SODP Dispatch - 11 July 2025

A Publisher’s Engagement Playbook!

🚀 We’ve launched the first industry research report in partnership with Glide Publishing Platform!

Join global publishing leaders, product owners, data strategists, and tech innovators to benchmark how your team personalizes, engages, and grows using first-party data.

🔍️ What’s in it for you?

• Benchmark CDP Engagement, Adoption & Performance

• Discover Emerging Personalization Trends

• Access Actionable Best Practices

• Learn From Real-World Challenges & Wins

Whether you're using behavioural signals, AI-powered tools, or topic-based tagging, your insights matter. Help shape a report that reflects what’s really driving results across the industry.

👉️ Take the survey now! We need 300 respondents, and the survey closes on the 30th of July, 2025. Be the first to receive exclusive insights.

What Makes a Good AI Prompt? Here are 4 Expert Tips

By Sandra Peter & Kai Riemer

“And do you work well with AI?”

As tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot and other generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems become part of everyday workflows, more companies are looking for employees who can answer “yes” to this question. In other words, people who can prompt effectively, think with AI, and use it to boost productivity.

In fact, in a growing number of roles, being “AI fluent” is quickly becoming as important as being proficient in office software once was.

But we’ve all had that moment when we’ve asked an AI chatbot a question and received what feels like the most generic, surface level answer. The problem isn’t the AI – you just haven’t given it enough to work with.

Think of it this way. During training, the AI will have “read” virtually everything on the internet. But because it makes predictions, it will give you the most probable, most common response. Without specific guidance, it’s like walking into a restaurant and asking for something good. You’ll likely get the chicken.

Your solution lies in understanding that AI systems excel at adapting to context, but you have to provide it. So how exactly do you do that?

Crafting better prompts

You may have heard the term “prompt engineering”. It might sound like you need to design some kind of technical script to get results.

But today’s chatbots are great at human conversation. The format of your prompt is not that important. The content is.

To get the most out of your AI conversations, it’s important that you convey a few basics about what you want, and how you want it. Our approach follows the acronym CATS – context, angle, task and style.

🔍 News Reach Conference 2025

Join top minds in news search at NRC 2025, the leading conference for publishers and digital newsrooms. This conference will explore how publishers can strengthen their brand in a fast-moving news environment – ​​by sharpening their identity, building trust, and maximizing their visibility in search and beyond. In an age of shrinking attention and constant updates, knowing your brand has never been more important. See more ▸

🤖 AI Monetization Layer Framf Search 2025ework V1

Off the tail of last week's AI Monetization Layer POV, I've drafted up a V1 framework that goes even deeper into each bucket, the sub-buckets in each, there are 10 in total in the V1. Inside the framework, I've broken down each of the 10 sub-buckets with an explanation of what it is, why you as a pub might or might not want to consider it, and some thought-starting tips for each. See more ▸

By Vahe Arabian

🧭 Publishers, reclaim control: Cloudflare’s new AI crawl policy

Cloudflare just changed the game for publishers: blocking AI bots by default and introducing a pay-per-crawl model.

This isn’t just a technical setting—it’s a shift in power. For too long, publishers have watched their content fuel LLMs without credit, permission or compensation. Cloudflare’s move gives us something we’ve lacked in the AI era: control. But here’s the catch - blocking crawlers isn’t enough. The real leak? People.

If someone can access your content—paid or not—they can feed it straight into an AI system - screenshots, copy-pastes, PDF downloads, and even phone photos of the screen. AI doesn’t need a crawler if your user already has access. And once it’s in the prompt box, your IP can be repackaged, summarised, and redistributed—without attribution.

At the same time, discoverability is being redefined. If audiences now go to ChatGPT instead of Google, then: Being invisible to AI = being invisible, full stop. That’s the paradox: You need to protect your content while ensuring you’re present in AI-driven answers.

So what kind of content should you focus on? Here’s where publishers can protect and monetise high-value editorial assets:

• Opinion pieces – Unique, brand-defining commentary that reflects editorial voice

• Exclusive features – Longform, narrative journalism that AI can’t replicate

• Investigations – Time-intensive work with significant IP and reputational value

• Data explainers – Proprietary visualisations, charts and research-backed breakdowns

• Curated evergreen guides – SEO-rich, human-verified content like buyer’s guides, reviews or lists

• Interview content/Q&As – Original thought leadership with brand ownership

These formats are ideal for:

a. Licensing under pay-per-crawl agreements (e.g. via Cloudflare)

b. Inclusion in content alliances or direct deals with AI platforms

c. Controlled syndication via APIs or plugins

Here’s how the broader AI content economy is unfolding:

• Control & Monetise: Block by default, then grant licensed access to premium content types.

• Partner & Feed: Structure your content via APIs or ChatGPT-style plugins to drive safe, trackable discovery.

• Optimise for AI Surfaces: Build visibility into LLM-generated results just like you would for Google—think AI SEO, snippets, and attribution-friendly markup.

What should publishers do right now?

1. Audit crawl logs – who’s indexing your site and how often?

2. Align with your CDN or host to configure bot permissions

3. Classify your content by “AI value” – what’s most likely to be used or summarised

4. Educate editorial, tech, and commercial teams on AI’s impact

5. Start building a discoverability plan beyond Google

This isn’t about rejecting innovation. It’s about protecting creativity, labour, and trust—on your terms.

Cloudflare Wades into the Battle Over AI Consent and Compensation | Tech Policy Press

Cloudflare, a company that handles about 20 percent of all internet traffic, took a significant step in the escalating war between humans and the AI companies that have treated the open web as a limitless, consequence-free training ground. It will now block AI crawlers by default—a quiet but radical reversal of the status quo where bots could crawl first and ask questions never. It also launched a Pay-Per-Crawl marketplace that lets a select group of publishers charge per‑page access fees to AI companies.
Read more ▸

Google brings its AI-powered marketing tools to India after ‘Google tax’ repeal | TechCrunch

Google has launched a suite of its AI-powered advertising tools in India, which debuted in the U.S. in May, as the repeal of the so-called “Google tax” has made the South Asian market more attractive to global tech firms selling online ads. In March, the Indian government scrapped its 6% levy on digital advertisements, effective in April, as a move to address some of the trade concerns raised by the Trump administration.
Read more ▸

YouTube creators and eSafety commissioner at odds over whether to exclude platform from under-16 ban | The Guardian

Australia’s online safety regulator has released research underpinning her call to not exempt YouTube from the under-16s social media ban, with a survey revealing the platform is the most used by children under 16, and the place where children are most exposed to harmful content. It comes as Australian YouTubers push for the federal government to exclude the platform from ban, after YouTube warned creators the ban could “affect how your work is valued and viewed”. Read more ▸

Artificial intelligence is the ‘vibe check’ advertising has long needed | Mumbrella

Imagine if your media plan could read the room – not just demographics or keywords, but the actual vibe of your brand. That’s not some futuristic fantasy. It’s the foundation of a smarter, more intuitive media ecosystem already taking shape. As we enter the era of agentic advertising, which is transforming the industry, artificial intelligence is no longer just automating workflows or generating copy; it’s changing how, where, and why ads appear. Read more ▸

Google Adds Forum Rich Results Reporting In Search Console | SEJ

Google Search Console now includes a dedicated search appearance filter for discussion forum content, giving publishers new visibility into how user-generated discussions perform in search. The update applies to pages that use either the DiscussionForumPosting or SocialMediaPostingstructured data types. Read more ▸

Why the Human Touch Still Matters to an AI-Driven Media | ExchangeWire

It’s no secret that digital media platforms like Meta and Google have increasingly leaned into automation in recent years, with tools like Advantage+ and Performance Max, powered by machine learning, promising greater efficiency and, in many cases, delivering strong results. Indeed, we’ve seen these tools drive real performance gains for our clients with CPA dropping as much as 57% with AI-supported campaign planning and buying. Read more ▸