Friday 16th December: 6 ways media companies use AI to meet strategic needs

December 16, 2022

Good morning! Today's newsletter is brought to you by Chris. This is the last edition of the newsletter until the new year.

Entries for the 2023 Publisher Podcast Awards close today, so if you've got a podcast you'd like to enter (for free), get them in ASAP!

We're all having lots of fun with ChatGTP and Stable Diffusion among other AI tools. But it's important that we appreciate the versatility of artificial intelligence when it comes to less frivolous, more fundamental concerns. For publishers that means everything from personalisation to predicting propensity to pay. For DCN, Damian Radcliffe examines some of those core applications of AI.

My favourite is probably the use of AI to broaden the ability of publishers to distribute their content: "POLITICO Europe has used AI to convert two of their popular newsletters, Brussels Playbook and London Playbook into daily podcasts. This type of technological solution can help publishers manage their resources more efficiently, as well as distribute content to different platforms in a timely and cost-effective manner".

But if you don't fancy listening to a robot reading to you (though, would you really be able to tell any more?) then there are other examples in there. AI's position within media companies isn't limited to one silo any more; it has applications everywhere.

Trusted media brands do well in a crisis, but the constant negativity of 2022’s news cycle, and the twin scourges of misinformation and political polarisation are fueling record levels of news avoidance. Peter Houston rounds up the year in trust as part of our Media Moments 2022 report.

We hear about news fatigue a lot, and I'm sure that there are a huge number of readers who genuinely do tune out. But this story shows that a significant proportion of news subscribers continue to engage, both to stay abreast of the news and to support good journalism.

The Hook, a Charlottesville weekly, closed in 2013 but web archives survived until 22,000 stories vanished in June. We've spoken about the ephemeral nature of the internet and its implications on public discourse before, but this time it has the added spice of mendacity to it.

Throwback podcast:

My Christmas gift to you? Peter's interview with Terri White on why she stepped down as editor in chief of Empire. We love Terri here, and some of the issues she raises are still 100% an issue within the magazine industry.

The last few months have been absolutely hectic, from putting on our first Summit to getting our annual report out the door. We'll be taking a break from the newsletter next week until early January to have a bit of a rest and recharge*. If you have anything going spare to buy us a virtual coffee, or even contribute on a monthly basis, we'd hugely appreciate it.

*Haha who are we kidding, we've got Podcast Awards entries to sort through