---
title: Publishing’s traffic jam
description: Why are we still obsessed with page views?
---

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# Publishing’s traffic jam

[Alan Hunter](https://www.hbmadvisory.com/media-hunter/author/alan-hunter)  21 February 2025

 4 min read

**Why are we still obsessed with page views?**

Is it the lure of a big number? Is it because page views are an easy concept to understand? Is it because of the (perceived) link to advertising revenues?

You can tell a newsroom that traffic is a curious beast, dependent on many factors which are beyond both our control and sometimes our understanding, but still most conversations about data in news meetings will revolve around the stories with the highest page views.

And yet even advertising colleagues will tell you that they don’t really want to sell traffic any more. After all, if you want to reach a wide audience, there are plenty of better options than publisher sites these days.

This week my colleague [Michael Brunt](https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbrunt/) tackles a real conundrum in the news publishing space: why are we still so obsessed with traffic? He calls it [“the traffic jam”](https://tomorrowspublisher.today/editors-picks/the-traffic-jam/).

Elsewhere, [Cobus Heyl](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cobusheyl/), a fantastic programmer of media conferences, explains why the trend of [catering to niches](https://tomorrowspublisher.today/editors-picks/the-power-of-niche-events/) is entering the events space. He thinks it is a great way for publishers to connect with their audiences, promote loyalty and develop coverage ideas.

[Is Grok-3 the future of news?](https://tomorrowspublisher.today/editing-tools/is-grok-3-the-future-of-news/)

Are you even a timely newsletter if you don’t mention Elon Musk somewhere? The media’s irritant-in-chief has been sounding off this week about how linking his AI tool to the output of X could make legacy media obsolete. While there’s the usual health check to his bombast, it is worth taking him seriously if not literally.

[NZ Herald announces restructure with focus on video](https://tomorrowspublisher.today/monetisation/nz-herald-announces-restructure-with-focus-on-video/)

This is one to watch closely. While naturally we don’t like to see journalists losing their jobs, we believe that newsrooms need to shake off their print legacy structures sooner rather than later. And from New Zealand we have a title that is doing so and focusing their future squarely on video. Forget the scars of the pivots to/from/to video: this is the media that we need to get right.

[How to succeed in the shift from SEO to AEO](https://tomorrowspublisher.today/editors-picks/how-to-succeed-in-shift-from-seo-to-aeo/)

Our readers remain interested in this story about how to succeed in a future where answer engine optimisation may supplant SEO in importance. I was reminded of this again reading an [excellent piece](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/19/1112076/your-most-important-customer-may-be-ai/) earlier this week in MIT Technology Review about how brands are changing the way they describe their products to make the language and concepts easier for AI to understand. It’s a brave new world out there…

## Next blog post

<https://www.hbmadvisory.com/media-hunter/super-bundles-are-go>

## [Super bundles are go!](https://www.hbmadvisory.com/media-hunter/super-bundles-are-go)

[Read more](https://www.hbmadvisory.com/media-hunter/super-bundles-are-go)

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