FT Strategies and the Google News Initiative surpass 1,000-publisher milestone to drive sustainable growth across the news industry

The partnership between FT Strategies and the Google News Initiative (GNI) has always been about sharing and scaling the knowledge required for media organisations to thrive sustainably while remaining true to the journalism at the heart of the industry. Today, we’re not just celebrating that mission; we’re celebrating its groundbreaking success. We are delighted to announce that we have surpassed our objective of supporting 1,000 news organisations globally - a full year ahead of schedule.

This significant milestone is a testament to the powerful combination of the Financial Times' 130 years of hard-won, lived expertise and Google’s unmatched global scale. It proves that by focusing on practical, actionable strategies, we can accelerate digital transformation and financial resilience for publishers around the world.

“Reaching more than 1,000 publishers a year ahead of schedule demonstrates the real, lasting impact of our work with the Google News Initiative. Together, we’ve supported publishers across every continent in building sustainable, future-ready news businesses. At FT Strategies, we’re immensely proud of this milestone and excited by the important work still to come as we continue helping news organisations around the world to grow and prosper.”

 

Joanna Levesque
Managing Director, FT Strategies 

Our success is rooted deeper than the headline number. Being able to support 1,000 media organisations is a testament to the deep and embedded relationships we've built with publishers of all sizes across every continent. From established global brands to smaller, independent newsrooms grappling with local pressures and tightening market conditions, our approach has never been 'one-size-fits-all.'

We know that a publisher in Southeast Asia faces fundamentally different hurdles than one in Latin America or EMEA. That’s why we’ve focused on truly understanding each organisation’s specific challenges: whether it’s navigating the rise of AI within newsrooms, understanding complex governmental pressures, diversifying revenue streams or engaging younger audiences.

Our suite of programmes - from the pioneering AI Lab to the groundbreaking News Sustainability Project - is designed to listen first and understand the drivers of success in publishing worldwide. We pride ourselves on taking the time to diagnose publishers’ unique challenges, collaborating closely with each of them to develop tailored pathways to success that empower them to take the next steps in their transformation journeys.

This deep contextualisation has allowed us to move beyond the theory in our consulting work. Through the partnership, we offer practical support that delivers tangible results, measured through a structured approach to experimentation. This could be significant membership acquisition, or enabling a 32x increase in younger audience engagement through targeted platform strategies. Our collaborative, personal approach ensures that publishers aren't just given a roadmap; they're empowered to build a lasting engine for long-term growth.

Such collaboration is manifested in our partnership’s hugely popular events, including our flagship annual summit, News in the Digital Age, as well as alumni cohort mixers and in-person programme graduations. We are proud to deliver these events at scale each year, all over the world, celebrating the successes of our programme alumni while offering tangible case studies and insights from the world of publishing and beyond.

Supporting over a thousand publishers in their transformation journeys has provided us with an invaluable, deep repository of insights and data into the global media landscape. This unparalleled view informs our understanding of the industry's most critical challenge: the rise of AI.

We recognise that AI introduces complexity and legitimate concern, particularly in our industry of content creation. With that said, the data gathered from our AI programmes, including the incredibly successful AI Launchpad EMEA, shows a clear path forward. AI should be viewed not as a threat to the practice of journalism, but as a crucial enabler for long-term sustainable growth.

Publishers who embrace AI responsibly and ethically can enhance efficiency, personalise content delivery, reduce costs, and free up editorial teams to continue to focus on producing high-value and high-quality journalism that stands the test of time.

The data we’ve collected and the clear need we’ve identified have led us to our newest offering: AI Lab. AI Lab encapsulates the forward-looking evolution of our partnership. It is designed to move publishers beyond mere experimentation and into fully integrating AI into their core operations. It will provide bespoke consultation, hands-on workshops, and a framework for ethical deployment, ensuring publishers are equipped to navigate the AI-driven future with confidence.

We are immensely proud to have exceeded our partnership goals so quickly. It confirms that when you combine practical expertise with a mission to help, incredible things happen. We look forward to continuing this work, writing the next, most exciting chapter of sustainable news alongside the Google News Initiative. If you would like to find out more about how FT Strategies can help you achieve your business goals in 2026, get in touch with our expert team.

“We’ve had the privilege of working alongside news organisations of every size and in every region, helping them strengthen their operations and navigate an increasingly complex industry. This milestone highlights the scale of what’s possible when a shared mission is matched with expert, hands-on support.”

 

Lisa MacLeod 
Director, FT Strategies