March 19, 2026  |  SIGN UP

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Jim Cooper
DIGIDAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Brands are blurring the line between traditional news outlets and news-adjacent creators for their marketing and visibility.

As we report this morning, brands like Tropicana’s Naked Smoothie, NASCAR, Amazon and even AI tech firms, have added news-driven creators to their earned media playbook. For traditionalists, this might be alarming, especially in a fraught global news cycle in which freedom of the press is under assault.

But the stats around ICPs (ideal client/customer profile) underscore a key shift for brands: More than half of U.S. adults get their news from social media at least sometimes, according to Pew Research. For Gen Z, that figure rockets to 76%. Still, while creators offer engagement and awareness, traditional press offers credibility.

So, is this blurring just media evolution and not an extinction horizon for the fourth estate?

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