The Weekly Bulletin | January 28, 2025

Hi SODP community,

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

TIP OF THE WEEK

AI agents aren’t just changing the game—they’re rewriting the rulebook for publishers.

With OpenAI's launch of the "Operator" AI agent, the publishing world is buzzing with questions: Will this technology create a traffic vacuum as users bypass traditional search engines? Or will it push publishers to prioritise hyper-personalisation, delivering richer, more customised audience experiences? As The Drum highlights, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman describes Operator as a “paradigm shift” in how people interact with information. By offering direct, conversational answers, AI agents could significantly reduce reliance on traditional search platforms, posing a challenge for publishers still heavily dependent on organic traffic.

Here's another crucial insight: Google is also introducing AI agents through Project Mariner, which takes personalisation a step further by allowing AI to browse the web on your behalf to provide custom, contextually relevant answers (NewsBytes). This means that AI agents aren’t just presenting static, pre-selected information—they’re actively browsing and curating answers based on real-time user interactions. Publishers must evolve their strategies to keep pace with this kind of dynamic content delivery.

But here’s the thing—this doesn’t mark the end for publishers. It’s a pivotal moment to recalibrate, innovate, and build stronger, more direct relationships with audiences. Instead of seeing AI as a threat, why not view it as an opportunity to rethink how we engage with readers?

Here’s what publishers need to focus on:

• Reinvent audience development strategies: Relying on a single channel is no longer sustainable. Instead, build direct connections with your audience through owned platforms like newsletters, apps, and exclusive memberships. These aren’t just optional—they’re critical. Also, understand at what stage of the reader funnel the platform/channel is most valuable to you and your audiences.

• Embrace personalisation: AI tools can work for you, not against you. Leverage them to create tailored content, gain real-time audience insights, and deliver adaptive user experiences that keep readers engaged.

• Leverage partnerships and innovation: Collaborating with pubtech and providers and investing in emerging tools will help you confidently navigate this shifting paradigm.

SODP POSTS

DeepSeek: How A Small Chinese AI Company Is Shaking Up US Tech Heavyweights

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek has sent shockwaves through the tech community, with the release of extremely efficient AI models that can compete with cutting-edge products from US companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

Founded in 2023, DeepSeek has achieved its results with a fraction of the cash and computing power of its competitors.

DeepSeek’s “reasoning” R1 model, released last week, provoked excitement among researchers, shock among investors, and responses from AI heavyweights. The company followed up on January 28 with a model that can work with images as well as text.

READ MORE

JOB BOARD

➡️ PinkNews is looking for a growth and publishing lead to lead its social publishing strategy and elevate its content creation efforts (Hybrid, London, UK). SEE MORE

➡️ The Points Guy is seeking an experienced social media manager with a strong focus on organic Instagram feed content to join its team (NYC, NY OR Charlotte, NC, US). SEE MORE

➡️ The Australian Financial Review is looking for a social media producer to manage and enhance the Financial Review's social media presence, drive audience engagement and ensure the delivery of accurate and compelling content. (Sydney, NSW, Australia). SEE MORE

COMMUNITY BUZZ

Industry News

➡️ Hubspot’s SEO strategy is the talk of the SEO and marketing world today. Why? Organic traffic appears to have declined sharply, dropping from 13.5 million in November to 8.6 million in December. HubSpot’s blog seems to have taken most of the impact. READ MORE

➡️ Google has released its first major update to the Search Quality Rater Guidelines since March. Although these guidelines don’t directly affect rankings, they provide useful insights into what Google views as high-quality content. This update reflects Google’s evolving approach to determining quality, particularly regarding AI-generated content and new types of spam. READ MORE

Social Media Discussions

➡️ Luc Wiesman on LinkedIn:

The digital publishing industry is collapsing, and Google’s role in this demise is undeniable. Once a partner to publishers, Google has become a force that prioritises algorithms, AI, and revenue at the expense of quality journalism. For lifestyle publishers, the situation has reached a breaking point. Producing original, meaningful stories and having them seen is now nearly impossible.

This decline has been years in the making, with the nose dive accelerating since August 2023. Editorial teams across Australia, from Carsales to LadBible, have been gutted as organic Google traffic — the lifeblood for many publishers — disappears. For some, traffic declines have reached a staggering 90%. For lifestyle publishers, organic traffic was essential to keeping journalists employed and high-quality stories in production. Its loss has been catastrophic.

CONTINUE READING

These are the highlights for the last week.

Until next!

Vahe Arabian and the editorial team at SODP