Media Briefing: Publishers turn to other platforms to offset losses from Google search

In last week’s Media Briefing edition, we heard from publishing execs about their struggles with Google search referral traffic declines and the cracks in Google’s relationship with publishers. This week, we’ll look at the other platforms publishers are turning to as channels to offset the losses they’re seeing from Google search referral traffic, including Reddit, Pinterest and Facebook.

• Publishers are seeing if they can get referral traffic from Reddit, Pinterest and Facebook – with varying degrees of success.
Microsoft is building an AI marketplace for publishers, Meta talks AI content licensing deals, and more.

Reddit and Pinterest and Facebook, oh my!

It’s no secret that publishers are griping about the volatility of Google search referral traffic since the debut of AI Overviews last year. In a closed-door town hall session during the Digiday Publishing Summit in Miami, Florida last week, publishing execs shared which platforms they’re putting more resources into with the hope that they can try to offset some of those losses.

Media execs spoke under Chatham House rules so Digiday could share what was said while maintaining their anonymity. 

Here’s what publishing execs had to say at the Digiday Publishing Summit about how other platforms are performing for them – from the promising to the disappointing:

Seeing opportunities on Reddit

“[Reddit seems to be trying to] capture and help publishers from what they’re losing through Google, and trying to create a whole new news atmosphere on Reddit that helps publishers. I think that they’re doing a really great job of that, and it’s very hard to scale on Reddit, but I do think that it is a really important source of organic traffic, because, [Reddit was saying] most people that use Reddit are not on any other social platform.”

“It is quite a large undertaking to do Reddit, but I think if you can do it well, it is driving tons of organic traffic when you unlock the keywords or the topics that you have authority in and then those get shared on Reddit.”

“For us, especially in the product reviews and lifestyle space, what we see also is the Reddit search results that come up as well on the SERP is – it’s major.”

On Reddit’s new publisher tools: “I think for [Reddit, they] see it as an ad opportunity. So it’s like, how much money do you want to invest in this, in addition to what you’re investing on Google? But we’re thinking about it from an organic standpoint as always, because… direct-to-consumer relationships are important. So starting there, and then seeing where that gets you. But it’s definitely something that’s top of mind for me in addition to AI Overviews.”

“[Reddit] provides community. They don’t do a ton for our business overall, but I think it’s important for us to make sure we understand what’s happening on Reddit and how to integrate with Reddit. But more importantly, from a content strategy perspective, building community and ratings and reviews and interactivity with your users. That’s definitely something.”

“The question then becomes, do you jump into the community on Reddit, even though people can be kind of vicious on there? Or do you cultivate your own community on site?”

Pinterest referrals not as promising

“Pinterest is a huge driver for discovery and where a lot of people are going first, when they’re thinking about what it is they want to buy, what it is they want to wear, where they want to go… It’s sending some traffic.”

“It’s not the place you’re gonna go to just drop links. That’s not how you use Pinterest. You kind of have to find your niche on there.”

“We’ve had over the last various publications, over the last 10 years… bad luck with Pinterest’s new features. Recipe pins? Bad idea. Don’t give them your recipe content… All that great recipe stuff just stays on Pinterest and it doesn’t generate traffic. Story pins, which they announced two years ago? Really cool. We spent a lot of time making them. Didn’t do anything for us. But we make beautiful images and good stories, and that gets circulated by users and comes back to some traffic. It’s a reliable source of traffic, but I don’t buy any of their cool new innovations.”

“It’s all ad revenue, I think at the end of this – for them.”

“For us, Pinterest did drive more meaningful traffic. But just like all the other platforms we have seen the [traffic referrals] decline. It doesn’t mean we don’t partner with them… They really want to work together, but I don’t think they have it figured out.”

“We absolutely have seen the traffic referrals decline.”

“It’s really about the insights. I wish there were more direct revenue opportunities, but that just hasn’t come into play for us.”

“I think [Pinterest is the] least evil of all the platforms. I think they really mean well. [Pinterest] is a long game, and it’s not going to turn into an immediate investment for traffic.”

Facebook is up – but not reliable

“Facebook started hitting for us again. Huge, number one traffic driver. Just out of nowhere, it came back. Not a lot, but we’ve seen growth. When you’re so far down in traffic, it’s nice to see positivity, but you’re still nowhere near where you were before…. [But] your followers on Facebook aren’t yours, neither [are the ones on any of] the platforms, they’re not your customers. They’re theirs.”

“The problem with Discover or MSN or Yahoo or Facebook or any of them, they come and they go. There’s no rhyme or reason why you peak one second and you fall the next. Discover is the worst…. It’s a one-to-one algorithm that either peaked for one second and then it’s gone the next. Who knows?”

Email helps – but isn’t enough to be the future

“Any traffic that comes from email generally does 30% more pages per session. The RPM is like 45% more. And all of this happens because it’s an identified user, which works really well.”

“As we look towards the long term, it’s pretty clear that more content, more newsletters, probably won’t be the succeeding strategy with both AI and just a lot of creators out there and a lot of competition in the content space… The plan definitely over the long run is to really just continue to double down on our engineering team… Go hire a bunch of engineers and figure out something to build.”

What we’ve heard

“The concern is just everybody thought they got GDPR okay. But then when you really dig in because of the audit – and you start really digging into the ICO’s guidance – you realize you cannot do advertising. Basically reject means no ads. But it’s people’s risk tolerance… it’s never black or white, that’s the problem.”

– A publishing exec on the ICO’s GDPR audit of the top 1,000 U.K. publishers this year.

Numbers to know

18%: The share of digital revenue coming from videos at The Sun as it makes a bigger push into original, long-form programming, doubling since January 2025.

£53.2 million: Annual 2024 revenue for Independent Media, up 15% from the previous year. 

£540 million: The Financial Times Group’s revenue in 2024, up 6% year over year.

$210 billion: The amount spent on content by Comcast/NBCUniversal in 2024.

What we’ve covered

Publishers weigh what Google’s ad tech break up could really deliver

• As the Department of Justice’s ad-tech antitrust trial inches toward remedies, publishers are watching the outcome of the remedies phase with a mix of bitter curiosity and grim resignation.
• Many publishers believe the fix — even if it goes their way — is seven years too late.

Read more here.

How Wirecutter is switching up its content and audience strategy to tackle search changes

• The New York Times’ product recommendation site Wirecutter is finding new ways to tweak SEO strategy, package content and expand coverage areas to continue growing revenue.
• Part of that also means testing more video on YouTube, Leilani Han, Wirecutter’s director of commerce, said onstage at the Digiday Publishing Summit last week.

Read the DPS session recap here.

WTF is a chief AI officer, with The Washington Post’s Sam Han

• Chief AI officer is among the newest job titles in the media industry. The Washington Post’s Sam Han explained how his new role is supporting parts of the Post’s business, such as driving subscriptions through its dynamic paywall.
• “We want to reach 200 million paying customers,” he said.

Listen to the latest Digiday Podcast episode here.

Hearst puts its audience data to work — through Amazon

• Amazon is leaning on publishers, using their data to improve targeting and drive better outcomes for advertisers. If the model works, spend flows through Amazon’s buying platform, and publishers get a cut.
• Hearst Magazines is testing to see if the math works. Hearst’s svp of ad product and data Jen Dorre said the early signs are promising.

Read the DPS session recap here.

Inside The New York Times’ AI newsroom strategy

• The New York Times’ editorial team is using AI technology to pursue a host of stories it couldn’t tackle before, as they involved huge and messy datasets.
• Zach Seward, The New York Times’ editorial director of A.I. initiatives, outlined how his team is working with reporters, what tools they’ve built and what the key use cases for AI are so far.

Read the DPS session recap here.

Why The Hill credits growing engagement for its social traffic bump

• The Hill’s social traffic is growing — and the publication believes its increased social engagement is the source of the bump.
• The Hill’s overall social traffic increased by 20% in the past year, according to The Hill’s deputy managing editor of audience and content strategy Sarakshi Rai.

Read the DPS session recap here.

What we’re reading

Microsoft is building an AI marketplace for publishers

Microsoft is planning to launch a pilot program called the Publisher Content Marketplace (PCM), which will allow publishers to sell content to AI products like its Copilot assistant, Axios reported.

Meta gets into AI content licensing game with publishers

Meta is talking to media companies like Axel Springer, Fox Corp and News Corp, about licensing their articles for use in its AI tools, The Wall Street Journal reported.

German media groups file complaint against Google AI Overviews

A group of German publishers has filed a complaint against Google, claiming that its AI-generated answers in search violates key parts of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), according to Press Gazette.

Business Insider sues Google for anti-competitive advertising practices 

Business Insider is claiming Google tied its publisher ad server to its ad exchange, stifling competition and ultimately publishers’ revenue, Adweek reported.

Do you know how secure your newsroom is?

As the U.S. federal government ramps up its attacks on journalists, it’s a good time to review the security and privacy of the tools newsrooms often use, according to Nieman Lab.