Media Briefing: As Google traffic ebbs, some publishers see social platforms as real revenue lines 

Publishers bet on platforms again

Publishers once got burned by over-relying on social platforms for growing their reach and revenue. But now, they may need them again. As Google referral traffic declines and AI adoption grows, some publishers are chasing off-platform revenue and views to offset onsite audience and digital advertising losses.

The playbook is a familiar one reminiscent of the platform-publishing era of the 2010s, when publishers built businesses around Facebook in particular to drive scale, only to see distribution tank once tech companies deprioritized publishers’ content and wound down partnership programs and their funding. That ecosystem ultimately contributed to the downfall of publishers like BuzzFeed as we know it.

And yet, publishers like People Inc. and Ziff Davis touted their off-platform success to investors and analysts in Q1 earnings…