The Weekly Bulletin | April 1, 2025

Catch up on your members' content, check out the community buzz, and browse through job opportunities

Author

Vahe Arabian
April 01, 2025

Hi SODP community,

Let’s recap on what’s been happening, the new content, industry updates, tips, and more.

Hi there!

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TIP OF THE WEEK

Google’s European study claims that news content removal had a “minimal impact” on its ad revenue, resulting in a 0.8% decrease in usage. However, this framing overlooks a crucial truth: Google’s entire search dominance was built on the credibility of news publishers.

For decades, quality journalism helped refine its algorithms, establish domain authority, and train users to trust search results. Now, as regulators push for fair compensation, the narrative suddenly shifts to “news isn’t essential”?

What is the implication for publishers?

  1. Traffic dependency doesn’t equate to lack of value While Google claims “no measurable impact” on its revenue, publishers experienced 30-40% traffic drops in similar past experiments (see Canada, Spain). For many, Google drives 40-60% of total visits, a lifeline for ad-supported and subscription models. The issue isn’t the news value of Google’s ads; it’s about platforms weaponising dependency to undermine journalism’s ecosystem value.

  2. Regulatory realities expose the hypocrisy Google and Meta now face mandatory payment laws (Australia, Canada, EU) because courts recognise news as a public good. This experiment feels like a PR pivot to devalue journalism ahead of negotiations. If news truly didn’t matter, why invest in Google News Showcase or fight legislation so aggressively?

  3. The trust factor algorithms can’t replicate 73% of audiences still trust news brands over social platforms (Reuters Institute). Google’s study admits that users sought news elsewhere during the test, and proof that quality journalism drives behaviour, not just clicks.

Here are the takeaways:

  • Demand transparency: Challenge platforms to share full data on the role of news in user retention and query patterns.

  • Unite advocacy efforts: Push for standardised valuation metrics that reflect journalism’s role in healthy digital ecosystems.

  • Reinvest in direct channels: Use platforms as discovery tools, but funnel audiences to owned properties where loyalty and value compound.

This isn’t about traffic; it’s about fairness. Platforms can’t profit from journalism’s trust while dismissing its worth.

SODP POSTS

Featured
How publisher-focused Customer Data Platforms drive better audience engagement

First-party data is finally taking center stage. Buoyed by concerns over third-party cookie deprecation, 78% of publishers are investing in first-party data strategies. The reason? Quite simply, personalized and more relevant user experiences lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.

At the same time, publishers are motivated to drive strong advertising performance across multiple channels, made more critical as referral traffic from social and search continues to decline from 2024.

While real-time data collaboration and brand identity solutions help maximize ad revenue, a common problem preventing publishers from gaining the 360-degree audience insights key to high-impact campaigns is data fragmentation across growing or ill-matched tech stacks.

Glide Publishing Platform (GPP), a headless CMS and CDP (Customer Data Platform) designed for media, sports, and publishing, has made significant strides in tackling this challenge.

💡 What you will learn:

  • The main challenges publishers face in technology consolidation

  • How publishers can balance innovation while managing identity and access

  • How vendors should adapt to market conditions

JOB BOARD

➡️ Foundry is looking for an SEO content manager who will be responsible for driving organic growth across their consumer brands (PCWorld, Macworld, Tech Advisor, TechHive and their international cousins) by optimizing editorial content for search engines. (UK). SEE MORE

➡️The Times and Sunday Times are looking for an SEO editor to grow their readership and reach new audiences through search, and will play a key role in continuing the evolution of our digital strategy and the integration of SEO into editorial processes. (UK). SEE MORE

COMMUNITY BUZZ

Industry News

➡️ Ad hijacking occurs when dishonest affiliates create ads almost identical to a brand’s official ads. They copy headlines, text, and display URLs so potential customers assume these ads are legitimate. In reality, these affiliates, often involved in affiliate hijacking and other affiliate program scams, send clicks through their own tracking links to earn commissions they haven’t really earned. READ MORE

➡️A report from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) reveals a disconnect between public perceptions of AI capabilities and the reality of current technology. Factuality remains a major unsolved challenge for even the most advanced models. READ MORE 

Social Media Discussions

➡️ James Hurman on LinkedIn:

This week has seen a lot of reporting on Jim Grenon's bid to overthrow the New Zealand Media & Entertainment (NZME) board. NBR - National Business Review's Tim Hunter headlined this morning with "The Would-be NZME Emperor Has No Clothes". Newsroom NZ's Tim Murphy profiled Grenon as a brutally litigious tax-evader. The Spinoff's Duncan G. deep-dived into Grenon's 'withering critique' of NZME's performance.

If objective, we'd disregard Grenon's nitpicking around reporting transparency (irrelevant), and avoid his politics (deeply right-wing as his ironically named 'Centrist' news site would suggest - and agitating for the NZ mainstream media (read: media that New Zealanders actually like and engage with) to tilt just as much into anti-Treaty, pro-Hobson's Pledge, anti-vax, climate-sceptic content).

And instead focus on the claims that NZME is a poor performer, due to it's poor operational efficiency.

➡️ Retail Tech Media Nexus on LinkedIn:

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These are the highlights for the last week.

Until next!

Vahe Arabian and the editorial team at SODP