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In less than a year, as generative artificial intelligence has grown from a fringe pursuit to an object of mainstream fascination, marketers have sought to capitalize on the fervor by creating campaigns that align their brands with the topic.
As a result, news publishers have seen an uptick in the number of requests for proposals (RFPs) from advertisers whose central theme is AI, according to interviews with six publishing executives.
At The Atlantic, inbound interest picked up in June, about six months after blue-chip tech brands first invested in the space, according to Alice McKown, the publisher and chief revenue officer of The Atlantic.
“We are excited about the AI space,” McKown said. “It feels momentous, and there are a lot of creative ways to tell its stories with partners.”
Financial publisher Fortune fields roughly one RFP per week related to the subject, while Bustle Digital Group says it has submitted a few dozen proposals involving generative AI.
To win the highly competitive business, publishers have employed a mix of more turnkey approaches—such as experiential offerings and editorial packages—with solutions whose innovation mirrors the spirit of AI itself, including bespoke generative bots, custom research and AI-generated narration.
Critically, the advent of AI has also brought about the return of formerly dormant technology budgets, a key source of revenue for many media companies.
Events and editorial alignment
At The Atlantic Festival later this month, the publisher has drawn up two sessions concerning AI, which found sponsors in Genentech and Leaps by Bayer, according to McKown. Pfizer is also sponsoring a forum exploring the impact of AI on healthcare.
Likewise, Fortune secured four new sponsors—Salesforce, Amgen, Workday and Checkpoint Software—for its third Brainstorm AI event in December, according to vice president of partnership marketing Sheyna Bruckner.
This is a complex subject, not something you pop in and out of.
Sheyna Bruckner, vp, partnership marketing, Fortune
Other publishers have spun up new events dedicated to AI, in part to meet advertiser demand. Forbes will host its first-ever Forbes AI Summit this fall, while The Washington Post will convene its own AI Summit—sponsored by Intel—in October, according to chief advertising officer Johanna Mayer-Jones.
Similar to events, editorial packages can also offer publishers an expedited vehicle for custom alignments.
Forbes—no stranger to a franchise—will release its first-ever AI 50 list in December to coincide with its AI Summit, according to chief revenue officer Sherry Phillips, and Time plans to debut its inaugural Time100 AI list later this month.