Creator Economy & Generative AI: The Twin Disruption Facing Traditional Media
NewsRewired London conference maps the existential questions facing publishers as entry barriers collapse and advertising spend shifts.
A twin disruption is fundamentally reshaping the traditional media landscape: the efficiency of the creator economy and the accessibility of Generative AI. Our analysis from the NewsRewired conference outlines the existential questions facing publishers, examines models like Scott Galloway’s, and highlights the need to rethink workflows to survive the shift.
Podcast entrepreneur Scott Galloway generates £20 million in annual revenue with 18 people. L’Oréal and Unilever now spend 50% of their advertising budgets on creators rather than traditional media. Independent publishers operate leaner value chains while legacy organisations struggle with hundreds of staff and expensive infrastructure that increasingly looks like a liability.
This was the uncomfortable reality presented at NewsRewired, the bi-annual journalism conference organised by Marcela Kunova’s from JournalismUK, which brought together publishers and industry leaders in central London on 26 November. The collision of the creator economy with generative AI isn’t just disrupting traditional media - it’s creating what the keynote speaker described as a “dangerous chemical effect” that’s rewriting the economics of content production.
In her keynote speech, Professor Lucy Kueng, author and senior research fellow at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute, outlined the ‘magic triangle’ for successful creators: newsletters, podcasts, and events. These tools build para-social relationships where audiences feel connected to individuals rather than organisations. This organic, unmediated connection between creator and consumer represents a fundamental shift in how content value is perceived and monetised.
Galloway’s operation reportedly delivers four times the audience engagement per overhead dollar compared to traditional media. His 18 specialists include editors, animators, designers and researchers - no padding, no legacy systems. Legacy publishers, by contrast, need editorial teams, production systems, subscription architectures, data platforms and product development teams. Each layer adds cost. Each layer adds complexity.
Generative AI accelerates this by dropping entry barriers to near zero. Anyone can create professional-looking content, distribute directly to audiences, and monetise across multiple platforms without the infrastructure that publishers have spent decades building. The result is a content flood competing for the same audiences and advertising revenue.
The shift is happening faster than digital transformation, which took 25 years. “We need to unlearn everything we learned with digital,” delegates heard. “The install base is already there. People have smartphones, YouTube, and smart TVs. Consumer habits are established.” Publishers aren’t leading customers through a learning curve this time - they’re catching up to behaviours that already exist.
Leadership, Not Tech: Rethinking Jobs, Relationships, and Workflows
Anita Zielina, who advises media executives and boards, was blunt about where organisations are going wrong. “This is not a tech problem,” she told delegates. “It’s about jobs, relationships, product design, experiences. Yet we keep pushing it to IT.”
Zielina outlined five critical perspectives for leaders. Reduce noise by creating clear communication channels and avoiding the chase after every new AI tool. Create clarity by consistently communicating priorities. Rethink workflows fundamentally rather than automating existing processes. Ensure psychological safety so teams can experiment without fear of failure. Maintain a portfolio mindset, balance short-term wins with mid-term experiments and long-term bets.
“Even the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are still figuring this out,” she said. She cited publishers making progress: Axios on personalisation, Bloomberg integrating data with journalism, URL Media monetising trust in underserved communities, CNN reaching younger audiences through a new Creators programme.
The Education Gap: Preparing Journalists for an AI-Augmented World
Andrew Grill, author and consultant who runs the “Digitally Curious” programme promoting AI awareness, flagged a worrying disconnect. Many schools ban AI use, leaving students unprepared for workplaces where AI proficiency will be assumed, just as Microsoft Word skills are expected without formal training.
He identified four adoption barriers: training gaps, budget constraints, inadequate data preparation, and failure to reimagine processes rather than automate existing ones. For newsrooms, the critical issue is safety. Never input confidential information into public AI tools. Use internal systems behind corporate firewalls.
A survey of 170 journalism students and young professionals commissioned by Tickaroo revealed deep anxiety about AI replacing entry-level jobs, the roles that traditionally provide experience and skill development. The survey, which included 58% of journalism students and 42% of early-career professionals, identified low starting salaries, high competition, and a lack of paid opportunities as the biggest challenges facing the next generation.
Hannah Williams, editor of The Londoner with over a decade of experience at outlets including Mail Online and GP News Australia, pushed back against AI replacement fears. “AI can assist with tasks, but it cannot replace human journalism,” she said. Traditional skills remain essential: research capabilities, storytelling craft, and the development of a unique voice that connects with audiences. Williams emphasised the importance of mentorship and experienced journalists in newsrooms to support young talent, arguing that newsroom structures need to be rethought to support talent development better.
Rebecca Hutson, editor and editorial director at The News Movement, with previous experience at The Financial Times, discussed the challenge of balancing formats. Short-form video on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok drives significant engagement, but audiences still demand in-depth, long-form journalism. “While short-form content succeeds, there’s still demand for well-researched, deep journalism,” she said. The key is maintaining high-quality journalism standards across both formats while building community engagement and loyal audiences. Hutson stressed the need for journalism to reflect diverse voices and experiences to build trust with audiences.
The survey revealed that young journalists feel least prepared for digital journalism and lack knowledge about AI and entrepreneurial skills. Solutions proposed included greater financial and emotional support, structured mentorship programmes, and continuous professional development with clear career progression markers.
Reader Revenue Strategies: Monetising Trust and Reducing Subscriber Churn
Sasha Cayre from Context News explained their expansion from French-focused to international coverage, and the launch of a three-tier service model for European public affairs audiences. Paul Fisher from Iliffe Media discussed monetising regional journalism through emotional engagement - emphasising independent status and local business support.
Liz Wynn, The Guardian’s Chief Supporter Officer, stressed recognition reduces churn. Use explicit thank-you messaging in onboarding. The panel recommended newsletters as distribution channels to avoid the “AI black hole” content consumed through AI summaries without driving traffic to sources.
Social media created tension. Publishers need to treat platforms as revenue streams while maintaining their own products as primary destinations. The discussion covered YouTube, WhatsApp, and BlueSky for distribution, while balancing traffic generation and direct subscriber relationships.
Community Drives Growth: Building Loyalty and Value Beyond Content
Jakob Moll, co-founder of Danish publisher Zetland, delivered the standout case study. In less than a year, Zetland built a Finnish operation, Uusi Juttu, that reached 25,000 paying members. A single campaign recruited 10,500 new paying members in three weeks, growing from 20,000 to over 30,000 members.
The strategy: ask existing members to spread the word through informal meetings, after-work gatherings and street activities. When offered a choose-your-price option, only 1,000 of the 10,500 chose to pay nothing, strong evidence of perceived value.
Moll emphasised authenticity over production values. “The cost of looking good is decreasing due to AI,” he said. “Journalism needs to find its unique X factor.” Zetland succeeded by meeting community needs - meaningful conversations, desire for a better society - rather than just providing content. They’re now expanding to Norway and preparing for Germany using the same approach.
The Generational Reckoning: Training Talent as Entry-Level Jobs are Automated
Traditional media has capabilities creators struggle to replicate: investigative resources, editorial expertise, institutional memory, and democratic accountability. But capabilities matter only if audiences value them enough to pay for the complexity that delivers them.
Multiple speakers returned to the same uncomfortable questions. How do you compete when anyone can create professional-looking content? How do you monetise when AI intermediaries sit between you and audiences? How do you maintain editorial standards while adopting creator-style authenticity?
But the most urgent question got less attention than it deserved: how do you train the next generation when the entry-level jobs that traditionally taught journalism skills are being automated away?
Tickaroo’s survey revealed journalism students and young professionals who feel unprepared for digital journalism, anxious about AI, and lacking entrepreneurial skills. Universities teach structures and processes that won’t exist when graduates enter the workforce. The industry complains about talent gaps while automating the roles that develop talent.
Publishers can experiment with community models, reimagine workflows, and chase the creator economy’s efficiency gains. But if the industry can’t figure out how to train journalists in an AI-augmented world, those experiments won’t matter. There won’t be anyone skilled enough to execute them.
The window for solving this isn’t just closing for business models. It’s closing for an entire generation of journalists being trained for an industry that won’t exist by the time they graduate.
