SODP Dispatch - 2 October 2025

Featured

Supertab Review for 2025

By Sreemoyee Bhattacharya

The concept of micropayment isn’t new for publishers. Though many perceived it as a giant leap forward in the context of digital news, the initial experiments failed to gain momentum. Blende, a Dutch digital news platform, came up with a pay-per-article model, but it failed to resonate with the readers. Be it decision fatigue or fragmented payment experience, the entire process seemed like a hassle for the users.

On the other hand, the revenue options were limited for publishers as the adoption rates were low. Some also feared that the pay-per-article model might pull the readers away from the subscription model completely. Eventually, Blenle gave up the micropayment model, shifted to a subscription model, and was later acquired by Cafeyn in 2020.

This made publishers wary of micropayments. But recently, Google’s new Offerwall has been able to pioneer a unique approach. It allows readers to pay directly inside Google Ad Manager, eliminating all possible avenues of friction previously faced by readers. Supertab is the technology behind the system that enables readers to gain short-term access to content (for days, hours, or weeks). On the other hand, the small payments get accumulated into one bill later. Now, the question remains whether this streamlined approach can turn this idea of ‘micropayments 2.0 into a game-changing strategy for publishers.

What is Supertab?

Publishers worldwide face the conundrum of monetizing non-subscribers. While a vast majority of the audience visits the site and engages with the content casually, very few are willing to pay for a monthly subscription.

15 Best Content Syndication Platforms in 2025

By Dakshita

Content, once published online, rarely remains rooted in the same spot. It goes through an entire lifecycle of being published, shared, updated, and, in many cases, being republished via content syndication platforms.

For both publishers and content creators, syndicating content can be a daunting prospect. It isn’t just about republishing; it’s a strategic amplifier for digital publishers that helps distribute your content to gain wider visibility, attract new readers, and build authority in your niche.

However, the path is not without its hurdles. Duplicate content risks penalties from Google and it might also get difficult to maintain brand control. Despite the risks, syndicated content is still a strategy worth pursuing, given the potential audience traffic and lead generation upside, as long as publishers minimize the risk.

For those just beginning to explore this space, check out our detailed guide on content syndication SEO to understand more about the process and its benefits and pitfalls.

In this article, we introduce you to content syndication platforms designed specifically for publishers. We’ll explore how these tools can help you overcome the challenges and unlock opportunities for audience growth, increased traffic, and improved search engine performance.

What is a Content Syndication Platform?

A content syndication platform is a tool that enables the distribution of content across multiple platforms. It is a crucial component of a content syndication strategy, allowing publishers to amplify their reach by distributing their content to various third-party platforms. These platforms typically specialize in content syndication marketing and offer a range of features such as scheduling, tracking, and reporting.

🍽️ SODP Dinner series

Following our recent dinner events in New York and London, we are pleased to announce the upcoming editions of our Audience & Revenue Innovation Series, with events scheduled to take place in California. This exclusive dinner series will bring together senior media publishing leaders and executives to explore the rewritten global and local playbooks for audience monetization and growth. Seats are limited, register now for the event.  Register for California dinner ▸ 

🧭Elements of Audience Engagement

Elements of Audience Engagement is a mindset, an introduction, and a toolkit. It is grounded in the belief that in a digital information ecosystem, prioritising audiences, their needs and habits, is journalism’s most resilient foundation for growth and impact, enabling newsrooms not just to survive but to adapt with purpose. See more ▸

By Vahe Arabian

📊 Planning ahead: how publishers win big in seasonal advertising

If you wait until the season starts, most advertisers' budgets are already gone.

Seasonal sales periods, such as end-of-year holidays, Black Friday, back-to-school, or local events, are when publishers see the sharpest spikes in audience demand and advertiser spend. However, these opportunities are often locked in months earlier, when advertisers are still finalising their budgets. Many large retail advertisers plan campaigns two to three quarters in advance (IAB, 2024), meaning publishers who delay outreach until the season is underway often lose access to the most lucrative deals.

Publishers who consistently maximise seasonal revenue do three things well:

• Secure commitments early: locking in longer-term deals before competitors enter the conversation.

• Align editorial calendars with advertiser goals: making content naturally complement planned campaigns.

• Back pitches with audience data: showing advertisers not just reach, but intent.

Practical steps for publishers:

1. Forecast seasonal demand with data: Use historic traffic, keyword trends, and audience engagement to identify peak periods. Turn these insights into forward-looking projections so advertisers see exactly when your audience is most active.

2. Package seasonal content with inventory: Combine proven formats like buying guides, reviews, and deal roundups with premium placements. Advertisers should clearly see how their campaigns fit into your seasonal narrative.

3. Demonstrate audience relevance: Present clear audience segments tied to seasonal behaviours, e.g., gift buyers, bargain seekers, travellers. Go beyond demographics to show advertisers your audience overlaps directly with their target buyers.

4. Publish seasonal timelines early: Share a seasonal media kit months ahead. Include booking deadlines, creative submission dates, and campaign flight windows. This makes you a reliable partner rather than a last-minute option.

5. Layer evergreen with seasonal: Position evergreen content, such as buyer’s guides, as always-on entry points. Then use seasonal activations to capture urgency and higher conversion. Advertisers value funnels that deliver both sustained and time-sensitive performance.

Seasonal advertising success is built months before campaigns go live. Publishers who prepare early, align editorial with advertiser needs, and provide data-backed opportunities are the ones who consistently secure stronger partnerships.

Nine, Paramount-Ten in talks to consolidate advertising sales operations as an all-broadcaster joint venture hovers; renewed calls to combine tech, data, audience and commerce | Mi3

Paramount Ten and Nine are pursuing a consolidated advertising sales operation in which Nine would take on the third-ranked broadcaster’s free-to-air and digital ad revenue functions. But the ominous reality of global platform scale at Google, Meta, Amazon and TikTok eating local media advertising marketshare has spawned a bigger proposal, first floated and discussed by broadcasters late last year, in which the three commercial TV networks would consolidate their ad sales operations into a joint venture company. Read more ▸

Google makes real-world data more accessible to AI — and training pipelines will love it | TechCrunch

Google is turning its vast public data trove into a goldmine for AI with the debut of the Data Commons Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server — enabling developers, data scientists, and AI agents to access real-world statistics using natural language and better train AI systems. Launched in 2018, Google’s Data Commons organizes public datasets from a range of sources, including government surveys, local administrative data, and statistics from global bodies such as the United Nations. Read more ▸

ChatGPT Shopping is here – and it’s changing ecommerce SEO rules | Search Engine Land

AI-powered search is moving fast. The latest shift? ChatGPT Shopping. Since April, OpenAI has been rolling out a shopping experience that surfaces product cards directly inside ChatGPT. Instead of sending users to a long list of search results, the interface now provides curated recommendations with images, labels, and “buy” links. For ecommerce SEOs, this is a new channel with very different rules. Placement isn’t driven by ads or bids, at least not yet. Instead, visibility depends on the quality of product data, structured markup, and external signals like reviews and mentions. Read more ▸

Cloudflare’s Content Signals: The Right Problem, An Unlikely Solution | Search Engine World

The open web has long depended on an implicit exchange: publishers make content freely available, and platforms like Google send them referral (i.e. search) traffic that can be monetized. This relationship is under strain, and that virtuous circle seems to be eroding. Large language models (LLMs) now crawl and ingest web content at scale, using it to improve generative products; with click throughs orders of magnitude lower. Publishers are left footing the bill for technology and content creation, while the GenAI platforms capture the value; this demonstrates how easily a virtuous circle can easily become a vicious one. Read more ▸

The open internet 2025, part 2: Buyer innovations to change the ad market for good | The Current

Any healthy, competitive market requires price discovery, the point at which the demand and supply curves cross in an efficient market with transparent information. This requires sellers to describe their products well, which means providing sufficient color and sufficient honesty. Our work to improve the digital advertising supply chain has recently accelerated, in part driven by major advances in AI. We have made more progress cleaning up the digital ad supply chain in 2025 than in the previous five years combined. Read more ▸

Performics' Rob Georgeson on AI Rewriting the Rules, Publishers' Dwindling Traffic, and Diversification | Exchange Wire

For the better part of two decades, the digital marketing ecosystem has operated on a simple, unspoken contract: content creators make the web interesting, and search engines send them traffic. In exchange, publishers run ads, brands get reach, and users are rewarded with access to "free" content. This intricate dance, orchestrated by Google and Meta’s algorithms and monetised through clicks and impressions, has defined countless marketing playbooks. But the mood music is changing faster than ever. Read more ▸