In a recent report, Press Gazette highlights the potential demise of ad-funded journalism on the open web due to Google’s plans to disable third-party cookies on Chrome. This move has sparked concerns about the sustainability of revenue streams for publishers, a problem exacerbated by years of over-dependence on digital giants like Google and Facebook.

Around two decades ago, industry experts warned against blindly embracing digital platforms without considering the long-term consequences. The president of the World Association of Newspapers, Gavin O’Reilly, in 2004, cautioned that search engines were redirecting their strategic efforts toward traditional content originators, siphoning profits from newspaper publishers. This warning, given around the time of Facebook’s launch and Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of Myspace, seems eerily prescient in hindsight.

The over-reliance on digital titans has adversely affected publishers on two significant fronts: a direct loss of advertising revenue and a diminishing control over reader relationships.

The traditional value chain involving advertisers, agencies, and media houses has evolved with the introduction of transaction intermediaries like Google’s Double Click.

These intermediaries often take substantial cuts of the original ad spend, exceeding 50%, leading to a dilution of revenue for publishers.

Publishers have ceded control over reader relationships as a considerable portion of news brand traffic is directed from digital platforms.

The presence of publisher content within the pages of digital titans further diminishes the publisher’s control over the reader experience.

The dynamics of reading behavior have shifted significantly, complicating the publisher’s ability to build and maintain a daily audience. While print readership remains robust, the digital landscape introduces complexities in audience measurement. The opportunity for publishers to capitalize on their wider reader pool for building a daily audience exists, but only if they regain control, which has been lost in the digital milieu.

Editors and their teams must dedicate more attention to addressing these challenges rather than opting for seemingly attractive partnerships with digital giants.

Publishers can adopt strategies to regain control of their audiences and content distribution.

Initiatives like Reach’s “Three Pillars” vision, which focuses on collecting reader data directly, contextualizing advertising, and bypassing intermediaries, present a potential solution.

Publishers can leverage their resilience to develop direct relationships with readers, reducing dependence on third-party platforms.

Direct engagement allows for a more flexible introduction of access-pricing offers and better control over the advertising value chain.

As the digital landscape evolves and Google rethinks its approach to third-party cookies, publishers face a pivotal choice. They can either passively witness further erosion of revenue streams or actively shape a new future by reclaiming control over direct value streams. The path to a sustainable future for ad-funded journalism lies in publishers’ ability to influence and innovate, moving away from the shackles of over-dependence on external platforms.