Publishers are exploring selling AI visibility knowledge to brands

Packaging the AI ​​playbook

Publishers aren’t just trying to get quotes in AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overview — some publishers are also looking at how they can turn those guidelines into products they can sell to brands.

Instead of simply optimizing their titles and structured data for generative engine optimization (GEO), they offer brands a similar roadmap: how to appear, be cited, and stay visible in AI-generated responses.

This is an important change. The same companies grappling with dwindling referral traffic and opaque AI algorithms are positioning themselves as translators of those black boxes — turning hard-won experiments with leads, schemes, and authority signals into new service lines. In an era where discovery is fragmented and answers are synthesized, visibility within the AI ​​layer becomes a product.

This is also another sign that publishers are no longer just chasing advertising dollars, but are also finding new revenue streams in the AI ​​era.

Nina Gould, head of innovation at Forbes, told Digiday that publishers are hearing more direct questions about how their content is performing versus competitors, and how clients’ branded and original content is performing against demand that aligns with their campaign goals. Forbes ranks as the most cited publisher on ChatGPT, according to analysis conducted by AI search optimization company Profound.

“We’ve seen this be of significant value to our long-standing branded content partners. As answering machine discovery becomes more measurable and strategic, we believe it will play a meaningful role in how publishers demonstrate their impact to marketers,” said Gould. “While we are not currently packaging it as a standalone product, we see a clear opportunity.”

Future — which also has US titles including Tom’s Guide, Who What Wear, Marie Claire and Ideal Home in the UK — is already doing this. As Digiday reported last month, Future is selling its AI visibility tool, Future Optic, as part of a branded content package to brand clients to increase AI summary citations. It works to increase the volume of mentions and citations in AI search engines such as Google’s AI Overview and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It sells to clients in the telecom, CPG, luxury and beauty categories, including Samsung.

With search referral traffic eroding for publishers, what started as a defensive effort to increase their own visibility in AI search engines has evolved into an offering for clients — the ability to package rapid testing, structured data strategies, and editorial best practices into a service that brands can purchase. Both brands and publishers are looking for ways to navigate an AI-driven discovery ecosystem where associations matter less than references.

This also signals an increasing push by publishers towards GEO, especially as some publishers such as Forbes and Future are actively seeking to reduce their reliance on Google search referral traffic. What was once considered premature is now quickly becoming a gamble for others — not just for editorial teams, but also for brands that want to be featured in AI-generated answers.

Prasanna Dhungel, Managing Partner at marketing intelligence company GrowByData, said the new service developed by publishers could be useful for agencies looking to connect brands with publishers to increase AI citations, and help drive customers to their products through these paid campaigns. For example, Future was able to drive 28% growth in AI citations from Future sources for a branded campaign with Samsung in three months, Future CRO Michael Peralta previously told Digiday.

“If the publisher does the placement [in LLMs] it’s easy and cost-effective… I can see a lot of brands doing that,” Dhungel said.

Alicia Gehring, svp of media strategy at independent advertising agency White64, told Digiday that if the service can show how sponsored content can increase a brand’s AI visibility, it would be an added incentive to prioritize publishers’ brand campaigns.

Publishers are not the only ones taking advantage of commercial opportunities.

Agencies and marketing services companies have launched their own tools to help brands see how they are represented in AI-powered search results, such as Digitas’ Sight Model and similar offerings from Jellyfish, Botify and others that track AI search visibility, Digiday previously reported.

However, some parties have difficulty turning these tools into sustainable revenue – clients see limited results from these insights alone.

Whether sales of GEO strategies can close the gap caused by the sharp erosion of referral traffic, caused by the AI ​​Overview of Google and other search engines, is unlikely. But this is more a signal that publishers are getting savvy about how to operate in this new era of AI-powered distribution.

What we heard

“[OpenPath] has given us direct contact [at The Trade Desk]. We used to get this money through SSP, from various ways. If we see a decline, the SSP will say, ‘I don’t know.’ And now we can go to The Trade Desk and say, ‘Okay, we’re seeing a decline. What was that caused by?’ And they can relay it back to us and say, ‘Okay, actually, it’s because of this brand or whatever.’ So, having a contact at The Trade Desk really helped us. There used to be a black box.”

– Ed Arrandale, vice president of revenue and operations at WeatherBug

Numbers you need to know

$350 million: The amount of the new investment in The New York Times from Berkshire Hathaway.

50%: Percentage of Latino or Hispanic union members laid off at The Washington Post.

15%: Percentage of CBS News staff considering letting go.

83%: The percentage of Americans who do not pay for news, according to a Pew Research study

What we have discussed

Subscriptions to major news publishers are increasing – even as traffic is shrinking

• Subscription growth not only continues, it is also accelerating. Digiday analyzed subscription revenue and paid readership trends among major news publishers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Media, The Guardian and the Daily Mail.
• Rather than lowering prices in pursuit of growth, many are opting for higher-value positioning and introductory offers designed to convert (and retain) paying readers – and these strategies are helping stabilize news publishers’ businesses amid volatile referral traffic.

Read more Here.

WTF is Markdown for AI Agents?

• Cloudflare’s new Markdown for Agents feature is an example of a common language used by AI systems and agents, when HTML alone is not enough.
• It’s a way to turn HTML into a structured language that is easier for AI systems and agents to absorb and understand, making content more discoverable and efficient for AI consumption.

Read more Here.

How the creator economy shows up at the Super Bowl

• At this year’s Super Bowl, brands relied heavily on creator partnerships and live activations.
• The event underscored how the creator economy has become central to the big brands’ moment, with marketers prioritizing experiential content, social distribution and talent deals.

Read more Here.

What are we reading

FT joins Google’s AI pilot program

The Financial Times is the latest publisher to join Google’s AI commercial pilot program, which already includes The Guardian and The Washington Post, Press Gazette reported.

How The New York Times tracks the “manosphere” using AI

The New York Times created an internal, AI-powered “Manosphere Report” that used LLM to transcribe and summarize dozens of podcasts to spot trends and changes in conservative media, Nieman Lab reports.

Apple is challenging YouTube and Spotify with a new video podcasting push

Apple announced that it was launching an updated video podcast experience in Apple Podcasts this spring to let users watch and listen within the app and offer new monetization tools to content creators, competing with YouTube and Spotify, CNBC reported.

The Guardian launches a new daily podcast

The Guardian is launching a new daily video podcast in the U.S. later this year with a 10-person team, expanding its audio and video journalism and competing with shows like The New York Times’ popular podcast, “The Daily,” Semafor reported.

Ars Technica retracts AI-generated article

Condé Nast-owned technology publication Ars Technica retracted the story after publishing fake quotes generated by an AI tool that were mistakenly attributed to real people, according to 404 Media.