In April this year, The Times posted record-breaking global audience growth for three consecutive months. Nice work.

But what makes this result remarkable is that the team achieved this against a backdrop of declining search referrals across the publishing industry. Press Gazette recently reported Chartbeat data showing that Google search traffic to publishers fell globally by around a third in the year to November 2025, amid growing use of AI-generated search summaries. 

What's The Times' secret sauce? Fewer, better stories.

The good news is that The Times case study gives us all practical tips on how to move our audiences beyond the AI summary and keep them engaged with our content. 

In an interview reported by Press Gazette, Anna Sbuttoni, Deputy Head of Digital at The Times and The Sunday Times, identified five priorities underpinning the title's growth strategy. Her comments are summarised below so you can apply to your own content strategy:

1. “Exclusive, original reporting that you can’t get anywhere else” Anna talks about taking time to create something of real value and including visual impact.

2. “Telling big developing stories as they happen” Live blogs are important for The Times, but Anna also highlights the use of timelines and explainers.

3. “How can we add value and make a story distinct to The Times, even if it’s already out there or been broken by a competitor?” Anna emphasises the importance of adding your own angle, whether through deeper analysis, specialist expertise, exclusive insight or a different perspective.

4. “Using data to keep pace with interest in a long-running story” Try combining analytics alongside editorial judgement.

5. Making it clear “why [the reader] should click” based on the headline, image and standfirst. 

‍

How publisher action could protect original content in AI search

Search engine optimisation is dead; long live generative engine optimisation! Have AI overviews really killed SEO? Not necessarily, or at least not yet for some of us.

In June this year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published guidance outlining new Google search conduct requirements affecting publishers. According to both the CMA and the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA), the measures are intended to give publishers greater control over how their content is used within AI-powered search.

In response to feedback from a cohort of publishers, represented by the PPA, Google is obliged to comply with the new code of conduct before the end of December 2026.

The following summary is based on guidance published by the CMA and explained by the PPA:

Publisher conduct requirement

This gives publishers the ability to stop Google using their content to power its AI search features in the UK. From this, Google must:

• Let publishers opt out of having their content used to train its AI models and to ground AI answers such as AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini.

• Avoid penalising publishers who opt out, for example by ranking them lower elsewhere in Search.

• Be transparent about how the controls work, how content is used and share data such as clicks and referral traffic from AI features.

• Properly attribute publisher content in AI features, with a clear link back to the original source.

How this affects creating digital content

This code of conduct is specific to publishers – those at the frontlines of the AI revolution. But the wider point is that there are meaningful ways we can work with the changes, rather than trying to avoid them.

One notable aspect of the requirement is that it shows how organisations can work collectively, through industry bodies, to influence policy discussions and regulatory outcomes. If you have yet to do so, the potentially small, but very powerful, act of bringing your voice to the collective is a practical step that costs nothing but could mean everything.

Sources: ppa.co.uk / gov.uk  

‍

Why human connection may matter more as AI takes over the routine

Opinion is divided – but real-life scenarios are now helping us understand the debate.

This article draws on information from GeekWire, EngageCustomer and a range of media industry speakers discussing the potential impactof AI agents on customer and audience relationships.

From AI to Z

Spare a (small) thought for Amazon. Earlier this year their attempt to block Perplexity’s Comet agent was overturned and now they’re desperately pushing back on Meta’s Muse agent. The concern seems to be that these agents, acting online on behalf of their human shoppers, are racing through the Amazon store, selecting products whilst bypassing Amazon’s extensive trade marketing model, whereby vendors pay the platform for placement and promotion. It’s a multi-billion-dollar problem for Amazon.

 Amazons’ frustration could be because AI is challenging the way it controls the customer relationship, rather than the brand relationship itself.

Whatever the reason, the increasing use of AI agents means that traditional information architecture has been upended. For Amazon, this creates a business model problem.

But is it a problem for others? Not necessarily, according to several influential figures in the media and communications industry.

The upside of agents

Mark Howard, COO at Time, joins commentators from the Guardian, Washington Post and Hearst UK in his view that AI agents could, infact, help to make advertising more targeted by creating protocols that deliberately service agent needs.

Some commentators see a potential upside. If AI agents increasingly handle routine information gathering, brands may have greater opportunities to differentiate themselves through distinctive storytelling, community-building and emotional engagement.

At the recent Customer Engage Summit, Lisa Johnstone, Director of Priority, Loyalty and Rewards from Virgin Media O2, went so far as to state that she viewed AI agents as a way to strengthen personal connections. This is by freeing humans up from the mundane so that they can focus on the connection between brand people and their customers, and vice versa.

This reflects a wider view among some marketing and media leaders that human relationships, trust and emotional connection may become even more important as routine digital interactions become increasingly automated.

For many of us, it is still too early to pick a side. What seems clearer is that AI is changing how people find information, and organisations will need to adapt while remaining focused on the value they create for their audiences.

Sources: pressgazette.co.uk/ geekwire.com / engagecustomer.com

Drop us a note if you’d like to chat about your AI content strategy.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍