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Mail Online is no more | Google AI Mode arrives in UK
And we delve into the latest study on the impact on clickthroughs from AI Overviews
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Welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Wednesday, 30 July.
Mail Online is dead and gone.
Well, sort of anyway. Despite that being its name here in the UK for many years, it’s been retired in favour of Daily Mail everywhere around the world - the first time the brand has been cohesive globally.
But more importantly this feels like a big moment as the Daily Mail also makes clear the extent to which it’s doubling down on its partial paywall (NB: now DailyMail+, not Mail+). It’s set a target of getting one million digital subscribers by October 2028 (from a current base of about 325,000).
Read our full update on the latest from Mail towers here.
This is, of course, all part of a clear strategy coming out of the Mail and many other publishers right now: how can they directly connect to their core audiences without having to rely on search and social platforms acting as go-betweens.
The fact Google started to roll out AI Mode in the UK yesterday, having gone live in the US in May, only made this feel more pressing.
We set out why AI Mode appears to be such a threat to publishers here.
And of course Google’s AI Overviews is already having a noticeable impact on clickthroughs for many publishers, including the Mail.
We’ve delved into new data that was prepared for a legal complaint filed to the CMA calling for urgent action to protect news publishers from adverse impacts from AI Overviews.
Although Google says AI Overviews are not triggered for hard news queries, the study still had them appearing for 12.5% of keywords relating to current news stories.
Check out more of the findings here.
On Press Gazette
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Daily Mail sets 1m digital subscriber target amid major rebrand
Aim is to reach one million paying digital subscribers by October 2028.
Google AI Mode goes live in the UK
New search experience described as "lose-lose" for sources of trusted news.
AI Overviews cutting publisher clickthrough rates by 50%, new report finds
New research on AI Overviews has been submitted as part of a legal complaint on its impacts.
News in brief
Longstanding Church of England newspaper closes after death of owner. (Press Gazette)
Youtube is now "the second most-watched service in the UK, behind the BBC and ahead of ITV" according to the latest Ofcom Media Nations report. (Campaign)
The appointment of ex-Sun editor David Dinsmore to a government communications role has triggered backlash among some Hillsborough survivors and families of those killed in the disaster. (The Guardian)
The New York Times has issued “new information” about a photo of a child in Gaza, which was published by multiple outlets including Daily Express, saying the boy had “pre-existing health problems”. (New York Post)
Call for commemoration to Welsh journalist Gareth Jones who uncovered Holodomor famine. (Press Gazette)
In Australia, a Victorian Liberal deputy leader is threatening legal action over News Corp articles, which his lawyers called an invasion of his wife's privacy and worse than “gutter journalism”. (The Guardian)