Earned Media: From Masthead to Models
Journalism is in perma-crisis — and this time AI is the new middleman. Audiences bypass outlets entirely while global trust in news sits at 40%. Earned media isn't dying; it's decentralising.
of all news searches on Google now end without a click through to a news website.
of people now consume social video news, up from 52% in 2020.
of publishers are actively investing in AI, particularly in editorial functions.
What this module covers
Every section in the 29-page module, in order.
- What is journalism and earned media in 2025?
- Trust limbo: How low can it go?
- FROM AConcentrated orbit We’ve moved from using traditional tactics to reach audience…
- Publishers are investing in AI platforms, social & direct
- Nearly all major news websites lost traffic this year
- General search referral traffic to websites dropped 6.7% YOY, a fall of 800M searches.…
- 95% of LLM citations are nonpaid media
- While prompt intent changes source mix …Corporate blogs/content & journalism still lead
- CONTENT PARTNERSHIPSThe Story Extender
- Although AI news is the future, social news is now
- YouTube & TikTok: Major news platforms
- Many legacy outlets are now essentially social-first
- Modern journalists are also across many socials
- Google search trend for Substack since 2020
- Journopreneurs are creating social, newsletter & podcast ecosystems
- We. launched Microsoft’s new media program at its largest conference of the year
- News Corp AustraliaIn 2025, it rolled out the proprietary NewsGPT , a generative AI a…
- Some media are conflicted on embracing AI
- Younger, AI-native journalists are more bullish
- Regardless, AI is transforming the audience experience
- Publishers are building their own AI news chatbots56% said they would be looking into…
- Media doing their part to fight disinformation
- More publishers are launching AI avatars
- While others zag back toward print
- Summary and brand recommendations
Preview the first 6 slides
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From a concentrated orbit to a constellation
Influence has decentralised across paid, owned, earned and partnered stars — exec social, creators, newsletters, GEO, employee voices. Nearly all major news websites lost traffic this year; Substack was the only one with double-digit growth (+46.9%). Google AI Overviews now trigger for 18% of all searches, and users are 10% more likely to end their session after seeing one.
The content solar system for AI search
Your brand website is the official information repository — the gravity centre of LLM-indexable facts, figures, quotes and POVs. Around it: earned media as the validation engine, exec comms as the credibility layer, social as the organic driver, inbox/DMs as the direct line, community amplifiers as the organic multiplier, content partnerships as the story extender, and paid as the discovery engine.
Social news is now; AI news is next
Social and video networks have passed TV as Americans' top news source; 50%+ use YouTube for news weekly in India, Thailand, the Philippines and South Korea. Legacy outlets are going social-first — ABS-CBN halted traditional broadcast for digital; The Straits Times' TikTok explainers pull millions of views; Reuters' first social-video reporter has more than tripled TikTok followers since January.
The journopreneur economy
~40% of APAC journalists are actively publishing on or considering Substack, and ex-newsroom stars like Ravish Kumar (~23M combined followers) are building social-newsletter-podcast ecosystems. The inbox is the new front page — and PR outreach must become DMs, voice notes, personalised video pitches and community AMAs.
AI newsrooms, avatars — and the print zag
87% of publishers say newsrooms are being transformed by GenAI: News Corp's internal NewsGPT, Rappler's Rai chatbot, Star Malaysia's Thelma Therapist, GMA's AI sports anchors, and Hangzhou TV's first fully AI-hosted broadcast. Meanwhile The Atlantic and ELLE Australia are expanding print — harder to AI-fake, easier to value — and Japan and India's print circulations remain the world's largest.
Our recommendations
- Custom outreach for new media — platform-native press kits: audio soundbites, memeable assets, carousels, b-roll and low-fi clips, not just press releases.
- Get ahead of AI search — GEO and LLM-friendly content ecosystems; schema, FAQs, original data and clarity to surface in AI newsfeeds.
- Make no assumptions about audiences — take fresh stock of channel and format preferences, free from legacy KPIs and budgets.
Frequently asked
What is zero-click search doing to earned media?
69% of news searches on Google now end without a click through to a news website. Google AI Overviews trigger on 18% of all searches, and users are 10% more likely to end their session after seeing one.
How do brands get cited by AI search engines?
95% of LLM citations are non-paid media, so citations follow earned authority: authoritative sources, clear entity language, structured storytelling and recurrence across trusted sources.
Is print media actually growing again?
Selectively. The Atlantic and ELLE Australia are expanding print because it is harder to fake with AI and easier to value, and Japan and India still have the world's largest print circulations.