Edition #500
Facebook has creators backs again, Substacks secret weapon & more AI summaries.
In 2014 I wrote on my personal blog about a year of health and wellbeing. And that year was pivotal, but it also really was the start of a decade of continuing to improve on health & fitness.
That year we also started a newsletter called This Week in Native Ads. And I know some readers will remember that! As you’ve come along for the journey.
In fitness, it takes about 500 reps to get anywhere and maybe it’s the same in newsletters. Many readers have gone from Account Managers to C suite in this time, or exited multiple companies, been around the world and back. Delivered their best work, been at the forefront of change.
That’s been neat, to be part of your journeys (the best part really). And we also have evolved over time. We’ve broadened, and elevated the conversation, but still try to provide that balance across the industry, and highlight the stories that were overlooked. Relevant data, commentary and the deals shaping the industry.
But so it’s with delight to celebrate 500 editions! Thank you for reading. And now’s a good time as any, if you enjoy this newsletter to forward on to friends, it’s the best way for them to discover it.
Back to this week, NotebookLM surprised (me) not long ago with their usage numbers. And with this weeks launch of featured notebooks, it’s starting to make sense. In essence they’re encouraging folks to build trusted repositories of information, that we can then all go query. A safe place for a corpus of knowledge.
Read the full announcement here.
And with publishers hurt by the initial advances in AI, this presents another opportunity for them to build new products, off the top of the tools.
Imagine a ‘Tariffs Notebook’ with all the historical information, as written in-situ, about previous tariffs. Or say Time Inc with their new Longevity outlet, a Longevity notebook (in fact there is a Longevity one above).
As more evidence and examples of the business opportunities created by AI, the fear will quieten down.
Notable stories this week
- Suspected AI Content Halves Reader Trust and Hurts Ad Performance.
- Facebook moves to restrict the reach of unoriginal content.
- Google Discover adds AI summaries, threatening publisher with further traffic declines.
- Substack.com got more traffic than the Wall Street Journal and CBS News in June.
- Fox News to license “Ruthless” podcast as part of digital expansion.
- Media companies enter AI race with their own chatbots.
- Substack’s Secret Weapon.
- Rebuffed by Chrome, Perplexity Launches AI Browser Comet, OpenAI Reportedly Prepares Its Own.
- Try featured notebooks on selected topics in NotebookLM.
- How the Time AI Audio Brief was built.
- Gaming’s ad dilemma.
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