SODP Dispatch - 2 May 2024

Gen AI x Comms Industry Impact Report

We are partnering with Media Collateral for the second edition of the Gen AI x Comms Industry Impact Report to understand how your role is being affected by the advent of Generative AI – and provide actionable insights and advice to help capitalize on opportunities and mitigate risks.

It's a 2-minute survey, and your responses will contribute to our collective understanding. Respondents remain anonymous.

In exchange, you will:

• Receive a detailed report of the findings.

• Gain access to key industry expert insights & actionable advice.

• Gain access to additional data insights tailored to your role.

• Enter a raffle to receive free 1-year access to our Publisher SEO course.

10 Best AI SEO Tools for Publishers in 2024

By Kanta Kiran

A publisher’s success will, more often than not, depend on improving their visibility within the search engine results pages (SERPs). This comes down to producing well-optimized content that attracts more readers, generates more revenue and builds a stronger brand.

There are several AI-driven tools available on the market, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses, and we’ve drawn together what we consider to be the 10 best AI SEO tools for publishers.

By Vahe Arabian

💸 Revenue Streams in B2B Publishing

Recently, shifts in the B2B Publishing landscape have prompted publishers to reassess their reliance on events as a primary revenue stream. In B2B publishing, events have long been a cornerstone for revenue generation and audience engagement.

However, recent research reveals that publishers are redirecting their focus away from events as revenue dips. This shift underscores the evolving dynamics of the industry and the need for publishers to adapt to changing circumstances.

Despite the challenges posed by declining event revenue, there is room for optimism. B2B publishers can explore alternative revenue streams and innovative strategies to mitigate the impact of these changes.

One potential solution is to leverage virtual events/webinars (online communities and on-demand education) to supplement traditional in-person gatherings by embracing pub technology. Publishers can reach a broader audience and create immersive experiences that resonate with attendees.

Moreover, community building becomes crucial after revenue streams undergo shifts. Diversifying revenue streams beyond events can provide stability and resilience in the face of uncertainty. This may include exploring sponsored content, research intent data, and ABM solutions tailored to the needs of B2B audiences.

Collaboration and partnerships within the industry can also play a pivotal role in navigating events' impact. By forging strategic alliances with complementary organizations, publishers can expand their reach and unlock new revenue-generating opportunities.

Ultimately, while the decline in event revenue presents challenges for B2B publishers, continuing to mature your advertising model to become less dependent on traffic sources and towards products and solutions that matter to your prospects and audiences is essential.

⚙️ Sheet Copilot

Put your spreadsheets on autopilot. Use GPT-4 to run tasks in Google Sheets™ and watch in real-time as the assistant executes formulas, formatting and visualisations.
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🔎  Playbook to Implement User Needs

How can you change the culture of newsrooms and implement the user needs model … or operationalize user needs. Khalil A. Cassimally from The Conversation has built a playbook to help you do just that.
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Google News Deletes Manual Submission Option | Search Engine Journal

Google removed their documentation on manually adding publications for review to be included Google News. An announcement via new documentation advises that publishers can no longer manually add their sites to be considered for Google News but existing publishers will continue to have access to customization features but that those too will be removed soon.
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Substack now lets writers paywall their ‘Chat’ discussion spaces | TechCrunch

Substack is launching the ability for writers to paywall their entire Chat or specific threads to paid or founding members only. The rollout of the new feature comes 18 months after Substack launched Chat as a way for writers to communicate directly with their loyal readers.
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The Revenge of the Homepage | The New Yorker

For much of the past decade, publications’ home pages were rarely the focus of attention; journalistic outlets relied on social media to distribute what they published. The Verge is an outlier in that it invested heavily in its home page when it was out of fashion to do so.
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Google to pay up to $6 million to News Corp for new AI content | The Information

Google has agreed to pay News Corp, owner of the Wall Street Journal, between $5 million and $6 million annually to develop new AI-related content and products, the Information reported on Tuesday.
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The Financial Times and OpenAI strike content licensing deal | The Financial Times

Under the terms of the deal, the FT will license its material to the ChatGPT maker to help develop generative AI technology that can create text, images and code indistinguishable from human creations.
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