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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Google’s plans to use generative AI to deliver complete answers in article-style responses are an ‘existential crisis’ for publishers. Of course, I get it. A quick look at Bard or Bing will have anyone that relies heavily on search traffic sweating bullets and this Intelligencer article explains why. But it also lists some reasons why Google may pull back.
Interestingly, I had a conversation yesterday with SEO ‘Capo’ Barry Adams and added another reason for why we might all be completely screwed. He told me that most people will stick with regular two or three word search queries because they won’t want to engineer the complex prompts that are required to get the best results from generative AI.
So while we all continue to nudge the AI hype cycle ever upwards, maybe it would be good to take a breath and think about how Google makes its money and how real people will actually use these products… at least for now.
You’ll be able to hear my full interview with Barry in a couple of weeks as part of our Media Voices Big Noises podcast season
In the continuing saga of the company formerly known as Facebook proving it doesn’t give a toss about publishers, Zuck’s boys and girls have threatened to delink news in California. The California Journalism Preservation Act would require Meta et al to pay taxes based on the ad revenues generated against news content. We’d love to see the platforms pay more tax, but not on links.
Despite almost universal growth in listener numbers, some media companies are cutting podcast production. In this report, DCN is taking a look at how come podcasts are such a boon for some publishing companies while they seem to be weighing others down? Their conclusion is that you have to look carefully at publishers’ podcast strategies and the winners are the ones getting creative.
After all that gloomy digital chat I thought we could end the week on a print-positive story. Mr Magazine has been talking to Lauren Buzzeo, editor and publisher of Full Pour, a new print publication about all kinds of beverages, alcoholic and non-alcoholic. The joy in this interview is palpable, in stark contrast to so many of the stories we report. Get your coffee or tea and have a read. ☕????
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