The Weekly Bulletin | January 20, 2026

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

Author

Vahe Arabian
January 20, 2026

Hi SODP community,

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

.TIP OF THE WEEK.

How AI will change content monetization in 2026

The publishing landscape is evolving rapidly. Here are my top predictions for this new year, and how publishers can adjust to the shift:

  1. SEO + AI Search: A Unified Approach The NFL’s use of agentic AI in 2025 shows how AI systems can interpret and deliver content rapidly and intelligently, offering a glimpse into the future of AI-assisted content discovery. Publishers who integrate Agentic AI into their workflows now will have a competitive edge in 2026.

  2. Optimizing Paywall Content with LLMs: LLMs will revolutionize paywalled content by enabling dynamic adjustments based on user intent. AI-generated previews and targeted access models will balance visibility with monetization, driving subscriptions while optimizing for AI search.

  3. SEO Beyond Traditional Search Engines: Social media, newsletters, and apps are now search-driven and indexable. With Facebook content discoverable on Google, optimizing for social SEO and Google Discover is critical for expanding reach and brand visibility.

  4. Personalization and 'Top Stories': Google's 'Top Stories' and AI-curated results will prioritize user preferences and history. Create engaging, adaptive content that speaks to individual interests to build loyalty and increase brand search.

  5. Content Creation with MCP Connectors & CMS Platforms: MCP connectors and advanced CMS platforms will standardize multi-channel distribution. Publishers who adopt these tools will lead in making content discoverable and engaging across all touchpoints.

What's next this year?

  • Integrate SEO and AI optimization

  • Experiment with AI-powered paywall strategies

  • Expand SEO to social and non-traditional channels

  • Embrace personalization

  • Streamline workflows with modern tools

.NEWS OF THE WEEK.

➡️ Google now prioritising Youtube and X over publishers on Discover. Google is increasingly prioritising AI summaries, X posts and Youtube videos on its Discover mobile aggregation platform. The changes could be devastating for publishers who rely heavily on Discover for referral traffic. And it looks set to accelerate a global trend of declining traffic to publishers from both Google search and Discover. Last year Press Gazette reported that two-thirds of Google traffic to leading UK and US publishers came via Discover – making it the single biggest source of referral traffic for many news organisations.

➡️When Platforms Say “Don’t Optimize,” Smart Teams Run Experiments. The research I’m about to reference is not mine. I did not run these experiments. I’m not affiliated with the authors. I’m not here to “endorse” a camp, pick a side, or crown a winner. What I am going to endorse, loudly and without apology, is measurement. Replication. Real-world experiments. The kind of work that teaches us in real time, in real life, what changes when an LLM sits between customers and content. We need more tested data, and this is one of those starting points. If you do nothing else with this article, do this: read the paper, then run your own test.

➡️ Digital dominates as TV loses ground in government media spend. Television’s share of federal advertising spend has slipped, giving way to digital’s dominance, which accounted for almost half of all campaign media in 2024–25. The federal government spent $97.5 million on digital media in 2024–25, accounting for 47.7% of its total $204.1 million campaign media expenditure. The data comes from the government’s annual Campaign Advertising report, which collates spending on 32 campaigns priced over $250,000. TV accounted for 29% of the overall spending pie with $59.3m, its smallest share of federal media spend since FY20. Back then, digital made up just 32% of the budget, TV sat at 28% and radio, out-of-home and press each held roughly 12% of the mix.

➡️ Publishers prepare to be “squeezed” by AI and creators in 2026. “Existential challenges abound.” So reads the executive summary of a new report from Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism about journalism and technology trends in 2026. The report, published Monday, draws on interviews with 280 news executives from 51 countries — mostly from the U.K., U.S., and European countries, but also from the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Egypt, Kenya, Uruguay, and others. The two most common titles were editor-in-chief and CEO. Think of the trends report as the survey-based cousin to our own Nieman Lab Predictions for Journalism.

➡️ Media Execs Prepare for AI to Bring End of Journalism Industry. Will the slow anaconda crush of AI mean the end of journalism? It’s hard to imagine it completely eliminating the profession outright, unless the machines end up enslaving humanity à la the “Matrix” films. There will always be nosy gumshoes meddling in everyone’s affairs. But major media companies are in dire straits, and their executives aren’t sounding too cheerful about the future, which could hold in store the end of the traditional news agency. That’s according to a new survey of over 280 media leaders from 51 countries conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ).

.SODP POSTS.

REMP by Fatchilli 2026 Review

Turning anonymous website visitors into actual paying subscribers is a daily challenge – you need to have a good understanding of who your readers are and how they interact with your content. But the reality is, most publishers are struggling with this – just 23% of visitors even get offered a subscription. The conversion rate to paid subscribers, according to a benchmark, is a low 0.003% of all visitors, which goes to show how hard it is to make any decent money from audiences without a much deeper understanding of what makes them tick.

Data getting stuck in silos, conversion funnels getting all disjointed and tools that are about as flexible as a brick wall – all this makes it even harder for publishers to get the insights they need to optimize the reader experience and build genuine loyalty. To help tackle these problems, the Denník N tech team got to work on REMP (Reader Engagement and Monetization Platform). This open-source platform brings much-needed structure and common sense to subscription-driven publishing. By bringing all the key bits together – audience insights, engagement tracking, and subscription management – into one tidy system, REMP helps publishers get a handle on reader behavior, refine their user journeys, and – most importantly – build a loyal readership.

.EXCLUSIVE OFFER.

EXCLUSIVE FOR SODP READERS: Phuket Summit 2026

Your ticket to Phuket Summit 2026 just got sweeter!

Our friend Ashish, founder of Phuket Summit, is rolling out the red carpet for our community with an exclusive offer you won't want to miss.

🎟️ THE DEAL:

  • 10% OFF all tickets AND sponsorship packages

  • Simply use code: SODP10 at checkout

✨ Whether you're grabbing an early bird ticket, VIP pass, or exploring sponsorship opportunities, this discount applies across the board!

This is your chance to connect with industry leaders, gain fresh insights, and network in one of the world's most stunning locations, all while saving on your investment. Don't let this opportunity slip away!

P.S. Remember to enter SODP10 before completing your purchase to unlock your 10% discount.

.JOB BOARD.

➡️ Orato World Media (Remote) is seeking a Lead Editor who will guide their editorial vision, manage story flow, support contributors, recruit and inspire the editorial team, and ensure that every story they publish is accurate, responsible, compelling and deeply human. This role blends editorial craft, leadership, SEO fluency, training, and system-building. (Remote).

➡️ Discovered Labs (U.K.) is looking for a Senior SEO Manager who will own end-to-end organic search performance for a portfolio of B2B clients, and also serve as the directly responsible individual (DRI) who translates SEO and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) strategy into deliberate, well-researched plans that help clients hit measurable measurable business outcomes while also elevating their standards for execution, documentation, and client communication. . (U.K., Remote)

➡️ Lookout Santa Cruz is looking for an executive editor who will work with the Managing Editor as the newsroom leadership team, shape the next generation of multiple news and information products offered by the organization, applying and growing their Local journalism model, making sure they meet both their mission and business performance needs.

.SOCIAL MEDIA.

➡️ Jes Scholz on LinkedIn:

I deleted over 60% of articles from a real estate website. The CMO was nervous for 3 weeks. Then clicks began to climb.

The blog was full of "perfect" SEO content. EEAT compliant. Ranking. Yet, mostly ignored.

Few clicks. No shares. No deeper site engagement. Because it read like ChatGPT wrote it.

These articles were anti-advertisements. They didn't persuade, intrigue, or differentiate. They taught the market that the brand had nothing interesting to say.

It doesn't matter whether it's written by a human or generated by AI. If it's commodity content, where everything has already been said, it doesn't deserve to be published.

When something feels thin or falls flat, the problem is rarely the writing. The fault is the focus. You pointed out the obvious rather than the interesting.

Don't write:

🟣 "How much protein do I need to build muscle?" but "The Dry Chicken Fallacy: Why chasing lean protein is killing your performance"

🟣 "How do I start investing in real estate?" but "Why 'Rentvesting' is the smartest path to property ownership for Gen Z"

🟣 "How do I lower CAC" but "How lowering CAC the fastest way to kill brand salience"

Stop optimising for the search bar and start optimising for the share buttons

These are the highlights for the last week.

Until next!

Vahe Arabian and the editorial team at SODP