2 Comments
User's avatar
David C's avatar

So interesting to hear Neil (admirably) still hold onto the legacy media model for their 40 brands: including people.com for celebrity media, allrecipes.com for recipes. This is still a “destination” mindset!

Traditional brand media companies must evolve (Dot Dash Meredith)

1. From Destination to Distribution

• Instead of “come to People.com,” they need:

• Frictionless syndication across TikTok, Instagram, Snap, YouTube Shorts.

• Summaries and quotes embedded in AI tools.

2. How Traditional Media ‘Brands’ Stay Relevant:

• License their archives and metadata to LLMs in exchange for attribution and monetization. (In progress with OpenAI)

• Build niche, high-quality agents that use their editorial judgment and brand tone (e.g., a “People Gossip Buddy” or “AllRecipes chef” voice).

• Use AI to atomize and distribute their content across every emerging surface (voice, glasses, car screens, AR overlays).

The future of media is not a website or apps or on Apple News. It’s an embedded, voice-first, memory-rich agentic presence (and possibly brandless - does anyone click in Chatgpt attribution links to people.com?) that meets users where they are—not where the CMS lives. It might also be a single individual, with a DTC Substack account.

Expand full comment
David C's avatar

So interesting to hear Neil (admirably) still hold onto the legacy media model for their 40 brands: people.com for celebrity media, allrecipes.com for recipes. This is still a “destination” mindset!

Traditional media companies must evolve (Dot Dash Meredith)

1. From Destination to Distribution

• Instead of “come to People.com,” they need:

• Frictionless syndication across TikTok, Instagram, Snap, YouTube Shorts.

• Summaries and quotes embedded in AI tools.

• API-based content licensing deals with LLMs and agentic platforms.

2. What They Can Do to Stay Relevant:

• License their archives and metadata to LLMs in exchange for attribution and monetization. (In progress with OpenAI)

• Build niche, high-quality agents that use their editorial judgment and brand tone (e.g., a “People Gossip Buddy” or “AllRecipes chef” voice).

• Use AI to atomize and distribute their content across every emerging surface (voice, glasses, car screens, AR overlays).

The future of media is not a website or apps or on Apple News. It’s an embedded, voice-first, memory-rich agentic presence (and possibly brandless - does anyone click in Chatgpt attribution links to people.com?) that meets users where they are—not where the CMS lives. It might also be a single individual, with a DTC Substack account.

Expand full comment