Press Gazette AI Summit | Most of top UK sites lose more than 10% traffic

Good afternoon from the team at Press Gazette on Thursday, 25 June.

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🚨 If the Met Office did warnings for the impact of AI on the news industry the level today would be nudging towards red.

Google’s AI-written answers are killing website traffic while increasingly sophisticated and aggressive bots are stealing and selling our content.

For all the talk of AI content marketplaces being created by the tech platforms, nothing is happening apart from a few sweetheart deals with the biggest publishers.

To discuss how the industry responds to all this, fast, Press Gazette has convened an emergency AI and Publishing Leadership Summit in Westminster on 30 June (next Tuesday) from 2.30pm.

Speakers include: head of AI Strategy at Mediahuis Ana Jakimovska, VP of generative AI at The Economist Josh Muncke, former culture minister Lord Ed Vaizey, managing director of public policy at Daily Mail Owen Meredith and CEO of Candr Media Chris Dicker.

If you are in a leadership position at a news publisher and are currently wrestling with some of the existential questions AI disruption poses, this event will be well worth your time.

Register your interest below (preference given to those working in senior roles at publishing companies).

REGISTER HERE

📉 The impact of all this AI disruption is evident in the latest ranking of the top 50 news websites in the UK.

According to Ipsos iris, just 12 out of the top 50 UK news websites grew their audience in May. Some 30 sites lost more than 10% of their traffic year on year including highly trusted sources such as Money Saving Expert and Sky News.

Previously insurgent newsbrand GB News is now falling fast, down 38% year on year in terms of website reach. And six major Reach regional sites were down more than 20% year on year as they continue to feel the effects of an implosion in referral traffic from Google Discover (which had previously made up for falling search clicks).

Substack continues to record strong growth in the UK, underlining the importance of email newsletters and the success of its creator ecosystem.

READ THE FULL STORY

💻 UK B2B tech newsbrand The Stack has managed to nearly triple the size of its email newsletter audience after acquiring US title Runtime.

Founder Ed Targett explained to us why, when it comes to writing about enterprise IT systems, the quality of audience is all important. An article could have ten readers, but if they control technology budgets worth billions between them they are incredibly valuable for advertisers.

The Stack has managed to grow the size of its team despite cutbacks across much of the technology journalism sector.