Inside Time Magazine’s AI Overhaul

This story was originally published in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry. You can sign up for it here. Last August, Time partnered with the digital agency Code and Theory on an ambitious new venture: Together, the two parties aimed to reimagine the digital presence of the publisher, revamping it with features powered by artificial intelligence. The project began with the decidedly unsexy task of restructuring the four different databases that, until then, had housed all 102 years of Time content, according to chief operating officer Mark Howard. That reconfiguration took months, but once it was complete the Code and Theory team was able to quickly develop and ship AI products that made use of the Time archive, Dave DiCamillo, chief technology officer at Code and Theory, told ADWEEK. In quick succession, the two began unveiling a steady stream of new features. Last December, in a limited first release, Time introduced an AI tool bar to accompany its Person of the Year package. In March, the publisher debuted a redesigned article page, which has since been used for all subsequent franchise and editorial packages, such as the Time CEO of the Year. In June, it launched its AI audio briefings, which use the technology to generate daily podcasts based on users’ consumption preferences. And in November, Time launched its on-site AI agent, an answer engine trained solely on Time reporting that can answer user queries. In the coming year, Code and Theory plans to launch AI products at an even more rapid clip, expanding beyond text into more immersive modes and making use of AI coding tools like Cursor to further expedite development, according to DiCamillo. Releases could increase from every few months to every few weeks. “It’s on us to show what’s possible from an engineering and product perspective,” he said. “Consumers are not waiting on publishers to figure this out. They need us to bring it to them.” FOR Scoops, Sharp Analysis, and Insider Context By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . You may opt-out anytime by clicking 'unsubscribe' from the newsletter or from your account. To be clear, Time is not alone in its efforts to use AI to transform its editorial products. Other publishers, including fellow legacy outlets like Newsweek and The Washington Post, have lately deployed new products at a rapid clip. So too have several digitally native publishers, like Business Insider and Bloomberg Media. Of course, these efforts have not been without their faults. AI is still liable to hallucinations, and these early experiments have seen their fair share of hiccups, which most often come in the form of inaccurate responses. Bloomberg Media had to correct three dozen AI-generated summaries earlier this year, while Politico’s Capitol AI product has been flagged for a similar series of mishaps. And such redesigns and format updates are by no means the solution to publishers’ broader economic concerns. Given the larger headwinds buffeting the industry, these updates can feel like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. “They are necessary but not sufficient,” said media analyst Brian Morrisey. But for Time, the initiative has yielded promising early results. Engagement per user has risen by 51%, according to Howard. And engagement on flagship features specifically, like the Time100, has risen 38%. The numbers complement a larger momentum afoot at the publisher. Last month, CEO Jessica Sibley outlined the commercial success the brand has seen. Digital revenues are up 22% year over year, while direct sold digital revenue grew 41%, according to Sibley. The company has been “self-funded” four of the last five quarters, although it declined to comment on whether it was profitable. (Intriguingly, the company also touted a somewhat bewildering statistic as a cause for celebration. By 2026, events and digital are projected to reach half of total revenue, up from 28% in 2023, according to Sibley. This would suggest that print revenues—along with other miscellany, such as subscriptions, licensing, and the like—still make up a significant portion of its overall business.) Howard was clear about the source of these revenue gains, which are not the result of these new AI products. Instead, he chalked up the improvements largely to the franchising model and the expanded slate and format of its events offerings. The website overhaul is still significant for a variety of reasons. First, given that the products are still relatively new, they will likely contribute more to revenue gains in the coming years. More importantly, though, they reflect one of the most visible ways in which publishers are responding to disruptions to their traffic posed by the emergence of AI search. Time, like other publishers, has seen its readership affected by answer engines. In response, it has taken steps to better capitalize on the visitors it does receive, deploying products whose primary purpose is to keep users on-site longer, engaging with more articles and generating more ad impressions. “As we deal with the headwinds of website traffic, when we get someone to our site we want to drive enhanced engagement,” Howard said. On a more philosophical level, the initiative underscores what it looks like when a publisher treats AI as an asset, rather than solely as a threat, according to Morrissey. “It’s good to see publishers using AI in ways that are not just defensive or to save money,” he said. “A lot of the use cases of AI are, so far, pretty uninspiring.” DiCamillo agreed, exhorting other publishers to lean into the technology rather than ignore or villainize it. “It’s rare that we get a publisher that wants to push the bounds like this,” he said. “Time is looking at this technology as an opportunity. If there is going to be a new reality, how can we engage with it?” Talking Heds The Daily Melee (Scoop): The turmoil at The Daily Mail is more severe than I had reported last week. According to multiple sources, parent company Daily Mail Global cut several members of its executive team last month, including Hannah Buitekant, its chief commercial digital and strategy officer; Jeremy Gan, its executive vice president of advertising; Brian Sanford, its commerce partnerships manager; Lauren Dick, its managing director of media and commerce; and Nicole Bamber, its head of U.S. communications, who is pregnant. Several members of the programmatic and commercial research teams were also let go. A spokesperson confirmed the cuts, adding that they were part of a realignment in the commercial team and affected a small number of roles. UnFortunate (Scoop): I reported last week that Fortune CEO Anastasia Nyrkovskaya abruptly stepped down from her role after less than two years in the position. Since then, a clearer explanation has emerged. After three years of profitability, Fortune lost money in 2024 and has been unprofitable in the nearly eight straight quarters since, according to multiple sources. The company is on pace to be near breakeven this year in part due to a 10% reduction in headcount this July. The outlook is a stark reversal of how things stood just last spring, when I called Fortune an improbable success. In that piece, I called out several potential challenges facing the company, many of which have since come to fruition. “Our future remains exceptionally bright, and we anticipate strong operational growth in 2026,” a spokesperson for the company told ADWEEK. “Fortune is in an ambitious new phase, expanding across platforms and into new global markets while also hiring for key roles across the company.” Substack Embraces Ads: One of the last great advertising holdouts has finally given in. On Tuesday, creator platform Substack announced that it is launching a pilot program designed to help facilitate the placement of directly sold sponsorships into its newsletter product. Cofounder Hamish McKenzie was quick to emphasize that the program is neither compulsory nor an ad network. The rollout is a limited trial to gather data to inform a broader release in 2026. But regardless, the commercial Rubicon has been crossed. Substack, alongside Netflix, for years denied that it would ever introduce advertising. But by now, we should know that such decisions are always matters of when, not if. Microsoft Nabs AI News Lead from Bloomberg (Scoop): On Friday, I scooped that Bloomberg Media chief operating officer Julia Beizer was leaving the company after eight years to join Microsoft, where she will lead its AI news product under Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. Beizer has an impressive record at Bloomberg, where she helped grow the subscription product to more than 700,000 paying customers, and she is well regarded in the industry. At Microsoft, she will be instrumental in helping the company collaborate with publishers to bring their reporting to its growing suite of AI products, which include Copilot and ChatGPT, in which Microsoft is the largest minority investor. Pulled Quotes “Remember when we told journalists to write more explainers? Yeah, sorry about that.” — Journalism professor Marie Gilot, describing the evolution of content strategy prompted by AI READ MORE “Before we get going, no comment.” — Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, at a movie premiere hours before Warner Bros. publicly accepted its $82.7 billion bidREAD MORE “I cannot imagine having gone through figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT.” — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, on The Tonight ShowREAD MORE “I wouldn’t even have known about the ban without social media.” — 15-year-old Australian Noah Jones, whose country just banned social media for people under 16READ MORE Quote/Unquote Tom Webster is a partner at Sounds Profitable, a podcast trade association I often turn to for help demystifying the complexities of the industry. On Wednesday, the firm released a report that surveyed more than 5,000 podcast creators—the largest such study in the U.S.—about their podcast creation experience. The results are fascinating, so I asked Webster to talk me through the highlights. Mark Stenberg: What was the most compelling finding from this study? Tom: The current creator landscape is as likely, if not more so, to be working in video than audio. According to our respondents, 71% of current podcasters create either video-only or combined video-and-audio podcasts, whereas only 29% create audio-only podcasts. Mark: There are interesting demographic implications related to the rise of video podcasting. Tom: There is a huge disparity in active creators between men and women. Once men and women are creating podcasts, they are equally likely to stay in it, but women are about half as likely to be creating. I think the drive to video is part of that. It’s not a question of lack of interest, tools, or ability. I think it has to do with the expectations of burdens of going on camera are different for women than men. Mark: Broadly speaking, what do you make of podcasting’s embrace of video? How has it changed the medium? Tom: Video has been eating podcasting for a while, but what struck me this year was that if you look at the data for the top podcasts, you can reach the second-tier, or “middle class” of podcasting, with an audio-only product. But there’s almost nobody in the top tier that’s not doing video. Mark: Is this the year that video ate podcasting? Tom: This was the year that clips ate video. Mark: What is the next big trend in podcasting? Tom: If 2025 was the year of clips, next year is about the living room. About 5% of podcast consumption occurs on smart TVs, and I think that is poised to grow.

Digital Transformation

Inside Time Magazine’s AI Overhaul

The publisher, in partnership with Code and Theory, is revamping its web presence and reaping the benefits.

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Mark Stenberg

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