Publishers Need To Stop Chasing Traffic | Mimmo Palmieri

Mimmo Palmieri has spent over a decade on the revenue and monetisation side of publishing, including at Condé Nast and the Financial Times, the part of the business most people never see. In this episode of Paying Attention, we discuss why publishers should stop trying to win back lost traffic and start building around value instead. We get into: why the traffic era is ending where publishers should invest next how AI changes the economics of editorial the importance of owning the audience relationship what the shift from volume to value means for the P&L why the strongest media brands will become destinations people choose, not pages they stumble onto A conversation about what publishing looks like when traffic is no longer the main measure of success. Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:49 How Mimmo got into publishing 03:02 What revenue operations actually involves 06:35 The toughest time for publishers, inside the P&L 09:34 Adapting as page views decline 11:00 The three moats: IP, first-party data, relationships 13:32 Where the damage hits first 16:32 Affiliate revenue and the AI risk 18:00 The "AIdvertorial": advertising for bots 20:33 Using AI to multiply editorial 23:07 AI platforms as the interface to audiences 24:56 From volume to value, and proving value 28:16 Why media planning cycles collapsed 30:00 The shift to predictable revenue 32:08 What to stop and start investing in 34:13 Who's doing it well 36:40 What most people get wrong 38:23 Where to find Mimmo Paying Attention is hosted by Choy Travers and explores how media, advertising, AI, adtech and commerce are changing the way attention is won, valued and monetised.