Each year, Philippe van Mastrigt, managing director, Europe at AdvantageCS, conducts a deep analysis of publishing trends and their implications for publishers’ business models. His review of 2026 draws on approximately 500 industry news articles, conference insights, discussions with prospective clients and client meetings.
This blog provides an abbreviated version of his report, summarizing key takeaways over four areas that best reflect last year’s changes: AI disruption, developments within publishing companies and the industry’s structure, evolving subscription models, and changes in content formats and editorial strategies.
Download the full report below!
Overall, strong evidence suggests that the publishing industry cycle spanning 2011–2025 has reached its end. During this period, publishers responded to a rapid drop in advertising revenue caused by major advertising platforms such as Google or Facebook capturing more advertising spending. To address this disruption, many publishers pursued a traffic-driven, subscription-led model: generating traffic, attracting visitors, converting them into paying subscribers, and refining paywalls to improve conversion.
While some publishers found success with this model, many others did not. Its limitations have become increasingly apparent since 2022.
Last year’s publishing trends report was themed around the emerging challenge of “triple invisibility,” in which journalism, content and the written word are increasingly deprioritized by influencers, AI summaries and video dominance, respectively.
Continuing those themes, this year’s report asks two related questions: is a new cycle emerging? And if it is, which characteristics will define it?
