This Media Briefing covers the latest in media trends for Digiday+ members and is distributed over email every Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. More from the series →This week’s Media Briefing looks into the emerging vibe shift in AI search: execs are sensing that trust, authority and established brands in LLMs are becoming key advantages for premium publishers.
Publishing execs are sensing a vibe shift in the AI era: LLMs are rewarding authoritative, trusted content, and this may be putting some power back into the hands of publishers.
There’s a growing perception that brand trust and editorial authority are becoming competitive advantages in AI search, with LLMs often surfacing established news brands. It was a hot topic at Cannes – some execs returned from the French Riviera sensing the winds were changing in their favor.
“People don’t trust AI. Marketers have had their fingers burned, and everyone has their personal experience of AI systems lying to them. In contrast, brands are a byword for trust. Trusted brands will continue to play a bigger role in the future,” Jon Roberts, chief innovation officer at People Inc., told Digiday after Cannes.
David Rubin, chief brand and communications officer of The New York Times Company and publisher of Wirecutter, said he was seeing the media and marketing industry agree at Cannes that in the AI world, “trust is likely to matter more than ever and be elusive and hard-won.”
