News Publishers See Significant ROI from AI Implementation, New Report Reveals
Düsseldorf, Germany – A new report from WAN-IFRA details how news publishers globally are realizing tangible value from artificial intelligence (AI) implementation, ranging from substantial revenue increases to streamlined workflows and expanded audience reach. The “Publishers’ Perspective on the AI Value Equation,” WAN-IFRA’s 6th report on the topic,showcases diverse applications of AI across newsrooms,demonstrating its potential to both enhance journalistic efforts and bolster business performance.
The report highlights a spectrum of successes, categorized by ”hard” and “soft” ROI. Several publishers have already seen significant financial gains. Such as, The Sydney morning Herald in Australia experienced a 75 percent lift in front-page subscription sales through real-time personalization.United Daily News in Taiwan achieved 200 percent growth in ad performance, subscription conversions, and engagement through AI-driven ad optimization, curation, and recommendations. Asiaone in Singapore boosted revenue by 20 percent and reduced sales staff by 40 percent with an AI classification model improving ad targeting.
Beyond revenue, AI is also improving operational efficiency. South China Morning Post in Hong Kong is saving over 300 hours monthly using AI for summarization, editing, translation, and investigative work.Legit.ng in Nigeria halved translation times and expanded its Hausa-language coverage, while also improving fact-checking and distribution.
The report also details applications focused on enhancing journalistic capabilities. The Financial Times‘ Storyfinding team utilizes AI to identify patterns in large datasets, supporting investigative journalism. La Nación in Argentina employed a custom AI pipeline to analyze the speeches of President Javier Milei, tracking rhetorical patterns. NTM in Sweden launched Toppnyheter, an AI-powered audio news service extending editorial oversight and audience reach.
large publishers are also making enterprise-wide investments. Gannett, parent company of USA Today, is embedding AI across its 200-plus publications, focusing on workflow integration, training, and new tools.
“For us, AI is not about replacing journalists – it’s about giving them more time to do real journalism,” said Rahaman Abiola, Editor-in-Chief of legit.ng. Jessica Davis, Vice President of News Automation and AI Product at Gannett, echoed this sentiment, stating, “The real risk isn’t AI replacing you. It’s someone using AI replacing you.”
WAN-IFRA members can download the report for free at https://www.wan-ifraknowledgehub.org/reports1/where-publishers-are-seeing-ai’s-real-value-%E2%80%93-so-far.non-members and trade press can inquire about access by emailing WAN-IFRA customer service at cic@wan-ifra.org.
