• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, February 24, 2025

Publishers have hit upon at least one formula for driving growth: more content, judging by a new study from the Association of Online Publishers (AOP): Digital Publishing: Outlook and Priorities For 2025. 

Of the companies polled, 52% plan to increase their content output. That means more work for freelancers and in-house staff, and hopefully fewer layoffs of editorial personnel.

But even more, some 66%, are “exploring ways to increase revenue from advertisers (e.g. sharing more insights with readers),” the study notes.  

In addition, 40% of publishers are going to change the type of content they offer and 34% plan to introduce a paywall to boost revenue. 

Looking toward the next three years, most see growth coming from subscriptions (50%), branded content (45%), first party data sales (45%) and audio podcasts, internet and radio (38%). Another 36% cite ecommerce.  

(Here's one caveat: this is a UK survey. The results would probably hold up in the U.S., given other studies that have been done.) 

Meanwhile, many are also exploring AI, although growth is flat—from 76% last year to 77% in 2025. 

Otherwise, the numbers have gone down in some areas. For instance, 63% says their product team is looking at innovative uses for generative AI, versus 70% in 2024. 

And 47% report their editorial team is receiving training and defining polices for the use of AI, down from 55% last year. But there is a 42% increase in legal teams seeking ways to protect their firm’s IP and to fight the threat of large language models training on their content.  

The AOP surveyed 120 professionals, 78% of whom are with  publishers and 22% with solutions providers.