Declining traffic and subscription losses. The impact of AI on publishers. The role of the CMS in streamlining publishing. Understanding “user intent.” Whether the home page is still relevant. 

These and other industry-wide concerns are making publishers rethink how their often-underfunded product development impacts ‌how they serve, attract, and keep customers. 

At the recent Media Product Forum in New York City—sponsored by WordPress VIP and The Rebooting—Bloomberg Media, the Daily Beast, Gannett, Hearst Newspapers, and others looked at ways product teams at publishers are rising to meet these challenges.

Here are the key takeaways for publishers. 

Put the user at the forefront of product development decisions, let the algorithms take care of themselves

Consumer behavior is fluid. Publishers need to be mindful of this, adapting their products to keep up and stay relevant. Understanding the audience and “user intent” and subsequently delivering value to them is crucial for publishers to survive and prosper.

At Bloomberg Media, the product team has adopted a user-centric POV—reading data and analytics to focus on user behavior, pain points, and needs. This guides their product development process across all the platforms their customers touch, from website and mobile to video products and audio newsletters.

And subsequently impacts the future of the business, driving revenue in the long term. 

“We see [the product team] as the central focal point of everything that the business is currently touching.”

— Marissa Zanetti, Head of Product, Bloomberg Media

Yes, relying on Google can also help uncover user motivation, even as changing algorithms force publishers to pivot and consider changing their product to adapt.

“You can leverage intent [using] an algorithm like Google, and understand why people are coming [to your site],” said Adam McClean, Chief Product Officer at Dotdash Meredith, adding a caveat. “But they [still] have to take an action. It’s not enough [for an audience] just to understand the latest news.”

In summary, when product offerings are aligned with user intent, publishers can monetize subsequent user actions as part of a more effective product model.

“We’re always taking a long-term view [that] if we focus on users and meeting their needs, the ups and downs of the algorithms are going to happen no matter what.”

—Adam McClean, Chief Product Officer, Dotdash Meredith

Look at CMS as part of product development, not a separate product on its own

Bloomberg product development closely collaborates with each newsroom, making sure that the front-end tools and workflows they design for them “make their lives easier.”

As such, the CMS is part of the product, not divorced from it.

“As a product team, we have to care for [the CMS] and think how we can make workflows and tools better for the newsroom.”

— Marissa Zanetti, Head of Product, Bloomberg Media

Focus on creating unique experiences for audiences, rather than building your own CMS

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, taking the collective technological eye off the main prize—engagement—by building another content management system in-house to edit headlines, build landing pages, or add photos to articles. 

“Just use WordPress for that,” came the refrain. 

Better to have product teams building engaging digital experiences by creating interactive websites that keep visitors activated, from the home page inward. 

Meanwhile, choose a CMS that helps people who don’t know how to change their websites without breaking them. This will free IT from the ongoing work of training those users. 

Treat the homepage as a product for your most engaged audience segments, not an afterthought

Don’t give short thrift to the humble home page in this website-centric, post-social, post-cookie world. It’s home base for your most valuable groups like subscribers, who spend a lot of time there. 

As publishers “leave the platforms behind,” the home page should be the central portal for loyalists to find new content, new experiences. 

“Build an experience for an audience that makes them seek you out. Skip all the gatekeepers that steal your content, steal your audience. Give people a reason to come straight to you and love you.” 

— Brian Alvey, CTO, WordPress VIP

Therefore, for maximum home page effectiveness, media organizations need to prioritize and staff it as such with those who can curate it, making it stickier and more useful. 

Don’t fear AI—it’s forcing publishers “to be better”

Contrary to a “the sky is falling” POV, AI isn’t undermining the publishing industry but compelling it to evolve and improve. For example, by providing performance-driven metadata suggestions, AI has the potential to accelerate the creative process by helping content creators make better, data-driven decisions to optimize their content.

Further, by integrating AI into workflows, publishers not only enhance productivity but also the creative journey and creative processes—”artificial creativity,” noted WordPress VIP CTO Brian Alvey.

But it’s a cautionary tale. 

Because AI has “leveled the playing field” in many industries, not just publishing, it’s more important than ever for brands to create unique user experiences that make them stand out from the crowd. And that means prioritizing content quality and audience satisfaction over sheer content volume.

“AI [isn’t] destroying publishing. It’s forcing us to be better.”

—Brian Alvey, CTO, WordPress VIP

Meanwhile, WordPress and WordPress VIP are baking in AI to help content creators produce more interesting content and drive more visitors to websites.

Coming features like “traffic boost” exemplify AI’s ability to enhance visibility and reader engagement by linking high-traffic stories with new content, thereby driving additional traffic.

The State of Product at Publishers

Another topic of conversation at the Media Product Forum was The Rebooting’s recent report Back to Basics: The State of Product at Publishers. 

In it, the researcher confirms that media executives are ditching flash and glitz in favor of business-aligned tools that drive content discovery and consistent engagement. Read their findings now.