My Media and Journalism Predictions for 2026

It was a breezy start to the day as I looked across the horizon into the future. Thanks Gemini

Each year I wait to get a call from Niemanlab, but I never do. So to ease the disappointment I have forthwith detailed my SEO, media and journalism predictions for 2026.

Newsrooms will enlist more creators

Even though newsrooms across the world are engaging more with creators, in some sectors it’s still rather piecemeal. Some argue that although creators might be great at promoting themselves, they struggle promoting brands. Personally, I think this view is a bit short-sighted - a creator is an algorithm specialist after all, so let’s learn from them.

As we know, more and more audiences are becoming less media literate, and as an industry, we are notoriously bad at communicating the value of our journalism*. So let’s gather around independent news creators who are out there trying to filter the noise for their audience.

You can find found plenty of great news creator examples over at Project C. Remember, the number of people who identify as creators will jump from 67 million to 107 million by 2030 - so this will be an essential move for newsrooms in 2026.

Side Note: Journalists will be encouraged to invest more in their own personal brand in 2026 which I can only see benefiting their newsroom.

Publishers launch more vertical video Hubs

I've seen a certain amount of backlash about NYT and Newsday launching their own on-site vertical video platforms. Some have asked why on earth would you do this when self-hosted video hubs are notorious for becoming 'content graveyards.' I think it's all about how you surface these videos to the audience outside of the hub itself. If you're trying to grab readers away from TikTok then that's never going to happen, but if you want to try and create that 'scroll deep' experience to boost engagement, this tactic seems like a no-brainer.

More brands will swing towards UPVs

I wonder how long page views will reman as a primary metric as the revenues generated by display ads continue to fall. Surely, the more rewarding metric is loyalty defined by how many pages an individual consumes per visit? Once this is established, you can really drill into conversion journeys. Things get even more interesting when you segment your audience into loyal/casual/new users and analyse the different content they consume.

Podcast will continue its ascension

Podcast listening continues its meteoric rise and, speaking with marketing specialists, more brands are moving into this sector than ever before. I’m not surprised, considering the ease of using some tools like Riverside and Captivate. I’ve also decided to jump into this space with my good pal Barry Adams - more on this very shortly.

More exclusive video will go behind paywalls

I think more publishers will follow the Economist example of putting more of their exclusive videos behind a paywall. However, the trick in 2026 will be to create a greater sense of FOMO - you should be offering a window for your potential subscribers to view SOME of the exclusive content but then make them feel a tangible sense of loss when they don't have access to the full experience.

Also - shooting exclusive newsroom planning discussions are all very well and good, but it’s only really going to scale when talent is invited into that discussion. Like, do we really need to know what Alan Carr thinks of the state of UK politics? Probably not, but it would make GREAT VIEWING. More homepages will become AI generated Ok, well let's wait and see how this unfolds for Newsweek. Sounds like an interesting adventure.

AI Search Optimisation will become clearer

Whatever you want to call it - LLMO, GEO, AEO, AIO or just plain SEO - you have to admit communication around this area of expertise has been a mess. I think that’s down to two basic things - working out how LLMs work is complex by nature and whenever there's a certain amount of confusion it opens the doors for some businesses to take advantage of the situation.

The industry reaction to AI Search Optimisation to date could be described thus-ly:

• Hell nah, where is our Google traffic?
  

• Great! There some new Ai Search visibility tools that can help us with the loss of referrals!
  

• Wait a minute, we're not getting more than 1% referral traffic from these damn AI machines. Why I oughta...
  

• Ok, it looks like the landscape has reset. Let's work on our USP and BRAND and double down on activity that is likely to CONVERT
  

In 2026, I think the industry will more or less agree that both SEO and LLM optimisation activities can live happily together. And as I say, I also think the HYPE BUBBLE will eventually burst as investors realise that AI search answers are never going to replace lost Google referrals, and that the more urgent activity should be….

A renewed focus on BRAND

I once asked my editorial team what they would write if they had no targets and the sense of relief was palpable as they proceeded to list some truly great ideas. As it turned out these features performed extremely well across all metrics. Targets and originality can definitely co-exist but sometimes teams might feel they should continue with the tried and tested in order to hit that monthly figure. As Google referral challenges continue, I wonder how many brands will step back and rethink how to inspire their teams when working in such uncertain conditions. Which brings us to…

Good Leadership will blossom

I’ve been fortunate to have had some great managers in the past and when I think about their qualities I think:

• They always dedicated time to me no matter how busy the business was

• They always encouraged me to ‘stick my head above the parapet’ and focus on my personal branding

• They always encouraged me to ‘slow down to the speed of thought’ and asked me to question my assumptions

• They led by example

• I always felt valued
  

And I think that last point is critical. We are living both politically and digitally in uncertain times so this is the time for great leadership to shine. In a way I think general people skills will become even more important as AI becomes a greater part of our working lives.

Let's not forget: nurturing strong leaders in our newsrooms is just as important as developing the technology to engage our audience.

Pretty soon, people won't care if it's AI or not. Recently this little gem entered my life. I'm sorry to say that I've still not verified if it's AI or not (someone put me out of my misery). But what I did notice, looking at the comments, is actually a lot of people didn't really care either way. Which means, as we all know, AI unreality is only going to intensify in 2026. Some people might currently object to AI generated videos, but I think they will soon become the minority.

The question to ask in 2026 is, how will your journalism insert itself within this new morality?

AI Regulation - but when?

Lastly, August 2nd 2026 will be a key date as the EU AI act kicks in, requiring tech firms to take more responsibility for AI hallucinations, deep fakes etc. The issue here is that the Act is principles based and doesn't really outline specifically what companies actually need to do in this area. Based on the fact that this August date has already been challenged and may be rescheduled even later PLUS there's no clear guidance on the specifics I think we can expect AI confusion in our feeds to rapidly accelerate. Watermarking AI-generated content is obviously the way forward, but even this seems to have hit a brick wall.

So, although regulation and compliance will be key themes when it comes to AI misinformation in 2026 - there will be delays in anyone actually doing anything about it.

I thank you.

*Actually, I lied. There are newsrooms that are doing some great stuff in this area. I thought this effort by The Observer was spot on because it 'tackles' the main objection to (sports) journalism i.e. Why should I read your stuff when I can get it all on TikTok? PS. I've seen just how therapeutic surfing can be for kids and The Wave Project is a truly fantastic organisation doing some great things. They have a campaign that allows your donations to go further. Find out more about their Big Give project here.