All posts tagged: Publisher

SPUR publishes ‘common language’ for tracking AI use of publisher content

SPUR publishes ‘common language’ for tracking AI use of publisher content

Published by Sam Flores

SPUR logo Publisher AI standards coalition SPUR has shared details of a proposed “common language” for tracking content usage by AI companies. SPUR aims to come up with a standard technical foundation for how AI platforms report on use of the content they scrape. This could be used by publishers when agreeing licensing deals. SPUR was launched at the start of the year by The Guardian, the Financial Times, BBC, Sky News and The Telegraph and has since added more than 20 other publisher members. Financial Times chief executive Jon Slade said: “Tracking how AI systems use content creates benefits for everyone involved. A common standard means AI systems and their users benefit from better, more relevant outputs. “For content creators, seeing how and where their work brings value within the AI environment helps them understand where to focus energy and resources for that audience. “It’s a virtuous circle that we’ve seen work time and again across the industry: when publishers know what resonates with a particular audience, they produce better work and everyone up …

Acclaimed cartoonist Joe Sacco breaks silence after publisher withdraws new book about India sectarian riots

Acclaimed cartoonist Joe Sacco breaks silence after publisher withdraws new book about India sectarian riots

Published by Daniella Wilson

On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Penguin Random House India has withdrawn Joe Sacco’s latest book on a 2013 episode of sectarian violence after demanding editorial changes the author claimed amounted to “finding excuses” not to distribute it. The Once and Future Riot is Sacco’s graphic reconstruction of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where over 60 people were killed and about 40,000 displaced, the majority of them Muslims, in the run-up to the election that brought Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist BJP party to power. After being published internationally last year, The Once and Future Riot was expected to reach Indian bookshops in August or September. Penguin Random House India, however, decided not to distribute it after a legal and editorial review, according to The Indian Express. “I was issued a five-page list of changes, corrections, and some requirements. I looked it over, and some of what they …

Youtube boss says publisher paywall integration coming ‘very soon’

Youtube boss says publisher paywall integration coming ‘very soon’

Published by Sam Flores

Youtube publisher revenue dashboard. Picture: Press Gazette. Youtube’s boss in Europe has revealed it is working on allowing publishers to combine their own paywalls with subscriptions on the video platform. Pedro Pina, vice president of Youtube EMEA, told the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress on Wednesday that he expected this functionality to arrive “very soon”. He said: “Having a paywall that has a conversation between Youtube and the current paywall of publishers is something that has not yet been developed but we have product and engineers working on it, thanks to great partners such as Le Monde, who pushed us to start developing that solution,” referring to the French publisher as they were also represented on stage. Allowing publishers to combine their own subscriptions with Youtube could mean users who want to watch a paywalled video on the platform are invited to sign up for the brand’s overall subscription including unlimited access to their website and other content. But Pina said the challenge on doing this is around privacy. He said: “We are eager to …

Microsoft Publisher is disappearing, and your old files may be next

Microsoft Publisher is disappearing, and your old files may be next

Published by skeptic

One of my first ever gigs was designing the menu leaflet for a restaurant using Microsoft Publisher. The first design has been the backbone of several editions printed over the years. Several people use Microsoft Publisher without knowing the extent to which they depend on it. Microsoft’s choice to retire it in October 2026 raises an interesting conversation. This may mean no more access for Microsoft 365 subscribers, but the deadline isn’t the real problem here. The bigger question is what happens to that Microsoft Publisher file sitting on your old hard drive. The October 2026 deadline Microsoft 365 users and perpetual-license owners are not facing the same situation Afam Onyimadu / MUO Microsoft has placed different timelines that split Publisher users into two groups. October 1, 2026, is the last day the app will exist for people using Microsoft 365 subscriptions. After that date, you lose access, not just support, with no native app to open .pub files. The second group is people with Office 2021 or a standalone Publisher license: the perpetual-license owners. …

How AI overviews are killing publisher traffic by topic data

How AI overviews are killing publisher traffic by topic data

Published by Sam Flores

Google AI Overviews result for ‘hantavirus symptoms’ query. Below the AIO and first result there is a Top Stories box including articles from the BBC, CNN and The Independent Health is the topic vertical most vulnerable to losing clicks as a result of Google’s AI Overviews, according to new Sistrix data shared with Press Gazette. Looking at data from three months at the start of 2026, Sistrix estimates that health sections on major news brands will have seen links to articles supplanted by an AI-written summary 72% of the time in Google search results. Sistrix has found that for keywords where an AI Overview appears at the top of Google’s search results, the average rate of people clicking on the first search result drops from 27% to 11%, meaning a clickthrough decline of almost 60%. Healthline was the fastest-falling major news website in the UK in March, losing 48% of its audience year on year according to Ipsos iris. The second most heavily-affected vertical was tech (where AI overviews appear 47% of the time) followed …

Publisher strategies for attracting a high value audience

Publisher strategies for attracting a high value audience

Published by Sam Flores

Graham Page from Q5 pictured at the Press Gazette Media Strategy Network USA event Great journalism alone is seldom enough alone when it comes to publishers finding the right strategy to attract a high-value audience. Commercial staff and product teams are also an essential part of the mix. And crucially, despite differing motives and philosophies, these three cohorts all have to be working well together to create a brand which attracts and retains a valuable audience. Q5 has worked with everyone from Sky and the BBC to News Corp and The Guardian finding ways to get sometimes disparate teams all rowing in the same direction. And two of their expert consultants have shared some key insights on this topic in a new report headlined: Where does accountability sit for attracting and retaining high-value audiences? Here are five key takeaways for publishers from Graham Page and Katie Burridge of Q5: 1. Get organised It’s not enough for everyone to recognise the challenge and work independently to solve it as this risks confusing user experiences and messy …

France’s Macron Sympathises With Authors Who Quit Bollore-Owned Publisher

France’s Macron Sympathises With Authors Who Quit Bollore-Owned Publisher

Published by Sam Flores

PARIS, April 17 (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron on Friday ⁠defended ⁠editorial diversity after more than ⁠100 authors quit the venerable French publishing house Grasset this ​week in protest at the growing influence of its top investor, conservative billionaire Vincent Bollore. Bollore’s outlets ‌have shifted sharply to the ‌right in recent years, focusing on crime and immigration and giving frequent airtime for ⁠politicians from ⁠Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party. In an open letter, dozens ​of Grasset authors – including Dany Laferriere and Dominique Bona – said they refused to be “hostages in an ideological war that seeks to impose authoritarianism everywhere in culture and the media”. “We don’t want our ​ideas, our work, to be his property,” the authors added. Speaking to reporters at the ⁠Paris ⁠Book Festival, Macron said, “I ⁠think it ​is very important to express and uphold (editorial) diversity, respect for authors, the history of these ​publishing houses and their ⁠identities.” The authors’ protest was prompted by the exit of the publisher’s chief executive, Olivier Nora, who left the publishing …

A Major Publisher Just Canceled This Book Over AI Writing Concerns

A Major Publisher Just Canceled This Book Over AI Writing Concerns

Published by skeptic

Last June, Mia Ballard’s self-published novel Shy Girl took the internet by storm. After winning the hearts of readers and publisher Hachette alike, it was set for a major US debut in the coming months.  Now, the novel may never become available through any official channel again. Hachette has officially pulled the plug on the novel’s US release following a wave of allegations that generative AI played a role in the manuscript’s creation.  Originally self-published in February 2025, the horror novel was traditionally released by Hachette’s science fiction and fantasy label Orbit in the UK in November. After The New York Times provided evidence of AI usage in Shy Girl, Hachette canceled the planned spring US release and removed the book from its website completely. “Hachette remains committed to protecting original creative expression and storytelling,” the publisher said in a statement to the Times.  Authors are required to disclose to Hachette whether AI was used in the creation of their work. Ballard has denied using AI tools to write the book, claiming an editor was responsible …

Reddit says publisher post views up 46% after Pro Tools rollout

Reddit says publisher post views up 46% after Pro Tools rollout

Published by Sam Flores

Reddit logo on a mobile phone. Picture: Shutterstock Reddit has said views to posts created by publishers on the discussion platform increased by nearly half in the six months after launching its Pro Tools for Publishers. Pro Tools launched in September, allowing publishers to automatically upload content on Reddit by syncing RSS feeds, track Reddit metrics and receive AI suggestions for which subreddit to post in (a subreddit is a forum focused on a specific topic). The tools were initially only available to a small group of US publishers with a waiting list available for other publishers, but hundreds of global publications – national and regional – have tested the tools since launch. These are now accessible to all publishers. New tools have also been added to Pro Tools “based on tester feedback”: these include “community snapshots”, which means publishers can access rules, activity stats and most-discussed links of each subreddit, such as World News, helping publishers track what content performs best. “Publishers do best on Reddit when they use our free Pro tools to …

Publisher audience engagement strategy for 2026

Publisher audience engagement strategy for 2026

Published by Sam Flores

As search, social, and AI reshape discovery, publishers need to move beyond acquisition and design an audience engagement strategy that turns attention into repeat use, richer data, and more durable revenue. Digital publishing still depends on discovery. But discovery is no longer a reliable business model. Reuters Institute reported in January that Google search traffic to more than 2,500 news sites fell 33% year on year, while media managers expect referrals from search to drop another 43% over the next three years. This is not a temporary wobble. It is structural. The question for senior digital and product leaders is no longer how to recover every lost click. It is how to turn a greater share of the attention publishers still earn into repeat use, richer audience signal, and more resilient revenue. New thinking about loyalty That requires a different way of thinking about loyalty. In many news organisations, loyalty still sits in disconnected buckets: newsletters, subscriptions, registration, app notifications. Useful initiatives, but not yet a system. The publishers making the most progress treat loyalty …