News publishers are fundamentally restructuring their revenue approaches, moving beyond traditional advertising and subscription models toward diversified, authority-based strategies.

Let’s have a look at a number of compelling examples of publishers successfully navigating the post-traffic era by evolving their business models in the larger sense, many of which lie outside the realm of news media.

Events-driven business transformation

• Bustle Digital Group’s events-first model: Bustle Digital Group is expecting its most profitable year, driven by events with Nylon. CEO Bryan Goldberg told Adweek: “Instead of being a Web site that publishes stories, we’re now basically an events company.” The company also launched an invite-only membership programme to complement its events strategy.
• Business Insider’s events and AI integration: Business Insider is investing heavily in events, video, and new products, including an AI-generated audio briefing, while simultaneously pulling back from areas sensitive to search traffic like SEO-driven commerce. CEO Barbara Peng noted that 70% of BI’s business “has some degree of traffic sensitivity,” prompting this strategic restructuring.

Platform, app, and community innovation

• People’s TikTok-like app: People launched a TikTok-like app in April with scrollable and swipeable original content, catering to fans of video-first mobile experiences over text-heavy articles. This represents a fundamental shift toward platform-native experiences designed for mobile-first consumption.
• BuzzFeed’s BF Island platform: BuzzFeed is creating its own social media platform called BF Island where users can play with interactive and AI-powered features. This represents a bold move to own the platform relationship rather than depend on external social media platforms.

• New York Magazine’s app launch: New York Magazine launched an app as part of industry-wide efforts to draw loyal users into more frequent habits, prioritising user engagement and dwell time over traffic volume.
• Refinery29’s site redesign: Refinery29 completed a recent redesign focused on building product experiences that prioritise user engagement, dwell time, and utility as search and social platforms become less reliable traffic sources.

Sports portfolio strategy

• The Athletic’s editorial investment: Since The New York Times Company’s 2022 acquisition, The Athletic has demonstrated significant investment in editorial teams covering F1, golf, tennis, cycling, and women’s sports. This broad appeal attracts both new subscribers and diverse advertisers, with 50% of NYT’s total subscription base now opting for multi-product bundles. 

Revenue diversification beyond traditional models

• Morning Brew’s marketing research division: Morning Brew formalised a new division focused on research insights for marketing, leveraging their 200,000-member Breakroom volunteer research panel. The four-person team has been operating “like a secret weapon” to win deals and now offers three revenue streams: upselling existing clients, attracting new clients through research as a gateway product, and providing insights to research firms and agencies. Behind-the-scenes research reports have influenced US$9 million in revenue since 2021, while the company expects 15%-20% revenue growth and 50% higher profitability this year.
• Newsweek’s subscription product expansion: Newsweek is launching multiple new subscription products and expanding non-advertising revenue sources specifically to hedge against search traffic losses. This represents a strategic pivot toward reader revenue independence from platform traffic.
• Lost In’s multi-format travel strategy: Travel publisher Lost In overhauled its business model in 12 months since acquisition, moving beyond a print-first approach to build a travel brand defined by premium books, short-form social video, influencer content, and live events. Now reaching 12+ million followers across platforms, it’s on track to cross US$1 million in advertising revenue. Their revenue mix: 70% advertising/branded partnerships, 20% book sales, 10% events. They plan to grow from six events this year to nearly 20 in 2025.
• Adweek’s intelligence platform evolution: Adweek is transforming into a marketing intelligence platform called Adweek 360, moving beyond traditional media toward a balanced 33-33-33 revenue mix. Currently generating 40%-50% revenue from media marketing services, 40% from events, and 10%-15% from subscriptions, the company cut 50% of print-related costs while investing in “investment grade” journalism. Their Madwell agency collapse coverage drove 12x subscription rates per article. Events business exceeded internal profitability estimates by 3x, and branded business is expected to grow 26% year-over-year.

Advanced metrics evolution

• Mail Metro Media’s attention-based metrics: Mail Metro Media’s Chief Commercial, Digital, and Strategy Officer Hannah Buitekant advocates “moving away from standard metrics like impressions into a world of attention and engagement across all platforms,” representing a fundamental shift in how publishers demonstrate value to advertisers. 

Authority-based content strategy

• The Logic’s exclusive journalism approach: The Logic focuses on creating stories that AI cannot summarise accurately. CEO David Skok emphasises: “If you’re writing stuff that is yours, exclusively yours, you cannot get anywhere else, and isn’t answered in just one pithy response from a chat engine, that’s how you’re going to win.” Their approach prioritises unique story assignments and exclusive reporting that differentiates them from AI-summarisable content.

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