The next phase will not be defined by a single format change, but by a structural shift in how consumers find information across multiple formats and make buying decisions.

We’ve been fortunate enough to speak to industry leaders across the UK publishing industry and get their advice!

Our podcast, OnBD with ALF, is hosted by Amanda Rosevear, General Manager at  ALF Insight. Recent guests include:

• Charlie Celino, Commercial Services Director, News UK
• James Walmsley, Ad Director, Immediate Media
• Rob Biagioni, CEO, Time Out

Building on their insight, we take a look at the key shifts underway and offer practical advice for those in the media, publishing and advertising industry.

Multi-Platform Strategy

As the audience journey continues to diversify, media owners are expected to exist everywhere an audience does – online, social media, email, apps, YouTube, podcasts, live events and more!

This is essentially a risk-management strategy as much as a growth strategy. It spreads revenue exposure across multiple discovery channels and multiple advertiser budgets.

“A fully rounded offering where people are driven to engage not only in print, but on digital, through social, through commerce opportunities, through events. - We've worked very hard to bring it all together to drive more value for the brand to encourage more subs and it is working.” James Walmsley, Ad Director, Immediate Media

The next major shift – AI and agentic buying

With AI-driven discovery, the way people are finding information is changing, and this is having major impacts on publishers.

Audiences are increasingly served answers, summaries and recommendations directly within search engines and social platforms, rather than being sent on to publishers’ sites.

“6/10 searches on Google don’t result in a click”. Rob Biagioni, CEO, Time Out

With that in mind, it is more important than ever to strengthen your relationship with your audience, on the platforms where they are engaging with you. Time Out showcases another brilliant example of this with Time Out Loud. Rob describes it as a global community that helps steer both content strategy and commercial direction for the business, whilst offering incentives to the users. Win win!

As consumers turn to AI for answers, agentic buying is becoming more prevalent. Ben Fox Rubin, VP at Mastercard says “The next step in AI’s development is agentic AI, which goes further by taking complex requests and then reasoning, planning and acting autonomously on a user’s behalf.”

In response to agentic buying, News UK has been taking proactive action to prepare for this upcoming shift, and Charlie shares its strategy:

“I think there always will remain, of course, a human-layered or human-involved approach to media.” – “But fundamentally, we know agentic planning and buying is there.”  - “How do we get our whole entire infrastructure, whether that be our data infrastructure or whether that actually be our buying and planning infrastructure in a place that when that switch needs to be switched on, we're ready.” Charlie Celino, Commercial Services Director, News UK

 

2026 MEDIA CONSUMPTION TRENDS

It is no surprise that an increasing number of advertisers are embracing AI in content production - “83% of ad executives now say their company has deployed AI in the creative process, up from 60% in the 2024 study.” (Interactive Advertising Bureau).

“Advertisers in the IAB/Sonata Insights study are most likely to use AI for ads in social media (85%) or display (73%), while 56% use it for TV ads and 42% for audio ads.”

It is important to note that consumers are less likely to associate positive attributes with AI-generated content. Whilst the temptation is there to increase efficiency, scalability and cut creative costs, there are risks worth considering!

Video: from “nice to have” to “must-win capability” 

In the UK, video consumption has steadily expanded across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels, broadcaster streamers, FAST channels and publisher-owned video products. Video is becoming the dominant format for many demographics. It is attention-grabbing and can encapsulate brand identity, making it the preferred storytelling medium. Charlie Celino at News UK stated that video is going to continue to be “an absolute must”.

AI can massively increase the speed and volume of video production, but it also creates a substantial risk for publishers: trust dilution. If feeds are flooded with synthetic and repetitive content, audiences quickly tune out!

Key Takeaway: Treat AI as a production assistant, not a creative director!

Audio: podcasts move from “brand extension” to “core IP”

Podcasts were niche 20 years ago. Now they are mainstream, and for many publisher brands they represent one of the most effective ways to build habit, intimacy and direct attention.

Podcasts offer publishers several strategic advantages:

• A direct channel not dependent on search clicks.
• High-trust environments where hosts build parasocial connections.
• Premium advertising opportunities including host reads, sponsorship, branded series and contextual segments.
• Podcasts can also become franchises - live shows, newsletters, community tiers, books, video clips, licensing.
• From a commercial standpoint, they allow publishers to deliver what many advertisers now prioritise: attention, trust, brand lift and mental availability rather than cheap reach.

A key reason podcasts resonate is the relative creative freedom compared to heavily constrained social formats. Publishers can express tone, depth and point-of-view, critical in a market where generic AI summaries risk flattening everything into the same voice. 

Key Takeaway: In a market saturated with AI-generated content, consumers are hungry for content that offers a more intimate human connection = podcasts!

Wearables and smart glasses: publishers can’t ignore

Wearables have come in waves. Early smart glasses (e.g., Google Glass-era products) were first announced in 2012, but there were too expensive and not very stylish, so the public didn’t buy into them. But now smart glasses have:

• More capable mobile devices and chips
• Better connectivity
• Improved design
• Generative AI, enabling natural multi-modal interfaces

If/when smart glasses become popular or even mainstream, companies should start preparing for them as they will represent another strategic shift. With smart glasses, content is not visited; it is overlaid.

“But I do think the way that we consume news is fundamentally going to change. - And I do think that that will be some sort of wearable to some extent.” Charlie Celino, News UK

3 shifts are likely to matter for publisher monetisation:

• Gaze-based engagement

Eye tracking becomes a proxy for attention. “The new click” may be what the user looks at, for how long, and in what context. This will challenge today’s metrics and require new standards for measurement and privacy.

• Environmental anchoring

Ads and content become location and context aware. Information may appear when a user enters a specific area (e.g., near a venue, store, landmark). That is powerful for city guides, lifestyle publishers and commerce-driven media.

• Persistent experiences

Wearables enable ambient experiences rather than interruptive placements. The creative opportunity shifts from banners to utilities: guides, assistants, overlays, contextual prompts.

Key Takeaway: The line between helpful and intrusive will be thin. Brands and publishers will need clear user control, privacy-by-design thinking, and strict relevance rules. If wearable ads feel invasive, consumer trust will suffer.

Experiences: the “human” counterweight to AI content saturation

As digital content becomes easier and cheaper to generate, the value of real-world scarcity increases. That is why experiential strategies, while not new, are becoming newly strategic.

In an AI-heavy environment, publishers can differentiate through:

• Embodied brand moments (events, pop-ups, festivals, live recordings)
• Community belonging
• Credibility through lived experience

For example, Time Out has built a globally recognised experiential model through Time Out Market, bringing food, culture and curation into a physical space. For publishers, this demonstrates a core principle, a media brand can become a venue, not just a channel.

The strategic value is multi-layered:

• A revenue line beyond advertising (leases, partnerships, ticketing, sponsorship)
• A content engine (always-on stories, videos, social moments)
• A brand proof-point (“we curate the best of the city - and you can taste it”)
• A commercial platform for partner integration in a premium environment

Even for publishers without the scale to build permanent venues, the logic translates into smaller activations: editorial-led events, subscriber experiences, brand-sponsored workshops, live podcast shows and community meetups.

A practical adaptation playbook 

1) Shift KPIs from “traffic” to “relationship” 

Clicks become less reliable as the unit of value. Measure growth in known audience, repeat usage, newsletter engagement, podcast followers, membership conversion, event attendance and community participation, not just sessions.

2) Build an audience understanding engine 

Create a structured framework like a panel, community or membership tier that captures your audience’s preferences. Use it to steer both editorial content and commercial strategy.

3) Treat video and audio as IP, not outputs 

Commission series, develop formats, build talent and create reusable franchises. Design distribution intentionally: what lives on-platform vs what is owned-and-operated.

4) Use AI to increase quality and efficiency, without losing trust 

Adopt AI for workflows (research support, metadata, translations, clipping, versioning) but maintain human editorial accountability.

5) Create channel-native content 

Don’t rehash. Curate your content with each platform in mind - website, newsletter, TikTok, YouTube, podcast, event stage and (eventually) wearables.

6) Invest early in “wearable logic,” even if adoption is uncertain 

Start thinking in overlays, utility, and context aware formats, especially for those operating in the local, lifestyle, travel, retail and entertainment sectors.

7) Grow experiences to defend brand authenticity 

In-person and hybrid experiences can become the proof of legitimacy that AI cannot replicate

8) Prepare now for agentic buying

Be proactive and get ready for the next shift in AI. Audit and upgrade your infrastructure so you’re ready to “switch on” agentic workflows quickly when adoption accelerates.

Recommended listening: OnBDwithALF

If you’re looking for more practical insight from leaders in the media space actively navigating these changes, the OnBD with ALF Podcast is a valuable resource! Click here to listen to the podcast and hear more!