Media Briefing: Publishers are replacing Google with a little bit of everything

The search exit strategy

Publishers know they need to become less dependent on Google. Figuring out what replaces it is proving to be much harder.

This earnings season offered a glimpse into what publishing businesses might look like when not relying on search traffic: The New York Times is betting on video, News Corp is leaning on subscriptions and B2B products, BuzzFeed is cutting costs and adopting a more flexible contributor model, and People Inc., USA Today Co. and Ziff Davis are cultivating audiences across social, video, newsletters and other channels.

But these alternatives are still developing, and several publishers remain too reliant on Google to walk away from it today. The emerging post-Google playbook is shaping up to be less about finding a Google replacement, and more about building a publishing business…