Washington Post’s Matthew Monahan: AI, Arc XP and the future of publisher audience relationships
At the Future of Media Technology Conference, Matthew Monahan of The Washington Post and Arc XP explained why direct traffic is in decline, and why AI platforms will not replace Google traffic.
The traffic problem
Matthew Monahan, President of Arc XP and a senior executive at the Washington Post, told the conference that the most pressing issue facing publishers is the decline in direct relationships with their readers.
Data from Reuters and Similarweb show that search referrals have fallen globally by 10–15%. More significant, he argued, is the sharper fall in direct visits from younger readers.
For many years publishers worked on the assumption that younger readers would discover a title through search or social media and, as they grew more mature, they would become subscribers. That assumption no longer holds. Younger readers are not visiting publisher websites directly. Instead, they are consuming news through platforms that emphasise short video, audio and personalised feeds.
Monahan was clear: “AI platforms are not delivering traffic in the way Google once did, and publishers cannot rely on them to replace the old search-driven funnel.”
Matthew Monahan from Washington Post/Arc XP presents at The Press Gazette, Future of Media Technology Conference in London on 11th September 2025. Image © Press Gazette/2025
What audiences expect
Research by Adobe and others shows that younger audiences want more than static text. They expect multimedia, interactive and tailored experiences. Video, audio, and personalisation are now central to how they consume information.
Monahan said that many publishers still treat audiences as passive consumers of content. That outlook is increasingly outdated. “Audiences now expect to participate,” he told delegates. “They want personalised and immersive experiences. News organisations have been too slow to adapt.”
AI in practice
The Washington Post, like most large publishers, began by applying AI internally. It was used to summarise material, organise workflows and speed up production. This has saved time and improved efficiency, but Monahan said it was not enough.
The bigger opportunity lies in audience-facing products. Most publishers have been cautious in this area, leaving consumer platforms to shape how interactive and personalised content is delivered.
Developing “ask the news”
To address this gap, the Post developed “ask the news”, a system that allows readers to search the Post’s reporting through natural language queries. It took two years to build. In its early stages, it failed to answer about 30% of queries. That weakness proved useful: it highlighted subjects where the newsroom lacked coverage and revealed the kinds of questions readers wanted answered.
The system has since processed tens of millions of queries. Many are basic, such as “What is the Federal Reserve?”, which shows how easily journalists can assume knowledge that many readers do not have. Editors are now using insights from these queries to adjust how stories are written and explained.
Monahan stressed that the success of the project did not come from the language model alone, but from the architecture built around it. The system is designed to pull only from the Post’s own journalism and to acknowledge when it cannot provide a reliable answer.
Building new products
The chatbot is now part of a wider set of tools. Readers can move through an article in different ways expanding for background or drilling down into more detail. Sources cited in stories are linked to related profiles and further reporting, giving readers more transparency about where information comes from.
Personalisation is also becoming more targeted. A regular reader of Middle East coverage, for example, can be shown updates without repeated introductions, while a first-time visitor will see more context. Monahan said this balance makes coverage more relevant without undermining editorial judgement.
Why AI platforms fall short
A consistent theme in Monahan’s remarks was that AI platforms are not acting as substitutes for search. While publishers may strike limited commercial deals with AI firms, these arrangements do not deliver sustained traffic.
“Our archives are valuable,” he said. “But if we rely on external platforms as our route to readers, we lose control of the relationship. We need to develop these products ourselves.”
Protecting publisher content
Monahan also raised the problem of scraping. The Washington Post has invested in technology to monitor bot traffic and is working with content delivery networks to create more secure access systems. He noted that bot traffic is higher in Europe than in the US, which makes the issue more acute for publishers in the region.
Blocking bots, he argued, is only part of the solution. Publishers must also think about commercial frameworks that set clear terms for how their content can be accessed.
Arc XP’s role
Arc XP, the Washington Post’s commercial platform, extends these ideas beyond the Post itself. It now supports more than 2,000 sites. Monahan said Arc XP should not be seen as a traditional CMS but as a broader technology layer capable of supporting AI, multimedia and personalisation.
The “ask the news” system is now available to Arc XP clients, who can apply it to their own archives. The longer-term aim is to create a shared framework that allows publishers to exchange ideas and test new features, reducing reliance on global technology platforms.
The role of the article
Asked whether AI might diminish the role of the article, Monahan drew a distinction. Routine or formulaic pieces may fade, but high-quality reporting and narrative will continue to matter. “Not every article is a story,” he said. “The best stories will endure, whatever format they take.”
He also predicted that large language models will soon be treated as standard software libraries, rather than revolutionary breakthroughs. The focus will shift to how they are integrated into products and services.
Conclusion
Monahan’s central message in London was straightforward. Direct traffic is in decline, and the old search-driven model cannot be rebuilt through AI platforms. Publishers must take responsibility for developing new products that make journalism interactive, transparent and personalised.
The combination of distinctive content and well-designed products, he argued, is the only way to maintain direct relationships with audiences in the years ahead
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