The Weekly Bulletin | June 6, 2023

Hi SODP community,

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

EDITOR’S NOTE

I’ve begun to dread covering generative AI these days. I’ve covered the subject a number of times here — with my most recent outing being back in mid-May — and each time I end up urging publishers to keep calm and carry on.

I can certainly appreciate the publishing sector’s concerns over such a new technology, especially given its dismal relationship with technological innovation to date. The advent of desktop publishing, the internet and social media have all been harbingers of some new potential doom.

The latest dire predictions have come from News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson, who warns that AI could “fatally undermine” journalism. None of the purported threats he highlighted at the News Media Association’s World Congress were particularly new.

Remember, we’re dealing with the technology sector, where 12 months is a lifetime. Publishers don’t have the luxury to navel gaze and wonder why they were caught on the backfoot yet again.

That means we need to be moving away from chewing over problems — hoping that regulation is somehow going to save the sector — and start trying to find opportunities.

I appreciated The Rebooting’s recent take on AI in advertising, with the argument being that advertisers have adapted and overcome a series of challenges over the years. The most recent case in point being advertising giant WPP’s recent deal with Nvidia to use AI to make “more tailored and immersive” adverts at scale.

Publishing, frankly, is in the same boat. Publishers that can see the potential for AI will thrive, those that can’t won’t. Beware those that stand in the path of technological progress.

With this in mind, I was encouraged by Thad McIlroy’s balanced perspective on AI’s impact on the book publishing sector. While the book publishing industry is certainly outside of my realm of expertise, I’m fairly sure any comparisons we draw to the wider digital publishing sector will hold up.

Essentially, McIlroy argues that every niche of the publishing industry is set to be upended thanks to AI’s potential. And yet his argument seems to be that this is neither good nor bad, it just is. As he says: “[Y]ou can only understand the perils surrounding a new technology after you fully appreciate the opportunities that it affords.”

And with that, I’m calling a halt for the time being on AI stories in this small corner of the internet. Unless, of course, some major development happens within the space — such as an extinction level threat. Not all heroes wear capes, etc.

SODP POSTS

_{SPONSORED POST}
HOW TO SELL VIDEOS ONLINE IN 7 STEPS

Few publishers can afford to make videos as a purely artistic endeavor. Creating the best video content requires time, passion and commitment and needs to show a return on that effort.

And there’s very little reason that videos can’t provide a return on investment (RoI), given rising global demand for video content from both digital publishers and even brands.

The global audience for online videos is projected to grow by 700 million between 2019 and 2023. Additionally, more than half of internet users aged 16-64 say one of the primary reasons they go online is to watch video content.

At the same time, however, some publishers may struggle to extract adequate value from their video content — or may not have even started creating content — because they don’t know how best to sell their content online.

With this in mind, we’ve created a guide for those wanting monetization strategies that go above and beyond uploading to social media platforms and hoping the algorithms share their content. We’re going to look at how publishers with a video catalog can expand their audience reach and how publishers without a single video to their name can get an immediate leg up in the space.

SEE MORE

WHAT IS AN AD EXCHANGE?

Ads are an integral aspect of online life. Appearing as banners, video spots and social media feeds/stories, digital ads are everywhere. Ad exchanges play a vital role in the distribution of these ads, and yet, very few people can answer the question: What is an ad exchange?

That is a $600 billion question in 2023, and its value will keep increasing with each passing year. The global eCommerce industry is growing at a rapid clip, with sales expected to climb to $9.4 trillion by 2026 from $6.5 trillion in 2023. And the amount of money companies spend on digital ads is projected to hit almost $680 billion in 2023, a rise of 10.5% year on year.

At the same time, the global economy continues to teeter on the brink of a recession. Slashed marketing budgets are the norm as at least 30% of advertisers face increasing pressure to boost ROI with less.

As the stakes keep rising, a working knowledge of ad exchange platforms is essential for any professional or entrepreneur whose business involves online marketing in some form. This article will take a deep dive into the world of ad exchanges and explore how they work, their advantages and the role they fill in the digital advertising landscape.

SEE MORE

_{SPONSORED POST}
7 BEST ADBLOCK RECOVERY SOFTWARE FOR PUBLISHERS IN 2023

The late 2010’s saw the emergence of the notorious internet arms race between digital publishers and ad blockers. As more and more users turned to ad blockers, publishers turned to adblock recovery software to recover lost ad revenue.

One of the greatest challenges publishers face in the digital publishing industry is monetizing content for adblock users. These users make up a sizable portion of digital audiences, with almost a third of the world’s internet users aged 16-64 estimated to be using an ad blocker in 2023.

A strategy publishers can implement is integrating adblock detection software into their website, though this is a complex undertaking. And even then, the best adblock recovery software has its pros and cons.

Given the importance of ad revenue for many publishers, we’ve compiled a list of the seven best adblock recovery software for publishers, shining a light on some of their benefits and drawbacks.

SEE MORE

JOB BOARD

➡️ The New York Times Audio team is hiring an editor to play a key role in defining the editorial approach and direction of The Daily. SEE MORE

➡️ The Independent is looking for a dynamic and experienced audience editor to grow its global reach and help lead changes in editorial strategy and workflow. SEE MORE

NEWSLETTERS WE RECOMMEND

➡️ Subscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter for one two-minute tip per week on how to punch above your weight as an underdog brand or creator. SEE MORE

➡️ Join the bite-sized newsletter read by 1000's of creators every day. 8AM delivers just one story, idea, or gem of advice every morning. SEE MORE

MEMBER PROFILE OF THE WEEK

Each week, we’ll introduce one of the community members – either one of the newest additions or those who’ve been actively contributing to discussions. Feel free to give them a shoutout on our Slack channel or connect on LinkedIn.

This week, our member of the week is Mikael Araújo, Content Strategist at BeInCrypto.

Mikael, thank you for your excellent tips on using web stories to drive traffic to digital media properties, especially in light of the continued decline in traffic publishers generate from platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

COMMUNITY BUZZ

INDUSTRY NEWS

➡️ Last month, the Artifact news app introduced an option for users to flag an article as clickbait. Now, the app has launched a new feature to let AI rewrite a headline for you if you come across such an article. READ MORE

➡️ Meta threatened to pull news links from Facebook and Instagram in California if state lawmakers moved forward with a bill that would tax them for news content. READ MORE

SOCIAL MEDIA DISCUSSIONS

➡️ @CyrusShepard on Twitter:

Everyone is sharing Google AI screenshots, so here's a different type of thread —

7 search categories that DON'T trigger AI results - at least not often/consistently

Taken together, these searches likely comprise 50-70%+ of all searches—and are likely the safest from AI

🧵1/10

SEE THE FULL THREAD

These are the highlights for last week.

Until next!

Andrew Kemp and the editorial team at SODP