A year of extreme political volatility will test the resilience of news organisations. They face growing competition from influencers and personalities operating outside journalistic norms.

Addressing news avoidance and fatigue will remain key to sustaining audience interest. Strategies include better explanatory journalism, solutions-oriented reporting, and more inspirational human stories.

Publishers will invest further in AI to improve personalization and curated experiences and experiment with new audience-facing formats. They will also look to leverage specialist workflow tools.

The Rise of AI

Amid a climate of great uncertainty and challenge, many news organisations are experimenting with AI. But how much of this is likely to become routine and effective at scale? It’s not easy to answer, especially as some of the most useful projects may only be deployed at a small scale.

Moreover, those experiments can be costly and time-consuming. They also run the risk of wasted investments, embarrassing missteps, and damage to brands and trust – as was the case with the Google Gemini chatbot snafu, or Elon Musk’s Grok, which launched into antisemitic tirades.

Amid these uncertainties, it might be tempting to take a cautious approach to AI. That might involve identifying categories of projects that could advance a newsroom towards an AI-ready future while minimising risks, and then setting up the infrastructure to deploy those projects routinely at scale when the time comes. Unfortunately, this kind of ad hoc experimentation can quickly become counterproductive and ineffective. It can leave the organisation with little capacity for rapid, iterative development of new products and services. It may also miss the opportunity to create more valuable, innovative work with the help of the data and intelligence that AI offers.

The Rise of Chatbots

As artificial intelligence advances, chatbots are becoming more sophisticated in their abilities to understand human language and context. They are no longer merely menu/button-based scripts that follow fixed responses; instead, they can offer more dynamic, human-like conversations using natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, contextual understanding, and predictive analytics to anticipate user needs.

AI chatbots are already helping to reduce friction across a range of business functions. In e-commerce, for example, they can notify customers of low stock or suggest other products, as well as help users with their shopping cart and checkout process. In healthcare, they can provide instant answers and guidance on a range of health issues, from symptoms and ailments to appointments and medication reminders, and even connect them to specialist care.

But the impact of chatbots extends far beyond this. Tech companies are increasingly building conversational interfaces into their technology and putting a premium on quality content. For example, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Search offers a constantly updating news service that returns ‘story-like’ results for queries, while services like Perplexity have created personalised hubs that are hard to distinguish from traditional news sites. Publishers are ambivalent about these trends: many worry that institutional journalism will be squeezed out, while others see a future where platforms cultivate influencers and creators to become the new face of news.

The rise of podcasts

As traditional media have struggled to maintain audience trust, podcasts have become a platform for diverse viewpoints and investigative journalism. In the news & politics segment, the New York Times has seen significant growth with its daily explanatory podcast, The Daily, which attracts a younger and more educated audience than its print counterpart. Other legacy news organizations have invested their time and money into podcasts that highlight different perspectives on current events. Politically-focused podcasts emphasize fact-based discussions and utilize data and research to inform listeners. This trend reflects the public’s desire to avoid misinformation and receive credible information from trusted sources.

Additionally, podcasts are less regulated than traditional media platforms and offer creators the opportunity to create long-form content. This allows for in-depth discussion of topics, which enables podcasts to capture attention and build loyalty. In addition, podcasts have fostered a sense of community with their dedicated fan bases and social media groups.

Another driving force behind the rise of podcasts is the increasing focus on mental wellness and self-improvement. Podcasts in this genre have a wide range of offerings, from guided meditation sessions to conversations about anxiety and depression. This genre is particularly popular among Gen Z, according to two separate studies from Edison and Spotify’s Culture Next Trends Report.

The Rise of Video

In recent years, video has boomed – in part because technological advancements have made it easy and affordable to produce and upload high-quality content. Also, social media algorithms have started to prioritize video content because of its higher engagement rates compared to text and images. Video is also transforming news consumption, particularly among younger audiences, as it allows journalists to convey complex information and emotions visually and quickly.

Innovative media leaders have pushed the boundaries of video storytelling with new formats like TikTok and Instagram Reels, which offer short, snappy news bites that are perfect for fast scrolling. These types of videos have exploded in popularity with young audiences, and many publishers now consider them a necessary part of their digital strategy to capture the attention of the generation that will shape the future of our society.

However, the increased use of video has led to concerns about misinformation and bias, and a lack of quality control can undermine credibility. In our 2022 survey, more than half of the publishers we surveyed said they were worried that their audience would have trouble distinguishing fact from fiction on video platforms. Publishers also have concerns that they may lose visibility as AI interfaces begin to generate ‘story-like’ answers for news queries. This could be a particular threat to traditional news organizations that are struggling with declining social media traffic.