Roundtable executives say media brands must own their audience and data as AI summaries cut traffic and revenue.
James Heckman, CEO of AI-driven, Web3 media platform - RTB Digital, Inc. (dba “Roundtable”), said media brands need to stop handing over their audience relationships to centralized technology platforms, arguing that artificial intelligence summaries are worsening an already fragile business model for publishers.
Speaking to The Block, Heckman said Roundtable is building a blockchain-based media platform designed to give publishers more control over revenue, user data and distribution. Roundtable recently secured shareholder approval for its merger with RYVYL Inc. (NASDAQ: RVYL) and announced a $10 million strategic investment alongside new board additions.
A push for ownership in media
Heckman said the company’s goal is to “restore control to media content contributors, mainstream media brands,” adding that publishers should control “their own data, their own audience, their own revenue, their own reporting.”
He described the platform as combining platform-as-a-service media tools with DeFi, or decentralized finance, so publishers can get paid in real time. “We’re 100% on the blockchain,” he said.
For Heckman, the issue is bigger than technology. He argued that journalists and publishers have spent years building audiences on platforms they do not truly control.
“Ownership is your brand, your content connected to your audience,” he said. “Don’t forfeit your brand. Build your brand. Don’t give it to somebody else.”
Heckman argued that the current system forces publishers to give up control. “Must they forfeit the data of their audience to a centralized Silicon Valley platform? The answer is yes right now,” he said.
Heckman calls out ChatGPT summaries
Heckman said artificial intelligence is intensifying those problems, especially as platforms roll out automated summaries that reduce clicks to original reporting.
“Right now ChatGPT is stealing that content, summarizing it, putting a tiny little gray attribution at the bottom of it,” he said. He added that the model is “stripping the commercial value out of somebody’s work.”
Roundtable CFO Aly Madhavji echoed that concern, saying AI summaries are already reducing traffic to publishers. “We’ve seen up to a 76% decline of traffic on the internet since basically AI summaries,” he said.
Madhavji also warned that centralized platforms can limit access to audiences. “If you’re the wrong opinion to someone else, you can get deplatformed,” he said, arguing that decentralized systems can help preserve access to information.
Why crypto still matters
Madhavji said his own early interest in crypto came from the technology’s promise of “accountability, auditability, and transparency.” He said blockchain can help move power away from centralized institutions and into the hands of users.
He pointed to stablecoins and Bitcoin as examples of tools people are already using to step outside traditional systems, especially in emerging markets.
“This is the first time in human history where we can actually bring power to the people effectively,” Madhavji said.
Heckman ended with a warning for creators and publishers who rely too heavily on outside platforms.
“You just can’t be lazy and let somebody else own your stuff,” he said.