How News Organizations Can Reclaim Their Audience

In today’s fragmented digital landscape, publishers face significant challenges in maintaining audience engagement and loyalty. As we discussed in part one of this series, personalization plays a crucial role in boosting retention and delivering tailored experiences. In part two, we turn our attention to a major pitfall: over-reliance on third-party platforms. Here, we explore how news organizations can avoid this trap, adapt to the rapidly changing digital ecosystem, and regain control of their audience relationships for long-term success.

The Danger of Over-Reliance on Third-Party Platforms

Julie: What’s a common mistake publishers make with engagement strategies?

Brigette: The biggest mistake is relying too much on a single platform. We saw it with Instagram and Facebook years ago, and now with Discover. Anytime customers lean too hard on one platform, they get left behind. The landscape changes so quickly that by the time you’re up and running on one platform, you need to be thinking about the next one.

Too often, the reaction is, “We used to have good engagement on this platform—something broke, we need to fix it,” instead of realizing, “That platform’s dead—time to move on.” This mindset shift is crucial for news, broadcast—everything. Users move on, and you have to meet them where they are, not where you want them to be.

The best approach? Build direct relationships with your readers so you’re not at the mercy of someone else’s algorithm.

Julie: With growing concerns about over-reliance on third-party platforms, many publishers now regret how deeply they’ve invested in social media—where their hard-earned audiences are ultimately controlled by the platforms. Have you come across successful strategies for reclaiming or retaining those audiences?

Brigette: This ties back to personalization. It’s about getting people onto your site with one article and then keeping users there and feeding them content they’re interested in. A strong personalization engine is key.

The challenge is balancing brand positioning—establishing your brand as an expert while still engaging your audience’s diverse interests. You have to connect those parts of the experience—yes, I love puppies, but I also like recipes. Serve me both to keep me engaged on your site. And if I’m done with recipes, where do I go? It’s hard, but I think it’s achievable with the right content strategy.

Another strategy is driving traffic directly to your site. Tell people, “Skip Apple News or Google Discover—just come straight here.” But that requires building brand loyalty over time. That’s why a strong subscription strategy is crucial—you need people to instinctively come to you.

Optimizing mobile app experiences are the next big step. Instead of opening Instagram, we want users to open our customer’s mobile apps and browse them like a social media apps. The challenge is getting users to adopt that habit.

The Next Big Thing: Personalized Audio Experiences

Julie: What’s an exciting innovation in audience engagement?

Brigette: A great example is what our customer, The Irish Times, is doing with personalized audio experiences.

They recognized that a large portion of their audience consists of commuters, so they created a tailored experience for them. Users can select news articles of interest, and the platform uses text-to-speech technology to convert these articles into an audio feed.

This is where AI can make a real impact, curating personalized news rundowns based on user interests and delivering them in an engaging, easily consumable format. It’s designed to fit seamlessly into the commuter’s routine.

I’d love to see this idea evolve into a morning and evening briefing experience, where an AI engine automatically compiles stories that match a user’s preferences and reads them like a daily digest, giving listeners exactly what they want in the time they have.

Final Thoughts

Brigette: The digital media landscape is evolving quickly, but the core principles remain unchanged: meet your audience where they are, give them a reason to stay, and avoid building your business on borrowed land.

News organizations that succeed will focus on personalization, brand authority, and direct engagement. But it’s not just about great content—it’s about the tools that power it. Expertise, metadata, and the strategic integration of platforms like Arc XP with customer data platforms (CDPs) are key. When these elements work together, they create a seamless, fast, and engaging user experience. This combination is what will truly drive a compelling, personalized news environment that keeps audiences coming back for more.