Why digital publishers should invest in revenue diversification

AI is accelerating traffic declines, CPMs are trending downward, and privacy regulations are becoming increasingly complex. Diversifying revenue streams is no longer optional.

The thing about a single river

When Rome built its empire, it also built a weakness. Most of its wheat came from the Nile, and when the river failed one year, famine spread across the empire’s cities. One bad flood, and the whole system cracked.

Business isn’t so different. When your growth depends on a single “river” of revenue, you’re one dry season away from hunger. Diversify, and you build resilience.

Ezra Menaged, COO of Vertical Scope, is no stranger to the volatility of the industry:

“Every few years, publishers face the end of the world. 2018 was Facebook, 2020 was syndication. I used to get hundreds of thousands of clicks a day from Messenger. What I’ve learned is simple: whatever you’re standing on will eventually collapse. The only certainties in life are death, taxes, and publisher revenue streams drying up. The only way publishers can survive is by constantly finding the next thing. SEO is just another chapter in a book that’s still being written.”

Creating new rivers

Before joining Kueez, I spent seven years at Waze, a Google-owned navigation app, where I drove direct ad sales to brands and agencies. Waze had the most engaged community I’ve ever seen and a unique market position - but almost all its revenue came from one source: direct ad deals.

That river never fully ran dry, but it never filled enough to meet our growth ambitions. Eventually, Google sunset the Waze ad product entirely, shifting to new monetization strategies.

When I arrived at Kueez, I found a company with adaptability in its DNA. It began as a social publisher, building engaging Facebook apps. A sudden shift by Facebook around 2019 meant Kueez’s river dried overnight, so the company quickly pivoted into open web content, scaled significantly, and eventually leveraged our inhouse tech to evolve into a client-facing tech company.

Today, we help publishers and performance marketers grow profitably. That constant reinvention - leveraging unique assets and building new streams - has been the key to Kueez’s resilience.

The publishers’ shifting ecosystem

In conversations with leading digital publishers, I’ve seen firsthand how the ground beneath them is moving fast. Their challenges can include:

• Zero-click search and shrinking referrals: AI-generated answers in search results are siphoning off as much as 50% of referral traffic.
• Programmatic yield squeeze: open exchanges commoditize inventory; without advanced tech and identity solutions, CPMs are on a downhill.
• Untapped assets: many publishers have high-value verticals, engaged communities, evergreen content, and ranking power they aren’t fully monetizing.

The climate is changing around these rivers. Growth and sustainability require building on new foundations. Patrick McCarthy, SVP of Programmatic Monetization at People, Inc, also highlighted this at AdMonsters’ Sell Side Summit in Austin, noting that:

“The best path forward in the AI search era is for publishers to try and “maintain” the web page business while diversifying into other areas.”

Identify, apply, diversify

Across Kueez and in publisher partnerships, I’ve seen a repeatable growth framework:

Identify your assets: these include trusted vertical hubs or engaged communities; evergreen content with high intent (reviews, rankings, how-tos); first-party audiences (memberships, newsletters, cohort data); and archives, datasets, and editorial IP.

Apply the right monetization: If you have high yet under-monetized traffic, use advanced tech to unlock value. i.e. cookieless targeting, in-app expansion, machine learning for dynamic throttling, and vertical-first PMPs tied to authenticated first-party identity.

Meanwhile, if you have great unique content, leverage content syndication to extend reach beyond your own domains. This could include licensing vertical content, providing data feeds, or white-labeling newsletters. Finally, if you have engaged communities, grow commerce/affiliate streams by combining Amazon’s affiliate marketing program or vertically specific direct deals.

Build or partner?

Expanding into new streams requires resources. Decide where in-house control matters most - and where partnering accelerates results, i.e:

• In programmatic, in-house works best if you have strong ad tech, a robust A/B testing platform, a skilled team, and the infrastructure to manage all granular aspects of bidding, flooring, demand etc. Strategic tech partnerships or tech-enhanced demand partners can expand demand access, optimize supply paths, and boost yield with less operational complexity.
• In affiliate commerce, in-house might ease concerns on tight brand alignment, while partners with designated talent and technology can accelerate growth, integrate advanced solutions and scale affiliate programs efficiently and more rapidly.

Key takeaways for publishers?

• Don’t plant on one river. Overreliance - on direct sales, search traffic, or affiliate - is high risk. One dry season, and the system starts to crack.
• Turn assets into springboards. Look at everything you already have: your strengths, your expertise, your unique commercial ties, your loyal audiences. Turn these into springboards - monetize vertical communities, first-party data, evergreen content, and archives across multiple channels.
• Think 1+1=3. It’s a world where collaboration creates exponential value. The right partner doesn’t just add to what you have; they unlock new capabilities, amplify your assets, and open doors you couldn’t reach alone. A smart partnership can change the face of your company.
• Build the next river before you need it. If your main river is flowing just as you dreamed, great. Use that momentum to invest in new streams that will keep your business resilient and future-proof.

About Kuneez:

Kueez is a tech partner to leading publishers, helping them turn data, content, business collaborations and audiences into sustainable revenue streams. They work hand-in-hand with publishers, helping them turn data, content, business collaborations and audiences into sustainable revenue streams. To learn more, contact the Kueez team.

About the writer:

Drawing on 15 years’ experience at leading tech companies including Publicis, Google, and Kueez, Ziv Mishan focuses on building growth through strategic partnerships and turning high-value assets into sustainable revenue engines. Chat with Ziv at Zivm@kueez.com.

This is content created in paid partnership with Kueez. We only feature partners who we believe bring real value to the publisher community.