How to build resilience in the age of AI

AI-generated summaries are fundamentally reshaping digital publishing, leading to sharp declines in both website traffic and advertising revenue — sometimes by as much as 90%. This rapid transformation poses a serious threat to publishers’ survival and sustainability. Here are five strategies to safeguard and strengthen your business model in the face of these challenges.

1 - Refocus your journalism
Differentiate your work from AI-generated content by emphasizing original reporting, exclusive analysis and multimedia content that cannot be easily replicated. Let AI handle repetitive or time-intensive tasks, freeing your journalists to focus on meaningful stories that are more likely to attract high-value readers.

2 - Protect your content
As the industry awaits clear frameworks for how publishers will be compensated for AI use, it is crucial to demonstrate your brand’s value and secure your intellectual property.

• Block bots: Tag your content as protected and implement technical defenses against unauthorized scraping by AI bots.
• Strengthen your paywall: Limit access to free content, require registration and use dynamic paywalls to target audiences and improve conversion rates. Advantage Paywall is a flexible solution that can be configured to fit your customer journey and deliver a seamless, revenue-optimized content experience.

3 - Reorient acquisition and audience relationships
As third-party traffic declines, building direct relationships with your readers becomes even more important. Focus on loyalty and engagement.

• Community: Draw readers with interactive features, star journalists and thought-provoking discussion.
• Print media: Reposition print editions as vehicles for premium content.
• Multi-channel: Increase exposure through video, podcasts and various social media.
• Newsletters: Encourage free sign-ups and use newsletters as your main subscriber engagement tool.
• Apps: Develop apps to attract mobile users and collect valuable data.

Advantage supports multiple subscription models ranging from print/issue-based to digital access and usage/time-based, allowing you to smartly position the offerings that yield stronger relationships. Together with Cider Plus’ marketing capabilities, Advantage offers countless configurations to manage the entire subscriber journey.

4 - Diversify your revenue streams
With declines in digital advertising revenue and potentially subscription conversions, publishers need to diversify their income sources.

• Services: Provide add-on services related to your content.
• Books: Repurpose content for physical books or e-books.
• Events: Organize events for audience engagement.
• Training: Offer educational sessions or materials.
• Sponsorships: Collaborate with complementary brands on sponsored content.
• Donations: Invite reader support for independent journalism.

With Cider Plus, you can create new product pages and launch promotions quickly, allowing you to monetize customers wherever they may be in their lifecycle.

5 - Choose the Right Business Solutions
With decades of experience and deep industry knowledge, AdvantageCS is well-versed in helping publishers execute their revenue strategies efficiently across the customer journey. We recognize the importance of having a robust, vertically integrated platform that can address all your business needs:

• Customer profiles: Maintain unified records for personalized experiences.
• Product management: Centralize oversight of all offerings and product types.
• Marketing integration: Connect eCommerce, paywalls and AI tools to support a range of strategies.
• Advanced analytics: Leverage data-driven insights to guide decisions and optimize performance.

In conclusion, as publishers confront disruption due to AI summaries, investing in quality journalism, protecting your content, deepening relationships with your audience, expanding your revenue streams and adopting powerful technology will enable your business to not only survive, but thrive in the age of AI.

Click here to learn more or contact us to schedule a demo.

Philippe van Mastrigt is managing director, Europe with AdvantageCS.