What DeepSeek means for news media | Top 50 US and global news sites in January
Plus an obituary for globe-trotting freelance Garth Pearce, who has died aged 77
Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Tuesday 11 February.
Two weeks after the launch of DeepSeek we have good news and bad news about what the latest prominent generative AI start-up means for publishers.
The bad news, according to former FT public affairs chief David Buttle, is that DeepSeek's success may make it harder to assert the copyright in AI training data. That ship may have sailed, he argues, because the first AI companies have already filled their boots and new ones (like DeepSeek) have probably helped themselves to the content the first-generation AI companies already stole.
In its battle to assert AI supremacy, the US may be reluctant to nobble its own tech giants versus China, even if their training data was an illegal smash and grab.
But when it comes to real-time data, publishers can yet protect their copyright - Buttle argues - by protecting their sites from the bots and charging AI companies for access to their stuff. In a world where AI tech appears increasingly easy to replicate, the real value for AI companies may lie in the quality of the fresh data they are able to source.
Today we also publish new top-50 rankings of the most popular news websites in the US and globally.
Looking at the global top 50, more sites were up than down both year on year and month on month. UK tabloids like the Mail, Sun and Mirror all reported steep drops in their overall audience in January, as did HuffPost.
The BBC, New York Times and CNN are among the top sites doing well.
Looking at the US top 50, it seems that some publishers are enjoying a second Trump bump. Whatever else, a Trump presidency is never dull. I was encouraged to see Associated Press among the fastest growing sites in January, up 63% year on year to 116 million website visits. Its focus on fact-based, non-partisan reporting is surely to be encouraged.
And the latest Media Voices podcast features none other than Press Gazette commercial chief Richard Jamieson banging the drum for our revenue growth.
From a low ebb in pandemic-hit 2020 we've grown our sales consistently, hitting a new record in 2024 powered mainly by live events (but also sponsorship of this newsletter).
That success was fuelled by investment in editorial which has helped us deliver a growing and increasingly senior audience of global publishing decision makers for Richard and his team to sell against. If you build it, they will come (and hopefully spend money with our advertisers) was our gamble in 2020. And thankfully you did!
On Press Gazette
DeepSeek AI app chat seen on a smartphone and blurred Chinese flag on the background. Picture: Shutterstock/mundissima
DeepSeek launch underlines value of news content to AI companies
“DeepSeek’s training data was obtained without authorisation or even transparency; the crawlers it is using are undeclared, third-party or hidden. It is safe to assume that it will not be facing legal action in China for breach of copyright.”
Top 50 news websites in the US: Trump and wildfires spur traffic increases
Overall only nine websites posted month-on-month traffic declines in January.
Top 50 news websites in the world: India.com reports fastest year-on-year growth
Overall there are 11 India-based sites in the top 50 compared with nine UK-based websites and 24 US-based ones.
Garth Pearce: Showbiz writer who lived like a celebrity without having to be one
“He knew all six James Bonds and was the only journalist Sean Connery ever trusted.”
News in brief
Press Gazette chief commercial officer Richard Jamieson has been banging the drum about our post-2020 revenue growth, driven by a growing events portfolio and newsletter sponsorship, on the Media Voices podcast. (Media Voices)
Newsquest has reported a new digital high of 53 million users and 275 million page views in January across its sites. Online subscriptions hit a new high of 113,000. It said 190 million articles were read in the month, up 5% year on year.
Fox Corporation has acquired Red Seat Ventures, the digital media services provider that has helped to launch independent careers for the likes of former Fox stars Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Bill O'Reilly. (The New York Times)
Happy birthday to UK local news industry website Hold the Front Page, which turns 25 this month. It has launched a fresh appeal for reader donations to help fund the site. (Hold the Front Page)
The best of Press Gazette this week:
Reach reporters warned over unauthorised linking to commercial sites
London Economic editor steps down citing ‘punishing algorithms and scarce resources’
News Corp results cite Sun traffic decline but growing Times subscriptions
RAJARs Q4 2024: Times Radio grows amid declines at Talk and GB News
FT head of newsletters on how title quadrupled email subscribers in four years
Latest Press Gazette podcast
Podcast 82: Newsletter strategy for publishers: Masterclass with the FT's Sarah Ebner
Over four years at the Financial Times head of newsletters for the title Sarah Ebner has helped grow the title's number of email subscribers from 500,000 to 1.6 million. She told Press Gazette that email newsletters are now the biggest driver of reader engagement at the FT. They are also hugely important for subscriber loyalty and finding new paying readers as well as providing advertising and subscription revenue in their own right.