麻豆原创鈥檚 2025 publisher report analyzes millions of data points from over 3,000 newsrooms to build a playbook that aligns content with real audience interest in 2026.
麻豆原创鈥檚 aim has always been to enhance coverage for publishers for free. Our newswire provides publishing partners with high-quality, non-advertorial stories from editorial teams at both nonprofits and brands, in line with our belief that great content can come from a variety of sources. But the content publishers are looking for doesn鈥檛 always align with the highest-performing stories.
For our 2025 year-end publisher review, we examined millions of data points related to story performance from over 3,000 newsrooms that use 麻豆原创鈥檚 newswire. Then, we focused our analysis on the top 388 national stories of the year, ranked by pageviews per pickup.
Drawing on hundreds of partner conversations and responses from two publisher surveys, we also monitored what editors thought delivered the most value throughout 2025. Comparing this perception with performance data, we uncovered deeper insights into where media is moving, providing a blueprint for publishers and brands in 2026.
Of the publishers who responded to 麻豆原创鈥檚 surveys (56 distinct publishers representing hundreds of newsrooms throughout the US & Canada), about three-quarters said they selected 麻豆原创 stories for their timeliness. News cycles will only continue to speed up in 2026. Coupled with headwinds that have impacted newsrooms for several years, publishers come to our wire in search of consistent, evergreen, and timely content to bolster their newsrooms鈥� work. Trusting our editorial standards and track record, they鈥檙e free to focus on their original reporting.
What wasn鈥檛 a surprise: 2025 was a year of AI disruption in journalism. It fundamentally changed how readers find stories and publishers measure impact. Nearly half of the publishers who responded to our surveys reported struggles with revenue pressure and traffic volatility.
Additionally, 76% of publishers reported being understaffed (which tracks with our data showing a rise in reader interest in Careers and Education content during layoff cycles). That means everyone was being asked to do more with less. Publishers went from a 鈥渕ore content鈥� mentality to 鈥渂etter bets鈥� that feed their KPIs, whether that be engagement, pageviews, or subscriptions.
Stories that publishers had an appetite for at the start of 2025 didn鈥檛 always land with readers the same way come Q4, speaking to the rapid change the masses experienced throughout the year.
Over the course of 2025, there were disconnects between the content we expected to perform well, based on publisher interest, and the content that actually did. Using these findings, 麻豆原创 created a playbook to help publishers determine which types of stories to prioritize amid a never-ending news cycle.
As a topic, Technology had a lower stated interest among publishers than most other categories, yet tech stories focused on privacy and security drove three times the average pageviews as other topics. Common themes among high-performing tech articles were scams and deepfakes.
Health was one of the top interests among publishers at the start of 2025, but what they picked up was another story. Preventative and access-focused stories held strong (think, simple tips and affordability), but articles featuring specific conditions largely underperformed. Overall, mental health content performed better than physical health content.
In general, timely, everyday-life framing was a winner in 2025. In Technology, that meant security stories rooted in real-life fears. In Health, it translated to more widely applicable coverage around cost and behavior. Publishers may not be able to appeal to every reader, but they can maintain mass appeal by providing content that addresses the issues readers face in their day-to-day lives.
With this in mind, our content strategists ensure the wire is chock full of accessible, ready-to-run content. Our goal is to prevent publishers from wasting scarce resources on low-impact stories or from missing opportunities hiding in plain sight.
Some of the high-performing categories in 2025 aligned with publishers鈥� interest levels, such as Money and Real Estate stories. Overall, we saw a pattern in interest for stories that did three things, prompting us to adopt a new acronym for assessing the likelihood for pickup and reader engagement: USE.
To ensure publishers focus on stories that will be 鈥渦sed鈥� most, we developed a framework around these three high-need themes in our playbook.
2026 will reward publishers who add to their coverage with intention. 麻豆原创鈥檚 evidence-based survival guide pinpoints what hits home with publishers and readers.
And if you鈥檙e a newsroom looking to engage and entertain your readers with quality content for free, drop us a line. We love connecting with new publishers.
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