point of view on the buy vs. build question, but one thing that is important to point out is that advertisers are looking for publishers with high-engagement and great user experience.

California is more like its own country than an individual state in the US, and when it moves, it can have a great impact on markets. Now, the state is looking to have big platforms help support journalism. It's just as big of a potential shift as many other countries that have done the same thing.

UK regulator Ofcom has found that news podcast listeners are more engaged than those who listen to other genres.

An interesting data-informed look on why BuzzFeed News struggled by Morning Brew publisher Jacob Donnelly. He looks at direct traffic as a proxy for brand awareness, and he shows how BuzzFeed News didn't have as much of a percentage of direct traffic than other sites. And he says that their volume-based advertising business isn't as compelling for advertisers looking to target specific, high value audiences. It's well worth a read.

And more news of the big tech platforms facing more regulation. The EU is requiring 19 tech companies to conduct risk management and make internal and allow external auditing to ensure that they are making the internet a safer place.

I love internet history and stories like this - a text-based social network that is still going strong. There are still incredible communities that were started years ago that survive despite the rise and fall of larger, shinier social networks.