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Media product leaders are navigating uncharted territory in 2025, where generative AI is reshaping audience behavior and attention has become the scarcest commodity. Yet a consensus is emerging that the path forward isn’t about choosing between user needs and commercial success. Instead, it’s about aligning them.
Six senior product executives from Gannett, FOX, People Inc., The Economist, The Atlantic and The Wall Street Journal share how they’re navigating AI disruption, multi-generational audiences, competing for scarce attention, and aligning user needs with business goals.
Generative AI impacts everything
All of the executives DCN spoke with cited generative AI as the most disruptive technology shaping their product strategy. However, their thoughts and approaches varied.
“From a product perspective, we need to be sure that anything we do is beneficial to the reader,” explained Taneth Evans, head of digital for The Wall Street Journal. “One good example is our AI summaries at the top of articles. We first articulated a hypothesis, then we ran A/B tests and spoke to readers in order to make sure the WSJ audience was always at the heart of our ultimate decision.”
Adam McClean, chief product officer at People Inc. says generative AI is disrupting user behavior and audience acquisition, pushing media companies to diversify how they reach people. However, he points out that “It also opens up new opportunities to improve efficiency inside our organizations. People Inc. is no exception, and we are adjusting our strategy to meet both the challenges and the opportunities this technology creates.”
At The Economist, Chief Product Officer Liz Goulding says that generative AI is influencing both how people consume content and how they create products. “These two forces may look separate, but in reality, they reinforce each other,” she says. “As discovery habits shift, the need for our products to stand out… becomes even more critical. The tools available to product teams — from sharper analytics to generative design aids — are helping us respond to those needs faster and with greater precision.”
Kara Chiles, senior vice president of media products at Gannett | USA TODAY Network, explained the company is experimenting with automation and AI-based systems, anticipating it will have the greatest impact on their product strategy and business. “This isn’t new – we’ve been experimenting with this technology for some time. What is new is awareness across the board that this moment is different,” she says. “It’s opening up some bold thinking about how we create and sustain differently.”
FOX’s product teams are identifying where generative AI can enhance the consumer experience, help to personalize user journeys, and improve operational efficiency, explained John Fiedler, EVP of product & engineering at Fox. “We are being intentional. We’re prioritizing use cases that make our products more intuitive without adding unnecessary complexity. The goal is to integrate these technologies in ways that genuinely elevate the overall experience.”
Put users first
The media product leaders we spoke with consistently emphasized that putting audience needs at the center of product development didn’t compete with commercial goals, rather, it drove them. But how that alignment played out in strategy and practice varied across organizations.
Adam McClean and Liz Goulding emphasized strategic alignment, that user needs drive commercial value.
“If you are building products the right way, commercial objectives should enhance the user experience rather than compete with it,” says McClean. “At People Inc. we think of it less as a balancing act and more as an alignment exercise. When we design features that truly meet user needs, they naturally create value for our business.”
Whereas Goulding explains she’s always viewed user needs and commercial objectives as far more aligned than they’re sometimes portrayed. “Meeting user needs makes a product more desirable and reduces churn — that’s a win commercially. At The Economist, we approach this systematically. We assign tangible value to user needs within our internal prioritization framework.”
Other executives focused on practical execution, explaining how to implement that alignment through research, feedback, and iteration. Great product experience builds audience and brand loyalty, which drives monetization over time.
Gannett incorporates user needs at multiple points through new product creation, Chiles explains. “From identifying the task we are looking to accomplish, understanding the target audience, and validating whether the concepts we’re excited about are reaching the intended user. It’s challenging when you put something fresh and different in front of an existing audience – change is friction.”
Fox starts their product discovery process with the consumer in mind, then brings in commercial considerations to ensure every feature is evaluated for both impact and sustainability, Fiedler says. “Striking the right balance means building thoughtfully, listening to users, analyzing the data, and being ready to adjust if something isn’t delivering for both the audience and the business.”
At The Atlantic, the product team is focused on producing the best, highest quality reporting for their audience and delivering it in the most intuitive and creative way they can, says Gitesh Gohel, chief product officer at The Atlantic. “When we nail that product-market fit with The Atlantic’s values baked into everything we’re thinking about, we end up serving both sides really well,” he says. “We also know what we’re really good at – helping people understand the why behind the stories – and we don’t try to be everything to everyone. That focus is key.”
The biggest challenges in media product strategy
This year, media product leaders are facing complex challenges, from audiences spanning generations, to delivering seamless experiences, all without compromising quality or brand trust.
The Atlantic’s Gohel says they’re always exploring how they can expand what the publication can do for its readers or what it can help them with. “We’re spending a lot of time right now thinking about our mobile app experiences and building direct relationships with our readers. We’re thinking about moving our audience through all the different experiences and products The Atlantic has,” he says.
At The Wall Street Journal, Evans explains that their audiences and their expectations are shifting significantly. “We now span many generations with different preferences in how they want to consume our journalism, and we have to be there to meet them all. That means thinking about text and text-adjacent formats, as well as video, audio, graphics, conversations and more,” Evans says. “And the great challenge facing us all: how do we integrate all of this into a seamless experience fit for our many differing audience needs?”
Yet, for others, the challenge is about balancing speed, quality, and brand.
“We have to move fast to keep pace with the market, while still protecting the brand equity and product quality our users expect from us,” says McClean.
“For us, the biggest challenge is focus,” says Fiedler. “With so many emerging technologies, platforms, and potential partnerships, the most challenging hardest – and most important – decisions are often choosing what not to pursue. That discipline allows us to concentrate our efforts on what matters most to our audience.”
Another challenge product leaders spoke about was competing for audience attention and time, particularly as they consume news in so many places, says Goulding.
“Attention is scarce, and our audience has endless options at their fingertips,” she says. “For The Economist, the opportunity lies in deepening the connection between our journalism and our readers. [We must ensure] that when people choose to spend time with us, it feels not only rewarding but indispensable.” That means creating products that meet The Economist’s audience where they are, in formats that suit their lives, without compromising on quality.
It also means addressing the challenge of creating useful and meaningful content for audiences that empower audiences. “I can’t think of a time where having accurate and credible information has been more important,” says Chiles. “Our goal is to provide that information through an experience that makes users feel confident they have the tools to be informed, entertained and make better decisions for their lives.”
Design for people, teams, and purpose
For product executives in media in 2025, every decision ripples across audiences, teams, and platforms. Successful product leaders have discovered that true alignment, where great user experience drives revenue, isn’t just better strategy, it’s the only sustainable path forward. As audiences fragment across generations and platforms, and AI reshapes how people discover and consume content, the complexity facing product executives is undeniable.
However, these leaders have found clarity. When user needs drive everything, the challenge shifts from managing trade-offs to orchestrating alignment across strategy and business objectives. In a landscape where attention is currency, this isn’t just good product philosophy, it’s survival.
