Welcome to this week’s Press Gazette Future of Media newsletter on Thursday, 9 October, supported by Admiral, The Visitor Relationship Management (VRM) Company.

In today’s feature, Admiral shares a practical playbook for media executives looking to break down silos, unify fragmented visitor experiences, and unlock higher ARPV and long-term revenue. Learn how publishers are using VRM to connect the dots across adblock recovery, subscriptions, consent, and engagement — with zero dev lift.

📈Want to get more traffic from Google search? The short answer is: be more like The Guardian.

Press Gazette’s latest analysis of search visibility data shows Guardian stories are far more likely to appear at the top of Google search results than those run by other publishers.

But even The Guardian has been impacted by recent Google algorithm updates which have downgraded the visibility of many news publishers. Data from Sistrix, which charts the visibility of publishers appearing on key Google search engine results pages, has found 43 out out of 74 leading UK news websites falling down the Google rankings.

Incredibly annoyingly, Google appears to place far more value on updates from random anonymous users of the messaging forum Reddit than it does on professional journalists. This may be linked to Google’s decision to pay $60m a year to Reddit to train its own AI models.

(It is worth nothing that Reddit itself has been making overtures to publishers and launched a set of Pro tools for publishers last month which are well worth checking out as part of your audience growth strategy)

🗨️One way to beat the fickle algorithms is to send news directly to your readers via SMS text messaging.

This 33-year-old technology is being used by Politico to send urgent news updates to key movers and shakers working on Capitol Hill in Washington.

After testing the service in the summer, Politico executive producer Zach Warmbrodt said readers who used it were “thrilled with the kind of formula we landed on”.

This formula is based to a large degree on trust, ensuring that text messages are only sent when there is something substantial to report. But in a high-paced news environment where having the inside track is key to your career success, text messages appear to work.

It’s not being directly monetised by Politico, but it brings the newsbrand closer to its readers, keeps it relevant and no doubt makes it easier to make money out of them in other ways further down the line.

🙌 And the chief executive of specialist UK publisher Anthem has written a piece for us about why the story of magazines does not have to be tale of decline.

Jon Bickley took exception to a recent Press Gazette newsletter headline which referenced the “end of the magazine age” when talking about UK publishing giant Hearst which has suffered dramatic revenue decline over the last decade.

He said Anthem has grown revenue by 10% every year since 2020 for its 12 specialist leisure titles (which include Health Living, Vintage Rock and Women’s Running).

He said nimble magazine publishers can still see growth (even on the newsstand) especially if they can react to new trends by racing to market with relevant “bookazines”.

It’s not the first time that one of my headlines has failed to accurately capture the nuance of a situation (sorry about that!) and I’m chuffed to hear Anthem are bucking the trend.

From our sponsor

Still stitching together five vendors to manage consent, subscriptions, and adblock recovery?

It’s time for a better way.

Admiral’s new VRM Playbook lays out how top publishers are unifying the visitor experience—and unlocking serious revenue gains in the process.

Inside, you’ll find:

→ A proven framework for boosting ARPV and LTV

→ Step-by-step guidance to break down internal silos

→ Real results: 80% adblock recovery, 45% lift in subs, 80% newsletter growth

→ A smarter way to turn visits into loyal, monetized relationships

On Press Gazette

Most leading UK news websites fell down Google rankings in 2025

June core update is one of biggest recent algorithm adjustments.