Across the Q4 earnings reports I detailed in my recent blog, a few advertising-specific patterns stand out. 

Publishers who invested early in product diversification, premium advertising capabilities, first-party data, off-platform distribution, and subscriber-funded models are posting strong results. Those who remained dependent on search-driven pageviews and commoditized programmatic inventory are facing real pressure.

The New York Times (digital ad revenue +25%), Dow Jones (record digital ad revenue, +12%), People Inc. (digital advertising +9%, premium categories strong), and Bloomberg (advertising and sponsorship +5%, with events +30%) all reported healthy digital ad performance. 

The common thread: direct-sold inventory, first-party data targeting, premium formats, and expanding surfaces (especially video and events).

Programmatic and open-Web display remain under pressure

DMGT’s 15% digital ad decline is the clearest signal, but Digiday reported Q4 programmatic performance was soft across the board, with ad requests falling 12% and CPMs lower than the prior year.

The publishers winning on advertising are doing so through premium direct deals, not commodity programmatic.

Events and sponsorship are a genuine growth line

Bloomberg’s event sponsorship revenue grew 30%. People Inc. is making events a core business pillar with 60+ events in 2026. Forbes and Vox Media both touted events sponsorship growth. Semafor described events as the best business close to journalism.

Multiple publishers now describe events as among their highest-margin businesses.

Licensing, partnerships, and AI deals are emerging revenue

People Inc.’s licensing and other revenue grew 46%, boosted by Apple News+, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI deals. This is a category that barely existed two years ago and is now a meaningful contributor for publishers with sufficient content scale.

The shift from session-based to non-session-based revenue is real

People Inc.’s framing of 38% of digital revenue now coming from non-session sources (events, social, email, licensing, D/Cipher) is a useful model. The publishers posting strong results are the ones building revenue lines that don’t depend on users clicking through from Google search.

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Banner art: Adobe Stock By Jirakit.

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