Google’s latest decisions, given its de facto monopoly position in many digital domains, are starting to have consequences. The situation, in general, in the world of journalism at major outlets, with a few exceptions, is one of depression and weariness after the arrival of AI Overviews, the growing prominence of AI Mode, changes in Google Discover and the latest Google update, which has once again reduced traffic for many outlets in Google Search.
In this situation, in which Google has decided to take advantage of OpenAI’s emergence to try to eat all the cheese, some CMS companies are being forced to make difficult decisions. Some are trying their luck outside their countries, others are fighting not to lose budget amid such a bleak outlook and another group, including TQCorp Media, creators of Atlas CMS in Spain, are choosing to change their business model.
The Atlas CMS team has decided that they cannot continue providing service the way they have until now, meaning providing the CMS, managing programmatic advertising and relying on their mastery of Google Discover to sustain the entire business.
This model, after Google’s latest moves, is simply no longer sustainable, because of the aforementioned changes in Discover combined with CPM prices for programmatic advertising that keep falling. Far behind are the days when people trusted that this type of advertising would sustain journalism.
With this backdrop, Atlas CMS has had to cancel the revenue share contracts, since they could barely cover costs anymore, and customers were offered, with enough lead time, the choice between two options: either they stay with Atlas CMS, but now under a traditional paid business model or they would be supported in migrating to another technology solution.
Each customer has been able to choose, based on their interests and budget, what seemed most convenient, but what is clear is that Atlas CMS is still operating and providing service for all those who have accepted the new business model that moves away from the aforementioned programmatic advertising.
Atlas’s particular case is not very different from the rest of the market. All media outlets are reviewing their finances and headcount in anticipation that Google will gradually stop sending traffic, just as some social networks did bedore, networks that are still widely used today but in clear recession, like Facebook or Twitter. Precariousness is advancing, cost cutting and therefore layoffs and a weakening of journalism.
In this situation, where the click you receive tends toward zero, the best approach is undoubtedly to bet on the brand, the community, quality, paywalls and start thinking about getting out of the race that big tech companies force on us.
* Original article written in Spanish, translated with AI and reviewed in English by Jorge Mediavilla.
