Five Signals from the Shifting Media Landscape: Search, Personalization, and Project Management

Google Searches on Safari Declined, but Overall Searches Are Growing

Platformer, Stats from a dying web

Last month, Google searches in Safari declined for the first time in 22 years. Apple’s Eddy Cue attributes the drop to AI tools increasingly becoming users’ first stop for answers. But while Safari searches may be down, total search queries are still growing, just not always from where they used to.

Google’s AI-powered tools like Lens and voice search are driving query growth, even as traditional link-based discovery declines. The real issue isn’t fewer searches, it’s fewer clicks to publisher sites, with AI overviews slashing referral traffic by up to 80%. As AI reshapes user habits, publishers face a future where visibility doesn’t always mean traffic.

What an AI News Experiment Revealed About Journalism’s Blind Spots

Baekdal, The problem with ranking news by relevance

Baekdal’s five-month AI experiment, designed to rank news by personal relevance using impact, immediacy, and proximity, revealed deep flaws in applying algorithmic logic to editorial judgment.

While the system made news feel more tailored, it consistently undervalued investigative journalism, such as DR’s exposé on illegal soil dumping: “This is the type of journalism that the AI relevancy ranker completely misses.” High-volume stories like Trump’s trade war also broke the model, either flooding the feed or fragmenting coverage to the point of irrelevance.

Most content scored poorly; Baekdal noted, “Most articles scored between 2 and 4 in relevance,” leaving some days with zero standout stories. Attempts to adjust visual weighting didn’t help: “If the problem is that your journalism isn’t relevant enough, just lowering your standards isn’t the way to fix that.”

How Die Zeit Engineered a Media Empire

Press Gazette, How business behind German newspaper of record Die Zeit went ‘from misery to paradise’

Die Zeit has transformed from a struggling newspaper into a €311m media ecosystem by prioritizing editorial investment, innovation, and audience trust. Under CEO Dr Rainer Esser, the German weekly scaled digital subscriptions, expanded into podcasts and games, and now sells more copies than ever.

Esser’s five guiding principles—innovation, corporate culture, investment, a culture of failure, and talent—have helped the brand grow its editorial team sixfold and monthly reach to 20 million people in Germany.

Details:

• Revenue grew from €74m in 1999 to €311m in 2024.
• Digital subscriptions now make up 60% of total subs.
• Die Zeit produces 27 podcasts, with 20 million monthly downloads.
• The title has launched 19 magazines, 130+ events, and new verticals including games and cooking.
• Inspired by The New York Times, it is building a bundle strategy to reach 1.2 million subscribers.

The Economist Gets Personal

Media Voices, Why The Economist is making its podcasts and newsletters more personal

The Economist is shifting from its trademark anonymous reporting style to a more personality-driven approach in podcasts and newsletters. With the rebadged Bartleby column now Boss Class, and a companion newsletter featuring named bylines and direct audience engagement, the publisher is rethinking how to connect with modern audiences.

As Boss Class enters its second season, the first season will be temporarily available outside the paywall to aid discovery—an ongoing challenge since the publisher moved its podcasts behind a paywall in 2023. “There is no other way to form a community,” says columnist Andrew Palmer, “so if you find your place and your person, it’s really powerful.”

This shift reflects a broader recognition: successful podcasts and newsletters thrive on personality, and even legacy brands must adapt to meet audiences where they are and how they listen.

When Journalists Become Product Managers

The Audiencers, Alban Mazrekaj: bridging newsroom and product at NZZ

At Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), a new Editorial Product Development team is bridging the gap between journalism and product strategy by embedding journalists into product roles. This hybrid approach empowers the newsroom while aligning content workflows with audience and business goals.

By having editorial-minded product managers spend part of their week in the newsroom, NZZ accelerates innovation without compromising editorial values. “If we want to build truly impactful media products, we must start by understanding and supporting the people who bring the stories to life every day,” says Alban Mazrekaj, Editorial Product Development Team Lead at NZZ.