Five Strategies Publishers Need to Thrive in an AI-Summarized World
AI-generated summaries are changing how people find news and information, and publishers are feeling the impact. In our recent webinar, co-hosted with James Evelegh, Editor of InPublishing, Philippe van Mastrigt shared five practical strategies to help publishers adapt. You can watch the recording here (registration required).
What's changing
There are two types of AI summaries: agent-based (popularized by ChatGPT) and search-based (such as Google AI Overviews). The search-based type is the real game changer for publishers. Because many users stop at the summary instead of clicking through to sources, estimates show that referral traffic fell by about 24% from 2024 to 2025, with a further decline of at least 43% forecast over the next three years.
The effects are immediate: fewer visitors, fewer subscription conversions, and fewer ad impressions. Over the medium term, AI summaries compete directly with publishers' content, reduce brand visibility, and allow AI platforms to capture value from content that publishers paid to create. So what can publishers do to reclaim their value and their revenue in the age of AI? Here are Philippe's suggestions.
1. Protect your content and monetize it
Content is your main asset. Start by monitoring bot activity and filtering or blocking unauthorized crawlers, while still allowing those you want, such as search engine bots. Once your content is protected, you can negotiate terms with AI platforms. Larger publishers have led the way so far; possible models include pay-per-crawl, pay-per-content, and paid partnerships.
Real-world example: People Inc. put technical blocks in place to lock down its content. That opened the door to agreement discussions, as AI platforms came to them.
2. Build direct relationships with your audience
As referral traffic declines, own the connection with your readers. Begin with a registration wall to capture email addresses, then use newsletters, which remain one of the most effective engagement tools. Apps with notifications, video, podcasts, events, and print media can also help you stay in touch.
Real-world example: Ouest-France, France's biggest regional newspaper, has invested across a variety of channels including newsletters, its app, a subscriber-specific site (LaPlace), and even a TV channel.
3. Diversify your revenue
Traffic drops hit subscriptions and advertising directly, so look beyond them. Options include book publishing, events, professional services for B2B audiences, data sales, and partnerships.
Real-world example: Farm Journal was hit hard by the traffic decline. It packaged audience data it had already collected into an intelligence service for vendors in the farming industry. That service now drives about one third of its revenue.
4. Differentiate your content
Original journalism is still your edge. Invest in on-the-ground reporting, investigation, and expert journalists, and offer what an AI answer cannot. Packaging content in proprietary formats makes it harder to replicate.
Real-world example: The Times moved from a volume strategy to a quality strategy in 2025, publishing fewer articles. It uses an editorial data dashboard to track engagement, such as reading time and how far readers get into an article. This renewed focus on quality over quantity resulted in a steady traffic increase over the following four months.
5. Adopt new performance metrics
With less traffic, volume is not an accurate indicator of success. Focus on measures that show the health of your business model: conversion, engagement, retention, churn, and subscriber lifetime value.
The bottom line
In an AI-summarized world, publishers should protect and monetize content, build direct relationships, diversify revenue, differentiate their content, and adopt better metrics. None of these is entirely new, but together, they offer a clear path forward.