The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has released its annual set of trends and predictions for journalism, media, and technology for the year ahead, and this year’s report shows that despite the massive pressures facing the industry, news publishers around the world are still showing a healthy dose of optimism.
As the report’s author Nick Newman puts it in his summary of the report, “existential challenges abound”. Ongoing traffic losses, eroding public trust in traditional media, and the proliferation of AI-fuelled deepfakes and misinformation all pose big threats, and the Reuters Institute’s data illustrates widespread concern for the industry as a whole. Only 38 percent of the 280 media leaders surveyed for the report (including editors, CEOs, and digital executives) said they are confident about journalism in the year ahead, compared to 60 percent back in 2022.
But when asked about their own businesses, respondents were significantly more positive. Fifty-three percent said they are confident in their own business prospects, a similar figure to last year. Upmarket publishers with established subscription businesses and strong direct traffic are particularly positive, and many believe they see a path to long-term profitability.
Publishers of all kinds are reworking their content strategies, their revenue models, and their external relationships in response to the challenges they’re facing. But as the Reuters Institute’s report shows, mapping out a path to stable growth could prove to be a tough balancing act. Many of the areas which news businesses are investing in require them to work closely with the same industry players that are squeezing their traffic figures.
Not quite ‘Google Zero’
One of the biggest topics for news publishers this year has been the impact of AI tools on their overall reach and view counts. While Google has maintained that the introduction of AI overviews into Google Search has not had a negative impact on traffic referrals, numerous reports from publishers themselves have indicated otherwise.
Data cited in the Reuters Institute’s report backs this up. Stats from Chartbeat, covering 2,576 sites worldwide, show that referrals from Google Search were down by 33 percent year-on-year in November last year. And publishers surveyed for the report expect traffic from search engines to decline by 40 percent over the next three years.
This follows sharp referral falls from Facebook and X, which fell by 43 percent and 46 percent respectively between May 2023 and November last year. And the big AI platforms aren’t doing much to make up the shortfall. Chartbeat data shows that while Google Discover and Google Search combined account for around 20.3 percent of traffic referrals, ChatGPT makes up just 0.02 percent. Rival tool Perplexity meanwhile sent just 0.002 percent of referrals to publisher sites.
The AI-led traffic drain isn’t evenly distributed. As mentioned, upmarket publishers with strong direct relationships are more insulated, while publishers which rely on lifestyle content have been most affected. And publishers are rethinking their content strategies to help safeguard against further losses, shifting away from the types of content which AI can emulate, and investing more in content which it can’t.
Service journalism, general news, and evergreen content are all moving down the priority list, as publishers see AI chatbots encroaching on these areas. Instead, a net balance of 91 percent of publishers are planning to focus more on original investigations and on-the-ground reporting. Contextual analysis and human stories will also receive greater focus.
The pivot to video 2.0
Publishers also plan to invest more in formats which AI can’t scrape and duplicate so easily, meaning a bit of a shift away from written content. While regular written articles and features aren’t going away any time soon, a net balance of 79 percent of news publishers plan to produce more video content, while a further 71 percent will look to create more audio content. As well as the AI push factor, the pull of the younger audiences available on short-form video platforms continues to drive this investment.
Of course, one challenge here is that some of the major video platforms are the same companies which have been drawing views away from traditional media companies and deprioritising external news links within their own platforms. This isn’t deterring news companies from investing in these platforms: a net balance of +74 percent of respondents said they plan to put more effort into YouTube in 2026, with 56 percent increasing their efforts on TikTok.
But as VideoWeek reported last year, they’re also looking at ways to bring short-form video viewership onto their owned and operated properties, launching their own ‘watch’ tabs and vertical video feeds.
It’s not just the platforms themselves which present this ‘frenemy’ dynamic. Independent news creators based on those platforms also present a threat, as they’re replacing traditional news media as many young people’s main sources of news. Seventy percent of survey respondents said they were either very concerned or somewhat concerned about creators taking time and attention away from traditional publishers. Meanwhile 39 percent said they are concerned about losing talent, as journalists look to go it alone on social media.
Publishers acknowledge the need to adapt to this trend quickly. Seventy-six percent of publisher respondents said they are getting their journalists to behave more like creators in 2026, encouraging them to build more direct individual relationships with their audiences. Fifty percent said they are partnering with creators for distribution, and 31 percent said they plan to hire creators to reach young audiences.
There are risks to this strategy, however. If audiences have a stronger connection with an individual journalist than the publication they work for, they may not stick with the publisher as and when that journalist moves on. And the economics fuelling the rise of news creators will be a persistent temptation for those journalists who do build a strong connection with their own audience to set up their own venture. The Reuters Institute’s report pointed to the example of the Washington Post, which saw the viewership of its ‘Washington Post Universe’ YouTube channel crumble after the main journalist behind it left to set up their own news business.
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