Newsweek vs The Economist

Podcast: The Hardest KPI in Political Advertising

An AdExchanger Talks podcast episode features Mark Jablonowski, CEO of DSPolitical, discussing the unique challenges of measuring political advertising where the primary KPI is an election outcome decided by secret ballot. DSPolitical, which positions itself as a “meta DSP,” combines offline voter data, privacy-compliant audience modeling, multi-bidder activation and unified reporting. Jablonowski notes that Connected TV is a growing channel for political spend but is often bought with a broadcast mindset rather than using CTV’s targeting and measurement capabilities. He also highlights political advertisers’ advanced CRM and voter-file practices and expresses greater concern about organically spreading disinformation than AI deepfakes.

• Mark Jablonowski is the CEO of DSPolitical.
• DSPolitical describes itself as a “meta DSP” and onboards offline voter data to build privacy-compliant audience segments.
• DSPolitical activates audiences through multiple bidders and consolidates results into a single reporting layer.

Newsweek About page reveals leadership and editorial restructuring

Changes include Shazia Haq moving from Senior Editorial Operations Manager to Director of Audience, Brian Lim and Connie Sideras swapping roles, new News Directors Samantha Beech and Jason Lemon, and several editorial title and role changes.

Newsweek Traffic Falls 75%; Revenue Nears $100M

Newsweek experienced a nearly 75% decline in readership year-over-year, but CEO Dev Pragad says the company is on pace to surpass $100 million in revenue for the first time in its 93-year history. Publishing revenue is expected to decline 20–25% this year, but newly built businesses—internally called Nexus (B2B: rankings and events) and Adprime (a healthcare-focused DSP acquired in June 2025)—have grown quickly enough to offset that drop. Adprime is projected to more than triple revenue from $14.8M to north of $40M and could account for roughly 40% of company revenue. Newsweek forecasts at least 10% revenue growth in 2026 (up from ~3% in 2025), is expanding non-programmatic video and events revenue, and maintains a free newsletter audience just under 2 million. The company remains cautious about future search-distribution risks from Google’s AI-generated results.

• Newsweek’s site traffic declined nearly 75% in a single year.
• Newsweek is on pace to surpass $100 million in annual revenue for the first time.
• Publishing division revenue is expected to decline 20%–25% this year, per CEO Dev Pragad.

Why People Mistake Em-Dashes for AI Writing

Storytelling Edge's newsletter explores why readers increasingly associate em-dashes and polished prose with AI-generated writing. It references a Wired story on a growing 'anti-AI literary counterculture' in which writers avoid AI conventions like negative parallelism and deliberately introduce small mistakes to signal human authorship. The piece cites an Economist study showing ChatGPT now rarely uses em-dashes, while Claude still uses them more than human writers. Linguist Gretchen McCulloch explains the linguistic concept of enregisterment, linking the em-dash's stigma to learned associations rather than measurable overuse by AI. The newsletter also discusses Substack's AI-detection feature built with Pangram, citing University of Chicago and UPenn studies that claim over 99% accuracy, and notes Pangram CEO Max Sperro's unclaimed $100 bounty for false positives. The author concludes that writers should develop a distinct personal voice rather than simply avoiding AI tells.

• Wired reported on a growing 'anti-AI literary counterculture' in which writers avoid AI writing conventions and deliberately leave mistakes to prove human authorship.
• The Economist published a study finding ChatGPT barely uses em-dashes, while Claude uses them more frequently than human writers.
• Substack introduced an AI-detection feature in partnership with Pangram to scan posts for AI-generated text, aiming to fight 'Claude-fishing'.

The Telegraph Expands Podcast Strategy Into Video and Memberships

Following its acquisition by Axel Springer, UK publisher The Telegraph is shifting its podcast strategy toward a video-first model, live events, and paid memberships. This pivot aims to build direct audience relationships and reduce reliance on unstable search and social platform referrals. The Telegraph has reported a 161% year-over-year growth in its podcast audience, with daily news shows like 'The Daily T' and 'Ukraine: The Latest' accumulating millions of weekly views on YouTube. To support this expansion, the newsroom has doubled its audio team to over 40 people. Moving forward, the publisher plans to launch additional narrative series, explore standalone podcast subscription options, and launch a YouTube membership program, focusing on audience engagement and loyalty over immediate ad monetization.

• The Telegraph's podcast audience has grown 161% year-over-year.
• Daily shows 'The Daily T', 'Ukraine: The Latest', and 'Iran: The Latest' average 2.4 million weekly views on YouTube.
• The publisher has expanded its audio and visual team to over 40 people.

Data Center Madness: AI Capex Outpacing Revenue

The author argues that current and projected data‑center capital expenditures for AI vastly exceed plausible revenue streams. Citing estimates from Peter Berezin (BCA Research) and Calum Williams (The Economist), the piece notes Berezin’s claim that up to $10 trillion in annual AI revenue might be necessary to justify installed capex, while Williams’ calculation suggests around $2.5 trillion. Hyperscaler capex is cited as expected to reach $1 trillion in 2027, mostly AI‑related. The article also highlights a political backlash — examples collected by pollster Adam Carlson — and criticizes the AI industry for overinvesting in data‑center capacity. The Substack post was published on 2026-08-21.

• Peter Berezin, Chief Economist at BCA Research, is cited saying $10 trillion in annual AI revenue may be necessary to monetize current capex.
• Calum Williams (works for The Economist) estimated roughly $2.5 trillion of annual 'required' revenues under more conservative assumptions.
• Hyperscaler capital expenditure is expected to reach $1 trillion in 2027, most of which will be AI-related.