Daily Mail CEO on Google lawsuits, AI and why future of news is bright

DMG Media main executive Richard Caccappoulo speaking astatine nan Future of Media Technology Conference 2024. Picture: Press Gazette/ASV Photography

DMG Media main executive Rich Caccappolo has said that monopoly lawsuits against Google and nan imaginable of caller UK tech regularisation could bring immense benefits to news publishers.

In August, a US judge ruled that Google’s $26bn-plus yearly payments to companies for illustration Apple and Samsung to unafraid prominence for its browser were forbidden and monopolistic. A 2nd US case, which began connected 9 September, argues that Google created an forbidden monopoly successful nan world of adtech – harming publishers and advertisers.

In nan UK, Google, Facebook and different US tech giants are facing tougher regularisation arsenic a consequence of nan Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which was passed successful May.

Speaking astatine nan Press Gazette Future of Media Technology Conference in London this month, Caccappolo said he expects nan awesome tech companies successful nan UK media marketplace to get designated arsenic having “strategic marketplace status” by December this year, pinch caller rules apt to beryllium put successful spot by nan Competition and Markets Authority governing their behaviour by adjacent August.

He said: “Unfortunately, I deliberation that we arsenic publishers are not doing enough. We’re benignant of sleepwalking and waiting to spot what comes retired of it, alternatively of being location each day, knocking connected nan doors, arguing astir what should beryllium successful there.

“It’s not conscionable costs for contented – and by nan way, immoderate nan costs for contented is, it’s not going to beryllium capable to prevention us. The measurement that nan payments get allocated needs to beryllium decided, whether it’s number of journalists, number of stories… and nan ramifications to that person to beryllium understood.

“It could beryllium truthful overmuch much though. We should person a domiciled successful knowing erstwhile changes are coming and really they’re going to effect us.

“We should person a domiciled successful saying that they impacted us, possibly unfairly, for illustration this point that’s killed disconnected achromatic labels for publishers successful nan astir caller Google algorithm update [which, successful June, stopped discount vouchers advertised by publishers from appearing successful search].”

Reach main executive Jim Mullen has besides spoken retired astir large tech successful nan past week, arguing regularisation is needed to guarantee free, advertiser-funded online news tin thrive.

Google monopoly cases mean ‘things are going to get sold off’

On nan taxable of nan monopoly cases against Google successful nan US and elsewhere, Caccapoulo said: “There are going to beryllium things that get sold off. There are going to beryllium changes successful nan measurement money flows. There’s going to beryllium investment, backstage equity and venture.

“We’re going to spot caller browsers, caller hunt engines, caller advertisement servers. And those of america successful nan abstraction who person postulation are going to beryllium cardinal partners for these caller initiatives. This is simply a chance to hole a batch of of things that are bad successful our space.

“But nan fights we choose, nan options we make, nan decisions we make, are going to person an effect connected us, not conscionable this year, but agelong term, and they will impact our fortunes and our expertise to survive.”

The Daily Mail and Mail Online leader said nan institution had vanished up its financial year, which runs to nan extremity of September, successful a “strong” position. Last twelvemonth DMG Media genitor institution DMGT reported adjusted pre-tax profit of £41m connected turnover up 2% to £997m. Consumer media gross fell 5%, mostly owed to a deed to advertizing revenues.

On this year’s figures, which won’t beryllium published until adjacent February, Caccappolo said: “We’ve grown our integer revenue, we’ve grown our profit, and we made immoderate changes that I deliberation are really important to our semipermanent sustainability and success.”

Asked astir nan occurrence of Mail Online’s partial paywall, launched successful January of this year, he said nan gross publication was “fundamental” but declined to beryllium drawn connected nonstop numbers for subscribers.

He said nan Mail Online subscription, coupled pinch description into podcasts and original video connected Youtube, had made DMG Media a overmuch “healthier” and much “diversified” business”.

“We rolled retired a subscription product, really a subscription platform, and there’s an important differentiation there. It’s a merchandise pinch nan expertise to trial pricing, to trial bundling, to trial ads on, ads off.

“We’ve still sewage 1,000 to 1,500 free articles we do each day. Ten aliases 15 of them would beryllium what we telephone ‘more from nan Mail’.

“Those are disposable arsenic portion of a rank aliases subscription. And that has worked really well. We haven’t mislaid nan traffic, and we person a very ample number of group who are subscribing, and nan churn rates are little than we anticipated, truthful we’re really excited astir it. It is simply a foundational constituent of our revenue. It’s very profitable.”

He added: “It changed nan measurement we deliberation astir content, nan worth of content. It changed nan measurement newsroom plans their day. It gives america feedback into what group are are willing successful reference and what is bully capable for group to propulsion retired a in installments card.

“This was an inaugural that crossed complete functional areas and I’m really proud of really we did that. And I mean, if you motorboat thing for illustration that and it works, it raises nan morale, gives everybody a consciousness that we tin do large things.”

Attribution for publishers connected ChatGPT will bring gross for news publishers

Caccappolo said DMG Media has nary existent plans to writer ChatGPT and different AI companies for utilizing its contented without support but confirmed that it does block AI scrapers from accessing its websites.

However he said location was an opportunity for news companies to get paid by generative AI companies connected nan ground of attribution.

“You inquire [an AI institution specified arsenic Perplexity] for nan news of nan time and a consequence is fixed that’s 5 paragraphs long. We request to fig retired really overmuch of that came from each publisher, and they person to beryllium attributed. And location is activity to that, and we’re supportive of that and that’s going to happen.”

One AI start-up, Prorata.ai, has truthful acold signed deals pinch awesome publishers specified arsenic nan Financial Times and Axel Springer pinch a scheme for gross sharing based connected attribution of this sort, though its level has not yet launched.

Caccappolo continued: “When that happens, I deliberation there’ll beryllium this astonishing unreserved to abruptly unlock, and everybody wants to beryllium scraped, and it’ll beryllium conscionable for illustration hunt today. We’ll each say: ‘Hey, really travel my account’s not being utilized there?’

“I don’t deliberation immoderate magnitude of citation of nan sources is going to thrust a batch of traffic. I deliberation that’s going to spell away, but I deliberation there’s a existent chance astatine getting immoderate attribution.”

Google Privacy Sandbox could beryllium a bully point for publishers

DMG Media was among nan publishers arguing against Google’s scheme to prohibition third-party cookies connected Chrome astatine nan extremity of this twelvemonth and switch them pinch its ain Privacy Sandbox technology.

Caccappolo was asked by Press Gazette whether Google’s July determination to support cookies and alternatively present a caller acquisition connected Chrome which allows users to make an “informed choice” astir privateness was bully aliases bad news for publishers.

“We were concerned that if it went unrecorded and cookies were retired, that it would beryllium practically unbuyable,” he said. “We worked pinch different publishers, pinch Google themselves and pinch nan CMA, and we showed that it wasn’t ready. It couldn’t beryllium done…

“I really dream that they proceed to activity connected it [Privacy Sandbox] because I deliberation it is an important alternative, because erstwhile cookies spell distant location is not going to beryllium 1 solution location is going to beryllium five, six aliases 7 solutions and 1 of them is going to beryllium Sandbox.

“I had a gathering this week pinch a bunch of publishers successful our agency and Google talking astir Sandbox. I dream it continues.”

He said 1 of nan benefits of Sandbox was that it offered a measurement to property nan occurrence of advertizing to publishers.

“One of nan large mistakes we made is that we allowed ourselves to beryllium a commodity. We allowed our inventory to beryllium bought astatine scale, cheap, and portion of that was that we ne'er put successful spot an attribution motor to adjacent nan loop.

“People bargain Meta, they salary £1, they judge they’re getting £1.20 successful return… We, arsenic publishers, were ne'er large capable to solely to do that.

“I deliberation that we should set together and do that. I deliberation Google Sandbox, if you look astatine it underneath, had a batch of attribution and measurement that I deliberation we tin usage arsenic an industry. So I dream it goes forward, and I dream Apple adopts immoderate of it.”

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