The Daily Mail GEO program is running between 12 and 15 tests across the U.S., U.K. and Australia before an AI visibility product early next year. Carly Steven, the publisher’s director of SEO and editorial ecommerce, described the tests at Digiday’s Media Strategies London event, Digiday reported on Oct. 26, 2026. Brands are already asking how to appear in AI answers, and Steven framed that demand as a possible new revenue area, not only a defensive play.
Key Takeaways
- Daily Mail is running 12 to 15 GEO tests in the US, UK and Australia.
- A personal finance brand’s prompt visibility rose from about 50% to nearly 75%.
- A commercial AI visibility product is planned for early next year.
- Future’s GEO product has more than 30 clients and has secured renewals.
How the Daily Mail GEO Tests Work
Each test starts with the prompts a consumer might use when researching a product or service. The team tracks those prompts across AI platforms over time, notes which sources are cited, and creates bespoke branded content where it sees an opening.
“We know LLMs are probabilistic,” Steven said. The same search hours later can return different results, so the team tracks prompts over a very long period to build a benchmark of where a brand sits and which sources are cited.
The steps she described:
- Identify consumer research prompts.
- Track which sources AI platforms cite over time.
- Publish branded content only where that citation mix leaves room.
- Measure whether the brand’s visibility on those prompts rises.
Where a Finance Test Moved, and Where It May Not
In one early test for an unnamed personal finance brand, visibility across the target prompts rose from about 50% to nearly 75%. The content was cited for most of the prompts the team tracked. Wisevoter’s account of the same reporting also places that finance case beside Future and Forbes.
She stressed the opening is not universal. Where government or medical sites dominate, there may be less room for publisher-led branded content to influence results. When publishers make up a significant share of citations and a brand has little visibility, Steven said, the team sees an opening to create tailored content and track whether it improves the brand’s presence in AI answers.
“We look at this as actually quite an exciting new potential revenue opportunity – not just a defensive play, but [we’re] actually starting to think there is a new area for the business.”
She put the commercial case in those terms, Digiday reported. Brands, she added, are already asking how the publisher can help them appear in spaces where their customers are.
Clicks Do Not Capture the GEO Sale
Proving impact is harder. An AI recommendation does not have to produce a click: a person may see the brand, then search later. Steven said the team is working with brands to look past referral analytics and build a fuller picture of how AI visibility affects conversions.
“There’s a lot of awareness that there is a gap in the attribution model. It’s a bit like putting an advert on a billboard or in a print newspaper. It’s how do we measure those things?”
She listed tracking visibility and citations as important metrics to follow. Some brands are returning to forms that ask how customers heard about them. In one example, Claude was 0.1% of referrals in analytics but around 11% of conversions in those responses. She said the example showed why referral data alone may not capture AI’s impact.
Publishers Packaging the Same Demand
Productizing and monetizing AI visibility has become one of the most talked-about topics internally at many publishers over the last six months, Digiday reported.
| Publisher | Status | Public detail |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Mail | 12 to 15 tests; product early next year | About 50% to nearly 75% on target prompts |
| Future | GEO product; renewals secured | More than 30 clients |
| Ziff Davis | Multiple GEO clients | No client figure in the report |
| Forbes | Consultative AI-search offer | Standalone or bundled products in development |
| CNNIC and Warner Brothers Discovery | No official product yet | Raised in most commercial meetings |
Forbes chief innovation officer Nina Gould said brands had asked for help appearing in AI search. Forbes began with its Vetted reviews: tracking citations, optimizing content, and sharing results with partners. She said that work had helped Forbes secure better affiliate commissions, sponsorships and native-ad deals. Separately, she said the consultative approach had deepened brand partnerships.
“It’s deepened the brand partnerships in a lot of ways because, again, it’s consultative, so it feels like a partnership between the two brands, which we really like.”
Gould described standalone or bundled products—ways to assess visibility before and after an optimization or campaign—as work in development, not a fully established product. Rob Bradley, group SVP of digital advertising and operations at CNNIC and Warner Brothers Discovery, told Digiday that brands and CMOs raise the question in most commercial meetings, even with no official product to roll out yet.
Selling the Offer Inside the Mail
Steven said the idea of selling GEO packages to brands took time to gain traction internally, partly because the team was still working out how to explain the proposition. Interest grew as brands began approaching the commercial team. Developing the offer has meant closer collaboration across commercial, commerce, native advertising, product and editorial.
Any new commercial work, she said, must remain aligned with protecting IP and the value of the journalism. That means assessing when to unblock specific campaign content where it supports a brand’s visibility. Digiday’s same report also noted Meta’s delay of updated commercial terms amid publisher pushback over content use, covered in the delay to Meta’s updated commercial terms.
