Youtube fuels 'explosive' growth for Goalhanger | PG launches paywall
And how Google's AI Mode is narrowing the range of sources readers are offered and stealing audience from the creators of the content it uses
Welcome to this week’s Press Gazette Future of Media newsletter - brought to you in association with Avid Collective.
Discover here how publishers can unlock the true potential of branded content by improving accessibility. Streamlining the discovery, buying, execution, and measurement of branded content can turn it into a scalable, high-impact revenue engine.
Revenue-wise, Press Gazette is a one-legged stool.
As anyone who has sat on one of these knows, such chairs may promote a dynamic posture but they are inherently a bit less stable than two and three-legged options.
We have massively expanded our portfolio of live events in the UK and US since 2022 with the result that this is where we make most of our money (along with a smaller pot of advertising mainly delivered via this newsletter).
So in the spirit of fixing the roof while the sun shines, we want to give PG a bit more revenue stability and enable us to invest further in our core mission of finding new ways to make journalism pay in the digital age.
Content pertaining to press freedom will remain free, as will quicker on-the-day news stories. We will also keep this newsletter free as the top of our funnel and a service to you, dear reader.
Our deeper reporting on the success stories, trends and technology which are shaping the future of the most important industry in the world will - however - come with price tag from now on.
I hope you will decide the service we provide is worth £9.99 per month (or £1.99 if you are a student or retired). But registered readers will still get three articles per month for free.
Press Gazette's hand has been forced, to some extent, by the rise of generative AI and the need to establish and safeguard the value of the content we create.
This week we’ve investigated the latest major development in that world, the launch of Google AI Mode. I am sad to say, at first look it seems to be a development which will make readers less well informed and provide publishers with far less traffic. Here, Rob Waugh explains how it works and how publishers should respond.
I've also taken an in-depth look at the success of the company behind The Rest Is Politics, which has become the largest independent podcast producer in the UK.
Goalhanger has yet to publish full accounts, as a smaller company, but has become an exemplar of how quality publishers can succeed with audio and video.
There are new lands for Goalhanger to conquer as it looks to further expand its empire into more podcast verticals, events, marketing services and newsletters.
***The Press Gazette Future of Media Awards are now open for entries***
This event celebrates the websites, apps, podcasts, newsletters and commercial strategies which are lighting the way to a profitable future for journalism in the digital age. Find out more here and remember to finalise your entry by 19 June for the chance to shower in glory at the awards dinner in September.
From our sponsor
Branded content is publishers' most sustainable revenue opportunity, but its growth is stifled by complexity.
In our latest Press Gazette editorial, Avid Collective explores how the fragmented buying process, manual execution, and lack of standardised measurement are holding advertisers back from investing.
The solution? Improved accessibility across the entire campaign journey. With technology and digitisation, publishers can remove friction in discovery, buying, execution, and measurement — unlocking a flywheel effect that drives greater investment and scale, ultimately boosting revenue.
On Press Gazette:
How launching podcasts on Youtube has prompted ‘explosive’ growth for Goalhanger
“The realisation that we came to is that it was effectively just a completely different audience in a different state who we weren’t talking to before, that were a whole new group of people that we could introduce our shows to.”
Google AI Mode is undermining original journalism
How publishers should adapt their strategy as AI search becomes more dominant.
Press Gazette launches paid access to online content
Metered paywall will help fund next stage of Press Gazette expansion.
Future of Media Awards 2025 are open for entries
“No mission is more critical to the survival of our civilisation than ensuring journalism – the industry that holds all others to account – can survive in a world which is being submerged in a swamp of AI-generated digital misinformation.”
Also in Press Gazette:
How BBC History is bringing content about the past to tomorrow’s audiences
South London Press closes down after 160 years covering UK capital
New National World owner promises staff ‘longer-term view’ after takeover
Online subs and town centre shopfronts: Tindle plan to safeguard local news
Guardian grows revenue and reduces losses for year to March 2025
How The Economist is building engagement to reduce subscriber churn
Redbird buys Telegraph in £500m deal with Abu Dhabi to keep minority stake
Latest podcast: Death of the website, the never-ending pivot to video and why Dom loves Substack
'The death of the website' was the name of one panel session at a recent publishing industry conference. Press Gazette editor in chief Dominic Ponsford and UK editor Charlotte Tobitt discuss the latest challenges posed to publishers by Google changes and the rise of social media. They also analyse the latest publisher pivot to video (more of a never-ending pirouette) and Dominic explains why he has become an unpaid brand ambassador for Substack.