This State of the Industry report, produced in partnership with Piano, explores how publishers are adopting AI on the business side of their organizations, specifically what applications they use, the challenges they encounter and the AI investments they’re prioritizing.AI tools are rapidly reshaping how media companies operate, from subscription marketing and ad sales to audience development and product management. Publishers are increasingly adopting AI across business functions tied to revenue, audience growth and operations.
A January 2026 report from Digiday+ Research found that publisher adoption of AI tools has more than doubled from 2022 to 2025, reflecting how quickly AI has become embedded in media companies’ workflows and operational strategies as it moves from an experimental role to a more central position in day-to-day workflows.In this new State of the Industry report, Digiday and Piano surveyed 80 publisher respondents to understand how publishers are adopting AI on the business side of their organizations — not in the newsroom, but across the teams responsible for revenue, audience growth and operations.
Even as AI adoption accelerates across the publishing industry, the findings show an industry still in transition. The majority of respondents to the Digiday and Piano survey (76%) said they are currently piloting or experimenting with AI on the business side of their organizations. At the same time, less than one-quarter of respondents (18%) said their organizations are actively deploying AI tools across multiple business functions, underscoring how early many publishers remain in their AI adoption journeys.Nevertheless, AI investment is increasing alongside adoption. Seventy-six percent of respondents said their organization’s investment in AI tools for business-side functions has increased moderately over the past 12 months, signaling that publishers are continuing to prioritize AI despite ongoing uncertainty around implementation, governance and ROI.
