The publisher of the future becomes an IP company – The Future of Publishing

“Publishers that effectively adapt to technological advancements and embrace innovation through multimedia propositions across audio, print, and digital platforms will be best positioned for future success. Building strong audience connections, driving engagement, and maintaining trust will be critical, while the diversification of revenue streams will remain a key driver of long-term growth.”

“The role of publishing doesn’t change; people still want publishers with a clear brand and positioning that helps them make sense of the world. The most successful publishers will evolve from being houses of content to houses of talent where they curate a group of individual journalists to be distinctive and influential voices and allow them to build audiences outside of the publisher’s core platforms – across podcasts, video, newsletters, live events and social. Think of it like the Marvel universe: individual stars build their own audiences before coming together to create something even bigger. That allows the publishers’ influence to reach other channels and build fandoms that still serve the home brand. You don’t have to admire the politics of the Daily Wire to see how they achieved that in the US with the likes of Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles and Matt Walsh. Beyond publishing, Goalhanger would be another example – a house of talent with Marina Hyde, Richard Osman, Gary Lineker, Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell. The publisher of the future becomes an IP company more than just a newspaper.

“The job is to identify talent early, develop fresh, distinctive voices, invest in production, widespread distribution and monetise across subscriptions, advertising, events, books, podcasts, TV and licensing. The smartest publishers won’t just commission journalism, they’ll manage intellectual property. They’ll own, develop, distribute and monetise talent across every platform where audiences spend time.”

“Five years is a long time in media, and anyone claiming to know exactly what publishing will look like is probably overconfident. But the direction of travel feels clear.

“The most successful publishers will look less like traditional media companies and more like membership businesses built around loyal communities. Revenue will come from subscriptions, commerce, events and experiences, not just advertising.

“Technology will be a critical enabler. AI and smarter use of data will help smaller teams create richer content across text, audio and video, but the technology itself won’t be the product, it will be the infrastructure powering better audience experiences.

“Marketing will focus less on reaching everyone and more on deepening relationships with existing audiences. Ultimately, success won’t be about scale; it’ll be about becoming indispensable to a community that chooses to spend its time, money and attention with you.”

“Five years from now, the publishing businesses that thrive will be the ones that approached change with curiosity rather than caution.

“AI is already reshaping how our industry works — how content gets made, discovered and experienced. Some businesses will treat that as a threat, but I believe the future will belong to the media businesses that are willing to stay open-minded, challenge their assumptions and adapt as the opportunities emerge.

“That’s the mindset we’re embracing at Bauer Media. We want people to feel able to experiment, test new ideas, and learn quickly from what works and, just as importantly, what doesn’t. We want honest, meaningful debate about what publishing can become in a world that’s moving this quickly, and we want our teams to have the confidence and ownership to help shape that future.”

“For established publishers I think you will see the form of their work changing, and broadening from where it is today. What we know is that people will always want a trusted source of new ideas and information – but what we are seeing is that the way audiences consume and engage with news is changing. At the Guardian we are approaching this with our well-established appetite for innovation, which means our journalism will become more digital, more visual and more experimental. We want to speak to a broader audience around the world. One project I’m particularly excited about is Guardian Studios, which will be a new creative hub for video-first, personality-led journalism. Journalists, executive editors, and multimedia teams globally will work collaboratively to transform our journalism into compelling new visual formats, reach new audiences and foster on-screen talent.”

“A successful publisher in five years won’t be measured by page views alone. It’ll be measured by how many meaningful ways it connects with audiences.

“The strongest media brands will exist far beyond just a website or a magazine. They’ll be building communities, creating experiences, producing trusted journalism, hosting events, developing first-party insight and showing up wherever audiences choose to spend time. They’ll have multiple revenue streams because they’ll be creating value in multiple ways.

“At Time Out, we’ve learned that our audience doesn’t separate content from experience. They discover a restaurant through our editorial, book a table because of our recommendation, visit a Time Out Market while travelling, and share the experience on social media. That’s one connected relationship, not four separate touchpoints.

“For us, success isn’t about owning more moments of attention. It’s about inspiring more moments in the real world.”

“Diversified. A successful publishing business will be one that has built multiple revenue streams while maintaining the trust and engagement that underpin its audience relationships. Publishing’s strength lies in the credibility of its brands and the deep connections they have with readers, listeners, and viewers.

“Commercially, reliance on any single model is unlikely to be sustainable. The most successful publishers will leverage and combine advertising, subscriptions, events, memberships, branded content and other audience-led opportunities in ways that feel authentic to their communities.

“While some news and mass-market lifestyle brands have faced audience and revenue pressures, many specialist and vertical publishers continue to perform strongly by serving highly engaged communities. For advertisers, these environments offer valuable opportunities to connect with people in relevant, trusted contexts.”

“Yes. As well as diversification, publishers should continue expanding into events as a growth and monetisation strategy, in turn helping to deepen audience relationships. These initiatives extend media brands beyond content publishing into live experiences, premium partnerships and ultimately communities. Recent examples include the ELLE Style Awards, Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards, Forbes Under 30 Summit, and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, all of which have played a key role in strengthening audience engagement.”

“Publishing brands are still incredibly powerful badges of identity; people will describe themselves as a Guardian or Telegraph reader and be comfortable with what that connotes about them. But people increasingly form closer relationships with personalities rather than those monolithic publishing brands. The more publishers can build communities around their journalists, the more powerful that connection will be. Individuals are having an increasing impact; millions of people now willingly spend two or three hours at a time with political commentators, economists, or historians they trust. That’s because they buy into individuals and like spending time with them. Joe Rogan interviewing Donald Trump for three hours in the run-up to the US election and getting 47m views on YouTube shows how influence is shifting.

“Reach will always be perhaps the most important ingredient for a successful advertising campaign, but if it can be aggregated from numerous communities of strong relationships with talent curated by a single publisher brand, that’s a very powerful position. As AI makes information increasingly abundant, distinctive human voices become more valuable, not less.”

“Reach still matters, but it’s no longer what separates one publisher from another. Trust is. And it matters more than ever. But trust isn’t something you build overnight or win with one great campaign. It’s built over years, through consistently showing up for people in the right way. That means understanding how audiences’ needs evolve, meeting them in the right place at the right time, and getting the value exchange right so what we offer is genuinely worth having.”

“I’d challenge the idea that the last decade was only about reach – I think it is more complex than that. Media can never only be about one thing: for example, it would be wrong to assume that social media is the only way to sell stuff now, or that TV is only about brand building.

“Advertising works best when you combine scale with influence, so relationships are important, but have been for some time. We’ve got a particularly unique relationship with the part of our audience who voluntarily contribute to funding our journalism, even though they could get it for free. The Guardian’s audience aren’t consumers in the traditional sense, they’re more part of a community, not commodities monetised for clicks. We help equip people with facts about the world and our community in turn helps the Guardian deliver meaningful journalism.

“For an advertiser that sense of community means several things: incredible attention times, a deep sense of trust and shared values. Those things have always mattered in advertising but they feel particularly important now. We want to feel connected to people, to feel part of something – at our best, the Guardian brings people together.”

“Reach still matters. But reach without relevance is becoming an increasingly fragile strategy.

“Algorithms change. Platforms evolve. AI is reshaping how people discover information. The one thing publishers can own is the relationship they build with their audience.

“That means understanding not just what people read, but why they come back. It means investing in communities, first-party data and editorial expertise rather than relying solely on scale. The brands and agencies that succeed together will be those that create genuine value for audiences rather than simply inserting themselves into the attention economy.

“For advertisers, that shifts the conversation away from buying impressions towards building trust. Increasingly, brands want environments where audiences choose to spend time, not places where advertising simply interrupts them. That’s a much stronger foundation for long-term effectiveness.”

“Revenue diversification is becoming increasingly important as traditional advertising models evolve. Many publishers have introduced paywalls and subscription offerings to generate income from loyal readers. Examples include Mail+ and The Sun Club, both of which provide exclusive content, rewards, and benefits in exchange for membership, thereby strengthening audience loyalty and engagement.

“Trusted journalism will be more crucial than ever in the era of GEO. As AI increasingly becomes a primary means through which audiences access information, high-quality journalism grows in value because it provides the trusted, authoritative factual foundation that AI systems rely upon to generate accurate responses. Publishers that invest in credible reporting, strong editorial standards, and distinctive expertise will therefore be best placed to remain relevant and influential in an AI-driven media landscape.”

“Trust is non-negotiable. It takes decades to build and seconds to lose. Trust should define publishing in perpetuity. Diversification is the big leap forward; community will follow. The future of publishing lies in the aggregation of those communities in new spaces.”

“I don’t think you can separate them, because trust has to be at the heart of everything we do.

“Diversification is how we earn and sustain that trust in an ever-evolving media landscape. Audiences are consuming content across more platforms, channels and formats than ever, and the next phase is about being intentional about building stronger, more direct relationships with the audiences we serve.

“Community is what forms once that’s working. But only around brands that show up consistently with content people find genuinely relevant and credible.”

“Trust will be the defining trend. In an era of AI-generated content, misinformation and fragmented media consumption, trusted publishing environments become more valuable than ever. For readers, trust is what drives loyalty and engagement; for advertisers, it provides credible, high-quality contexts that can enhance both brand perception and effectiveness.

“Community comes a close second. The publishers that succeed will be those that cultivate loyal, engaged audiences around shared interests and passions. Strong communities not only create deeper audience relationships but also offer brands more meaningful ways to connect than simply reaching large numbers of people.

“Diversification remains important, but more as an enabler. Sustainable revenue streams give publishers the financial resilience to continue investing in quality journalism, content and audience experiences. Ultimately, diversification helps protect and strengthen the trust and communities that underpin long-term success.”

“The biggest structural bet publishers need to make right now is deciding how open they want to be in an AI-driven ecosystem. On the content side, that means determining whether their journalism should be discoverable by LLMs and, if so, how they build commercial partnerships that properly monetise that value. On the advertising side, it’s about deciding how accessible their inventory should be to third-party agents and automated buying systems. Publishers need to choose between a more open model with multiple routes to their content and inventory, or a more controlled environment with greater oversight. Those decisions will have a major impact on both revenue growth and long-term competitiveness.”

“Most publishing brands have a clear identity and sense of their place in the world. Everything else should be up for grabs; it is about how you take that identity into new media spaces and allow it to find different expression. The core beliefs and message stay the same, but it’s brought to life in different ways. The biggest structural bet is investing in talent that lives in spaces beyond the core publishing platform and allowing the brand to find new expression and audiences.”

“Publishers need to stop thinking of themselves as distribution businesses and start thinking of themselves as brand businesses.

“For years, success was largely driven by search and social referral. Today those routes are changing rapidly. AI means audiences increasingly expect answers rather than links.

“The publishers that will succeed are the ones that give people reasons to seek them out directly. That could be distinctive journalism, trusted recommendations, community, newsletters, events, podcasts or experiences. Ideally it’s a combination of all of them.

“Publishing has always been about trust. The next chapter is about making that trust visible wherever audiences spend their time. Brands that can create direct relationships, rather than relying on borrowed distribution, will be far more resilient whatever technology comes next.”