Monday 15th July: The chum king behind those AI articles

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The ‘Chum King’ headline on this piece interesting. It signals another tale of another guy who has made himself very rich distributing dodgy affiliate content. According to The Verge, he’s been doing it for years and has now brought in AI to amp up the process. Sounds like a lovely man.

Where I think this story is important is what it says about publishers who are still willing to subcontract their credibility. In this instance, the Chicago Tribune’s good name is on the block for allowing a third-party to fire inaccurate marketing content straight into its website. The same third-party has created problems for Sports Illustrated and has deals with USA Today and McClatchy newspapers.

I get that the revenue potential that comes with affiliate content is real, but so is the reputational risk if you don’t manage the process properly. The AI angle on all this might make it seem new, but the cheap, clickable content play is not. If publishers haven’t learned by now to keep this crap off their pages, they deserve everything that’s coming to them.

I’ve written before about how I don’t like people comparing what’s happened in the world of vinyl sales over the last 15 years or so with what’s going on in print right now - it misses some fundamental differences between the formats and the markets. However, print publishers can learn a thing of two from Taylor Swift’s approach to vinyl sales… and Time Magazine’s approach to Taylor Swift.

Condé Nast’s ecommerce team has increased revenue five fold in the last four years and expects double-digit growth again this year. But in this piece for INMA Jodie Hopperton talks about how, for publishers, commerce shouldn’t just be about money. She writes, “Condé Nast firmly believes their offering is in service to their readers. If a consumer reads about something they want, it’s almost counterproductive to make them leave the page to search elsewhere.”

Launched in June 2023, Whatsapp Channels are a one-way content distribution system built into the Whatsapp app. Just over 12 months in, Press Gazette is reporting that publishers account for 74 of the top 150 Whatsapp Channels by follower count. The New York Times leads the way with more than 12 million subscribers, but hey, the Daily Mail’s Kardashians News channel has achieved a respectable 2.7 million followers (FML!!!)

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