Episode 16: Ricky Sutton of the Future Media newsletter and podcast
Feb 5, 2025
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Ricky Sutton, a journalist and tech entrepreneur, dives into the challenges facing the news publishing industry. He discusses historic shifts from print to digital, and how big tech monopolies complicate the landscape. Sutton emphasizes the necessity of robust antitrust enforcement as a starting point for reform. The conversation touches on the evolving roles of AI and communication technologies, urging publishers to innovate in distribution and monetization to thrive in a competitive market.
Robust antitrust measures are essential to combat monopolistic practices in ad tech, ensuring a fairer revenue-sharing model for publishers.
AI presents both challenges and opportunities, prompting publishers to evolve their content delivery and business models for improved audience engagement.
Deep dives
Google Cookie Deprecation and Its Implications
The discussion revolves around Google's decision to phase out third-party cookies and replace them with choice prompts as part of its privacy commitments. This move is seen as a distraction from the core competition issues previously identified by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Despite the shift in policy, the underlying concerns about Google’s monopolistic practices in ad tech remain unaddressed. Overall, the transition does not resolve the significant competitive imbalances that currently affect the advertising ecosystem.
The Historical Context of Publishing and Advertising
The evolution of the publishing industry is closely tied to changes in distribution mechanisms; at one point, print media enjoyed a monopoly that successfully linked advertisers to a broad audience. However, this monopoly faltered as digital platforms began to dominate delivery, leaving traditional publishers struggling for revenue. The historical context emphasizes that declining revenue is not solely due to poor journalism, but rather the shift in how content is distributed and monetized. Google's emergence as both a distributor and advertiser further complicated the landscape, siphoning off revenue from publishers reliant on traditional ad models.
The Need for Antitrust Action
The hosts argue that serious antitrust measures are necessary to level the playing field in the advertising market, which has become increasingly dominated by tech giants like Google. They highlight the paradox of a thriving ad market that publishers fail to benefit from due to monopolistic practices. Breaking these monopolies is seen as critical for the survival of independent journalism and for restoring a more equitable revenue-sharing model. With ongoing antitrust trials against Google, there is a sense of optimism that change may be on the horizon, prompting a potential revitalization of the publishing sector.
Adapting to the AI Revolution
AI is positioned as both a challenge and an opportunity for the publishing industry, representing a potential re-platforming of how news is communicated. The conversation suggests that traditional models of distributing content need to evolve from text-based delivery to more dynamic, human-like interactions facilitated by AI. Publishers are encouraged to embrace AI tools that can enhance engagement and offer audiences innovative content experiences. Ultimately, this shift requires a fundamental reevaluation of business models to ensure sustainability and relevance in a rapidly changing digital landscape.
In this Episode, host Alan Chapell talks about the historical and existential challenges being faced by the news publishing industry with journalist and tech entrepreneur Ricky Sutton of the Future Media newsletter and podcast. They discuss what publishers need to be thinking about as they combat big tech. Tl:dr - robust antitrust enforcement is only step one.