The news media industry in 2025 faces a significant number of challenges, but within those challenges lie opportunities for individual companies and the industry as a whole.

During the association’s kickoff Webinar Wednesday, INMA CEO Earl Wilkinson sat down with INMA President and Mediahuis CEO Gert Ysebaert to discuss how the media industry can navigate the complex and changing landscape.

Before beginning their conversation, Wilkinson shared themes from the recent INMA board meeting in Amsterdam, as well as what INMA’s pillars will be for the year. During 2025, members can expect a robust agenda that includes adding a media and tech conference in San Francisco, building a newsroom transformation hub into the European Media Innovation Week, and expanding INMA’s benchmark services. INMA also will also focus more on nurturing the development of young professionals.

A changing industry

When asked how news companies have changed since 2000, Ysebaert noted “everything has changed except for the journalism and the brand.” Gone are the days of focusing on putting out a newspaper daily. Today, “it’s more about being audience-driven and not about the product itself. It’s about reaching that audience,” he said.

Competition has changed, becoming a global game rather than a local one, and news media companies must compete with all the free content on various platforms. That has made branding more important, as audiences no longer have a connection with a physical product. Companies must pinpoint what their brand stands for and what makes it unique: “To stand out today is much more difficult,” Ysebaert said.

Further adding to the challenge of standing out is the rise of fake news and the erosion of trust in the media. In an era of misinformation and fake news, maintaining credibility is paramount for legacy media companies. Ysebaert emphasised the need for transparency and accountability in journalism.

“I like the word ‘journalism’ more than ‘news media’ because journalism really is about seeking the truth,” Ysebaert said. “It’s about explaining facts. It’s about explaining the world. And this is very much needed in this society that is now well dominated by a few tech players.”

News organisations must clearly communicate their mission and the value of their work to the public. This involves not only producing high-quality journalism but also educating audiences about the importance of trustworthy news sources.

“We have to be much more transparent, explain what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we are doing it.”

The business of journalism

Financial sustainability remains another pressing concern for news organisations, Wilkinson noted. And as a Trump presidency looms in the United States, the INMA CEO questioned how news companies should navigate an openly hostile environment in which truth is constantly being disputed.

“My conviction is that we cannot compromise on our journalistic mission. That is again about seeking the truth, telling the facts, being correct, also giving several sides to the story,” Ysebaert said.

“Unfortunately, this mission is more and more under attack … because there is a lot of fake news, there’s misinformation, but we’re also under attack of political leaders. We’re now even under attack of the tech CEOs or telling the same narrative. And, of course, that will work both ways.”

People who already trust in the news media will become even more entrenched, while sceptics will become increasingly harder to reach. Reaching those people should be the main mission, Ysebaert said, noting the industry needs to look at what it did to create a situation where 50% of the people no longer believe in it.

“We have to look at ourselves and say, well, how can we restore that trust?”

Exploring revenue streams

The decline of print subscriptions and advertising revenue has forced the industry to explore new revenue streams.

Digital subscriptions have emerged as a cornerstone of financial stability, but the transition is fraught with challenges. Mediahuis, for example, is still compensating for losses in print revenue, and the company has a programme to become fully digital sustainable in the next five to seven years.

Ysebaert emphasised the importance of diversifying revenue streams to ensure long-term viability and said many opportunities exist: “There are opportunities in video, there are opportunities in audio. So I really believe that there is much to regain.”

Beyond subscriptions and advertising, he said companies can diversify events and explore the growing opportunities in content licencing. However, he added, achieving this requires significant investment in technology and innovation, which can strain resources, especially for smaller publishers.

Battling with Big Tech

Big Tech companies like Google and OpenAI are at the forefront of industry transformation.

While Google has made efforts to establish partnerships with publishers, the relationship remains complicated. Ysebaert said it is uncertain if they will “go back to their original mission and take the opportunity to have to really partner with publishers.”

Part of the challenge lies in ensuring that tech giants respect copyright laws and provide fair compensation for the use of journalistic content. The lack of a robust legal framework exacerbates this issue, making it imperative for the industry to advocate for better regulations and form coalitions to negotiate with AI companies.

“I think that [the proper] framework can be a win-win. Because in the end, if there is no good journalism left, is there no good content left?” Ysebaert said. “I think we all can profit from a good framework, but it’ll be hard for each publisher — and especially if you are a small publisher — to do that on your own.”

INMA could play a significant role in creating coalitions of like-minded publishers to start the conversations, he said, and while it won’t be easy, it can be done.

“It will be challenging in the coming months. But let’s work together as an industry ... because otherwise we will not get there.”

Preparing for (more) AI

The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has forever transformed how news is produced and consumed, and search engines have given way to “answer engines” that provide direct responses to user queries.

This shift represents one of the most significant threats to traditional news organisations that rely on search traffic for visibility and revenue, Ysebaert said.

The news industry must adapt to this new reality by leveraging AI to enhance its offerings while maintaining the human touch that distinguishes quality journalism, he said. Mediahuis is looking at different scenarios to plot its way forward.

“The preferred scenario is, of course, that we will be a significant destination for news and that we will be a significant source of news and that people will turn to us,” he said.

“But there is also a [possible] future where we are just one of the many sources and where we provide news to other players. And what will that mean for business, what will it mean for journalism? I’m convinced that it’s good to not only think in this is where we hope to end but also prepare as an industry for other scenarios.”

Attracting the next generation

Attracting and retaining younger audiences is crucial for the future of the news media industry, but so is attracting and retaining them as employees. During an INMA Board of Directors meeting in Amsterdam in November, the conversation turned to how to attract these younger players and become attractive workplaces.

Young professionals like to work in the media “because we have that combination of being mission-driven, but they are also attracted by this digital transformation we are making,” Ysebaert said.

Hiring young professionals is imperative to attracting younger audiences, he said. Younger generations consume news differently, favouring digital platforms and social media over traditional print, so news organisations must adapt their content and distribution strategies accordingly. This includes creating engaging formats, such as short videos and interactive content, and being present on the platforms where younger audiences spend their time.

Ysebaert underscored the importance of meeting younger audiences halfway by providing content that resonates with their interests and lifestyles as well. Then, news companies must focus on building trust with this next generation of users.

“Once we have that trust and they know us, bring them to our own platforms,” Ysebaert said. “That is definitely where they should end.”

This requires companies to think about the best way to reach them and the most engaging formats. Mediahuis has a programme called “Future Audiences” that takes a more holistic view of how to reach new audiences. He said that will continue to be a primary focus for news media companies: “That is a huge topic, a very important topic for our industry in the coming years.”

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