SODP Dispatch - 27 March 2025

Featured
How publisher-focused Customer Data Platforms drive better audience engagement

By Vahe Arabian

First-party data is finally taking center stage. Buoyed by concerns over third-party cookie deprecation, 78% of publishers are investing in first-party data strategies. The reason? Quite simply, personalized and more relevant user experiences lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.

At the same time, publishers are motivated to drive strong advertising performance across multiple channels, made more critical as referral traffic from social and search continues to decline from 2024.

While real-time data collaboration and brand identity solutions help maximize ad revenue, a common problem preventing publishers from gaining the 360-degree audience insights key to high-impact campaigns is data fragmentation across growing or ill-matched tech stacks.

Glide Publishing Platform (GPP), a headless CMS and CDP (Customer Data Platform) designed for media, sports, and publishing, has made significant strides in tackling this challenge.

💡 What you will learn:

• The main challenges publishers face in technology consolidation

• How publishers can balance innovation while managing identity and access

• How vendors should adapt to market conditions

13 Best Media Monitoring Tools in 2025

By Vahe Arabian

Media monitoring is a vital part of any digital publisher’s path to success. It is necessary to hear stories as they happen, track the competition and remain alert to any oncoming crises — and the best media monitoring software and news monitoring tools automate all of this.

While the practice of media monitoring has existed for more than a century, the introduction of internet news and online social networks has seen the practice undergo radical new shifts in innovation. This is where media monitoring tools enter, leveraging AI technology to gain insight into trends and public opinion across billions of discussions on a daily basis.

These tools are also becoming ever more popular, with the expected global market share to more than triple from $3.96 billion in 2022 to $11.54 billion by 2029. As digital media sees its popularity increase over traditional media, media monitoring software options have also climbed.

But with so many choices out there, how do publishers ensure they choose the best one for their company? To help alleviate decision paralysis, we’ve drawn together a list of the 13 best media monitoring tools.

📝 Enforcing your robots.txt policies

This piece explains how you can quickly see which AI services are honoring your robots.txt policies, which aren’t, and then programmatically enforce these policies. See more ▸

🕵🏼‍♂️ Real-Time News Monitoring

MyPressAlert - currently in beta – is a platform that monitors news broadcasts in real time and matches your topics of interest to spoken words. See more ▸

By Vahe Arabian

📉 Google downplays news impact, but the facts say otherwise

Google’s European study claims that news content removal had a “minimal impact” on its ad revenue, resulting in a 0.8% decrease in usage. However, this framing overlooks a crucial truth: Google’s entire search dominance was built on the credibility of news publishers.

For decades, quality journalism helped refine its algorithms, establish domain authority, and train users to trust search results. Now, as regulators push for fair compensation, the narrative suddenly shifts to “news isn’t essential”?

What is the implication for publishers?

1. Traffic dependency doesn’t equate to lack of value

   While Google claims “no measurable impact” on its revenue, publishers experienced 30-40% traffic drops in similar past experiments (see Canada, Spain). For many, Google drives 40-60% of total visits, a lifeline for ad-supported and subscription models. The issue isn’t the news value of Google’s ads; it’s about platforms weaponising dependency to undermine journalism’s ecosystem value.

2. Regulatory realities expose the hypocrisy

   Google and Meta now face mandatory payment laws (Australia, Canada, EU) because courts recognise news as a public good. This experiment feels like a PR pivot to devalue journalism ahead of negotiations. If news truly didn’t matter, why invest in Google News Showcase or fight legislation so aggressively?

3. The trust factor algorithms can’t replicate 

   73% of audiences still trust news brands over social platforms (Reuters Institute). Google’s study admits that users sought news elsewhere during the test, and proof that quality journalism drives behaviour, not just clicks.

Here are the takeaways:

• Demand transparency: Challenge platforms to share full data on the role of news in user retention and query patterns.

• Unite advocacy efforts: Push for standardised valuation metrics that reflect journalism’s role in healthy digital ecosystems.

• Reinvest in direct channels: Use platforms as discovery tools, but funnel audiences to owned properties where loyalty and value compound.

This isn’t about traffic; it’s about fairness. Platforms can’t profit from journalism’s trust while dismissing its worth.

Answer engine optimization: 6 AI models you should optimize for | Search Engine Land

AI-powered search is drastically changing the way people find information. For years, ranking well in Google and Microsoft Bing has been the foundation of search visibility. But as AI-driven search gains traction, is that ranking priority shifting or staying the same?
Read more ▸

Google Search About This Data Hyperlink | Search Engine Roundtable

Google is sometimes showing a hyperlink at the bottom of its search results named "About this data." This links to a Google help document in Merchant Center support named "How Google sources and uses information in the brand profile."
Read more ▸

The art of licensing: How Prisma Media is spreading a uniquely French approach to life around the world through its luxury magazines | FIPP

Finding a good license partner is a bit like falling in love,” says Marie-Eva Chopin, Director of Business Development: Luxury and Art de Vivre at Prisma Media, France’s largest digital and print magazine publisher. “It’s a relationship between us and our partners and they have to fall in love with our brands and trust us. Read more ▸

Google search with artificial intelligence launches in Germany | Handelsblatt

The world's largest search engine operator, Google, is fundamentally redesigning its most important product in Germany . At midnight, summaries generated using artificial intelligence ( AI ) were integrated into the classic internet search in Germany and other EU countries .
Read more ▸

We need to set the terms or we’re all screwed’: how newsrooms are tackling AI’s uncertainties and opportunities | The Guardian

As the relentless march of artificial intelligence continues, newsrooms are wrestling with the threats and opportunities the technology creates. Just in the past few weeks, one media outlet’s AI project was accused of softening the image of the Ku Klux Klan.
Read more ▸