I always look forward to the week in March when the digital publishing community descends on the breathtaking mountain town of Vail, Colorado, for the Digiday Publishing Summit (DPS). It’s a fantastic opportunity for industry leaders to come together to share ideas, learn from each other, and spark important conversations.
There’s always a lot to discuss at DPS, but this year saw especially weighty topics, with the cookieless future upon us and AI looming large over it all.
If the event’s town hall was any indicator, AI is on everyone’s mind. We spoke to many media companies and publishers about AI, and opinions are understandably mixed.
The discussion, at times, seems to go in the direction of whether to use AI or not. That said, AI is here. It’s so permeated into society it’s simply a question of how to use AI as a tool that creates an extension of oneself, not a replacement to oneself.
Dominick Miserandino, CEO at RetailWire and Raptive publisher
As event sponsors, we shared coffee and cookies (get them while you can!) with attendees and led a sandbox discussion on AI.
Why focus on AI at DPS?
We chose to cover AI during our session because, frankly, there is no other ad management company doing more in AI than Raptive. Our mission in AI is to protect and empower publishers through what is proving to be a monumental shift in how we create, consume, and interact with content on the web.
At Raptive, we’re AI optimists. We’ve been using it for over a decade, and have a whole team dedicated to it—including Trey Griffin, whose entire job is to stay on top of the changes that are happening at breakneck speed. AI represents amazing opportunities for creators and publishers, but it brings complex challenges.
Our goal is simple: preserve the viability of publishers’ businesses and the overall ecosystem. We’re advocating for search engines to reward original, trusted content without degrading traffic to premium websites. We also believe publishers and creators should have control over whether or not AI uses their work, and be fairly compensated if it does.
As our Chief Innovation Officer Marc McCollum told AdWeek, we’ve been closely following and testing Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE). Our tests on the September version of SGE indicated a potential 67% drop in search traffic. The latest version of SGE suggests a potential 25% drop in search traffic.
The stakes are high. Along with SGE’s potential impact to search traffic, the industry faces decreased engagement and ad viewability, plus a potential onslaught of low-quality content that could lead to a $2 billion shortfall in ad revenues.
Raptive’s approach to AI
We’re focused on leveraging AI to support publishers while also advocating for their protection against its detrimental impact.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Delivering AI-first products and experiences that empower content creators, like our content optimization solution, Topic, and our audience engagement solution, Slickstream
- Advocating for industry standards and licensing terms that protect publisher interests
- Informing publishers how to use AI effectively, responsibly, and profitably
Raptive is meeting directly with big tech companies and top Washington lawmakers to advocate for the rights of independent creators and publishers. We’re pushing those in a position of power towards creating a fair ecosystem that includes proper compensation for the people doing the work.
We anticipate AI will still be a hot topic at the Digiday Publishing Summit in Miami this fall, though it’s likely to look completely different than it does today. Until then, we’ll be staying up to date with the latest changes on AI and what publishers can do to stay ahead of the game.
Reach out to me at wdublin@raptive.com to chat more about how you can leverage AI to streamline your business and protect yourself through its evolution.
