News Publishers See Significant ROI โfrom AI โImplementation, New โReportโ Reveals
Dรผsseldorf, โGermany – A โฃnew reportโฃ from WAN-IFRA details how news publishers globally areโค realizing tangible value from artificial intelligence (AI) implementation, ranging from substantial revenue increases to streamlined โworkflows and expandedโข audience reach. Theโค “Publishers’ Perspective on the AI Value Equation,” WAN-IFRA’sโ 6th report on the โtopic,showcasesโค diverseโ applications of AI across โnewsrooms,demonstrating โคits potential toโ both enhanceโฃ journalistic efforts and bolster business performance.
Theโข report highlights aโข spectrum of successes, categorized by โ”hard” โฃand “soft” ROI. Several โคpublishers have alreadyโฃ seen significant โfinancial gains.โ Such as, The Sydney morning Herald in Australia experienced a โฃ75 percent lift in front-page subscription sales through real-time personalization.United Daily News in Taiwan achieved 200 percent โฃgrowth in ad performance, subscription conversions, and engagement through AI-drivenโ ad optimization, curation, and โrecommendations. Asiaone โ in Singapore boosted revenue by 20 percent โand reduced sales staff by 40โฃ percent withโ an AI classification model improving ad targeting.
Beyond revenue, โAI is also improving operational efficiency. South Chinaโค Morning Post in Hong Kong is saving over 300โข hours monthly using AI for โขsummarization, editing, translation,โ and investigative work.Legit.ng in Nigeria halved translation timesโฃ and expanded its โฃHausa-language coverage, while also improving fact-checking and distribution.
The report also details applications focused on enhancing journalistic capabilities. The Financial Times‘ โคStoryfinding team utilizes AI to identify patterns in large datasets, supporting investigative journalism. La โขNaciรณn in โฃArgentina 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 โaudience reach.
large publishers are also making enterprise-wide investments. Gannett, parent company ofโ USA Today, is embedding โAIโ across its 200-plus publications, focusing on โขworkflow integration,โ training,โ and new tools.โข
“For us, AI is โคnot about replacing journalists – it’s about giving them more time to do real journalism,” said โRahaman Abiola, Editor-in-Chief of legit.ng. Jessicaโข Davis, Vice President ofโข 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 canโฃ inquireโฃ about access โby emailing WAN-IFRA customer service at cic@wan-ifra.org.
