BuzzFeed, Vox and the end of the site traffic era

Publishers’ hemming and hawing over the Google Zero post-search era has reached a fever pitch. Now, they’re finally doing something about it. The publishing industry has been forced to reckon with declining referral traffic from Google as the tech behemoth prioritizes its AI-powered search, or AI Overviews. Companies like Axios, The Verge and Time have starting sprouting greenshoots, turning gripes into game plans to survive in what could best be described as a search-pocalypse. Senior media reporter at Digiday Sara Guaglione and senior media editor Jessica Davies joined a recent episode of the Digiday Podcast to discuss the greenshoots that seem the most promising.

Gone are the days of the one-size-fits all influencer deal. On one hand, creators are being treated like programmatic buys, measured on performance and scale. On the other hand, mega creators are locking down Hollywood-style brand integrations and long term equity deals. In this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Portal A co-founder and president Zach Blume breaks down what's behind the creator economy bifurcation.

Is Omnicom to the ad industry what The Brooklyn Nets are to basketball? Or maybe Omnicom is more like Blanche Devereaux of The Golden Girls. Depends on who you ask. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, executive editor of news Seb Joseph and senior editor, media buying and planning Michael Burgi took a look at the current ad agency landscape, including Omnicom's IPG takeover, WPP's attempted comeback, Publicis dominance and Dentsu's comeup, through the lens of sports analogies and The Golden Girls.

OpenAI has billion-dollar goals for its ChatGPT ads by the end of this year. Just seven months after its initial launch, OpenAI’s ad business is running at a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate. By the end of the year, the tech company projects its ads business will rake in $.25 billion in ad revenue. That projection surges to $100 billion by 2030. The question is: Can OpenAI woo advertisers enough to make good on those ambitions?

Semafor technically had had a head of video before Adam Banicki stepped into the role this summer. But the role has changed with Banicki’s appointment. Instead of being strictly a newsroom role, Banicki’s position spans the editorial and business sides of Semafor.“I feel like I have like a really fun job where I get to talk to Ben [Smith, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Semafor] every day about all the things that are going on in the newsroom, but then taking back a lot of that almost like programming to the commercial side and saying like, ’What can we do with this? How do we build out a revenue model?’” Banicki said during a live recording of the Digiday Podcast on Sept. 16 at the Digiday Publishing Summit in Key Biscayne, Florida.As Semafor’s head of video, Banicki reports directly to Smith but “with a dotted line to Rachel Oppenheim, our chief commercial officer,” he said. In addition to developing video programming ideas with Semafor’s newsroom, he collaborates with its commercial staff.“My first three months, I think, was really getting involved in the commercial side, helping shaping go-to-market decks, thinking about pricing strategy, joining kickoff calls to help close deals that were tied to video,” said Banicki.Soon his day-to-day duties will likely skew more toward video production. In October, Semafor will launch a new show focused on technology and hosted by its tech editor Reed Albergotti. That will bring Semafor’s portfolio to four shows, with plans to develop a daily news show “very soon,” said Banicki.