CES showcases new opportunities, challenges for news companies
Readers First Initiative Blog | 23 January 2025
Each year, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas unveils the latest technological innovations. During this week’s Webinar, INMA members heard from Torry Pedersen, a special advisor for Schibsted, former CEO of VG, and chairman of the board at Digital Insights, who shared his observations on some of the developments he discovered at CES.
Whilst the innovations span various fields, including artificial intelligence (AI), digital health, and augmented reality, each of the technologies could have significant implications for the news media industry — bringing both challenges and opportunities.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere
Not surprisingly, AI was an overriding theme at CES, with numerous exhibitors highlighting their AI capabilities. Pedersen noted that AI is at a critical juncture, and, as with previous technological shifts, there’s a lot of hype and promises of what could be.
“Over time, this AI development will influence the way we organise our lives,” he said, adding some companies will inevitably push through the hype and the noise to provide real consumer value, much like Google and Amazon do today.
But Pedersen said understanding the actual value of these products and services is more important than the bells and whistles — and that’s true for media companies that leverage AI, too.
“My media diet is more or less based on this value proposition thing,” he said. “I read Axios because they promised me to be smarter, faster on what matters, and they deliver. And in my opinion, way too many media brands have too blurry a value proposition.”
The growing power of digital health
Digital health was a prominent theme at CES, showcasing innovations that allow individuals to monitor various health metrics, such as core temperature, blood pressure, hormone levels, and stress levels. Pedersen highlighted the potential for media companies to tap into this trend.
Several years ago, Aftonbladet created the Weight Club, a subscription tool to help audiences lose weight. VG also offered the tool, which became a huge success in Norway. In a similar way, he said, news media companies can use the growing number of digital health tools to attract and engage users. And they are well positioned to do so because they have established themselves as trustworthy.
“Human psychology is complicated and I think it’s all about trust and community. You have to trust the people who give you the advice and we put a lot of energy in to make it as scientific correct as possible,” he explained. “You have to be able to build a community around it.”
Media companies could create relevant content that, similar to VG's Weight Club, offer personalised health and wellness advice. These services can leverage digital health tools to provide tailored recommendations and support. The “how” of using it, thought, remains to be explored:
“It will be a huge development going forward,” Pedersen said, acknowledging that, at this time, it’s unclear exactly how it can and should be implemented in the industry’s offerings.
Enhancing media consumption with AR
Augmented reality (AR) was one of the areas that Pedersen considered exciting and full of potential for the news media industry. Pedersen noted that although AR is currently more prevalent in entertainment, it holds promise for news media as well.
However, “you really need to improve the user interface” before media companies can truly leverage it for news consumption. For example, making it accessible through ordinary glasses instead of bulky headsets, and making the content more accessible so “it’ll play on everything.”
“If that happens, then I think it’ll be really interesting for news media,” Pedersen said.
While technological advancements in audio and video captured a great deal of attention at CES, Pedersen said he had observed some “worrying aspects” about its use: “There were a lot of examples at the show where videos were altered more or less on the fly, meaning that some elements were replaced with others.”
In a medium where trust is already an issue, this presents a dangerous opportunity.
“I think the important thing for news media is to abide to journalistic standards and at the same time be able to utilise the possibilities that the technology facilitates,” he said.
At the moment, companies are primarily experimenting with AI to improve back-office efficiency. But the real challenge will come when the focus turns to developing market-facing products that fully lean into the potential of AI.
“In my opinion, personalisation is paramount going forward,” Pedersen said. “There might be possibilities these days to personalise both in topics and formats, because we know that your kids are more interested in other formats than you when they disseminate news. For the industry not to be able to adjust to that would be an even greater problem than it already is.”
Changing minds
One of the biggest shifts that has to happen for these technological advancements to be fully exploited comes from within the news media industry itself, Pedersen said.
“From a leadership point of view, I think the most important thing is to be able to move mental positions,” he said.
“It’s so important to move the mental positions and to imprint in your staff that the systems that we have established, they will be exposed to deterioration.”
He quoted Canadian hockey player Wayne Gretzky, who said: “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
It is time for the industry to start looking at where audiences are going and focus their time, resources, and attention there rather than clinging to the legacy media mindset, Pedersen concluded:
“Everyone has to find their own way, but it [requires] continuous communication with your staff because the legacy culture has the tendency to get the upper hand. And if the legacy culture gets the upper hand too long, then you are in danger.”