Get ready for a fresh take on Mi3 in 2026! We're shaking things up to bring you even more valuable insights, right to your inbox and website. You'll notice some exciting changes in how we deliver our reporting, designed to make your life easier and keep you ahead of the curve. We're expanding our Mi3 Daily Edition to five days a week, and integrating our Fast News service directly into our main offering.
Whether you're a CMO, an agency head, or a tech supplier, Mi3 is now your one-stop shop for in-depth analysis, insightful perspectives, and the latest industry news, all in one place.
But here's the best part: We're not abandoning our core mission of providing thought-provoking content and challenging the status quo. In fact, we're doubling down on our commitment to deliver a product that is both constructive and valuable for the marketing, agency/consulting, media, and tech communities. We're leveraging our editorial experience to bring you an even more comprehensive and thoughtfully curated offering.
We know that trade publications must evolve to stay relevant, and we're embracing new ways of working to deliver the information you need. Our goal is simple: to save you time and help you excel in your job.
That's why we've decided to merge our two-year-old transactional news service with our core Mi3 masthead content and newsletter offerings.
AI in Action: The Mi3 Experiment
It's been an eye-opening journey since we launched Mi3's Fast News. Born as an experiment in AI automation, the goal was to explore how machines could assist our team in delivering comprehensive coverage across the Australian marketing, agency/consulting, media, and tech sectors.
The project was about leveraging automation to provide a daily round-up of news that would be impossible for our editorial team to produce alone. We knew there was a demand for updates on people moves, promotions, company announcements, campaigns, and other developments in this fast-paced industry. This is what we call 'transactional' news, and Fast News was designed to deliver it. We brought in automation, always with human oversight, and separated the offering to understand its potential and limitations.
Two years later, I can safely say it's been an incredible experience, learning how AI can be integrated into the daily operations of a newsroom. Like many of you who read Mi3, it's been a hands-on experience in how machines work with humans and where the limitations of automation lie (and there are many!).
Just as our publication strives to deliver useful information that helps our industry progress, and others fight their own battles on where AI can play a role and where it shouldn’t, here are a few things the Mi3 has learnt about bringing AI into the mix.
Learning 1: A Solid Business Case is Essential
Mi3 Fast News wasn't intended to replace existing editorial staff or cut costs. It was a net-new product designed to expand our offering and audience reach while improving content delivery.
Fast News actually increased our editorial workload, but it was worth it to provide a more comprehensive offering to our community.
Learning 2: Humans are Crucial for AI Success
This is our most important lesson. It's a misconception that an AI product can operate independently. I've been asked if Mi3's AI operates on its own, and to what extent our editorial team makes active choices throughout the news creation process.
Let me be clear: The Mi3 editorial team actively participates in every stage of news creation, from selecting press releases to editing articles and ensuring the content is relevant.
We rely on our extensive industry experience, news judgment, contextual knowledge, and analytical skills to make our transactional news valuable. This wouldn't be possible without the editorial team and our nearly 100 years of combined experience.
Learning 3: Audiences Can Surprise You
Another key lesson has been about our audience's consumption of Mi3's transactional news. Our main offering, known for its intelligent and challenging analysis, had primarily attracted senior professionals. Before launching our transactional daily news, 70% of our audience had at least 10 years of industry experience, and the same ratio held managerial or higher positions.
By adding a lighter, complementary read to our content (think of it as the kale and the chocolate), we expected to diversify our audience to include more junior professionals.
That happened to some extent. But something more interesting occurred: Our quick reads have deepened our relationships with our readers. It has doubled Mi3's overall traffic and increased the frequency and engagement of our product with senior industry professionals.
Where Mi3 is Headed
By integrating our AI-supported transactional news into the main Mi3 offering, we're signaling that AI-supported content delivery is a permanent fixture in newsrooms. But here's the catch: We are still in control of the editorial product.
So, starting today, you'll see a daily, all-in-one offering that includes the in-depth content Mi3 is known for, plus our curated picks from the latest transactional news. We'll also continue to provide our weekly 'Big Hits' round-up to highlight the most popular reads.
We remain committed to providing valuable insights for leaders and emerging leaders across our core industry sectors.
What do you think? Are you excited about these changes? Do you agree with our approach to AI in the newsroom? Share your thoughts in the comments below – we'd love to hear from you!
