The Athletic Fights AI Scrapers With Video: Will This Sticky Gamble Save Sports Journalism?

The Athletic's Strategic Pivot to Video Against AI Scraping

The digital media landscape is facing a seismic shift, driven by the relentless advance of generative artificial intelligence. As Large Language Models (LLMs) increasingly ingest and regurgitate vast swathes of online text to formulate answers, premium content providers are scrambling to defend their intellectual property and readership base. The core problem facing publishers today is stark: their painstakingly researched written journalism is rapidly becoming the free fuel for AI answer engines, potentially rendering traditional paywalls obsolete.

In response to this existential threat, The Athletic is deploying an innovative, technology-forward countermeasure, as detailed in insights shared by @glenngabe on Feb 10, 2026 · 1:36 PM UTC. Their bold gamble centers on leveraging multimedia: betting that embedding rich video content directly within their signature live blogs will prove inherently stickier for readers. This strategic pivot aims for a dual benefit: not only does increased video consumption boost fan engagement metrics—keeping users on the platform longer—but it theoretically presents a far more complex barrier to automated scraping by AI systems designed primarily to ingest text streams.

This move signals a willingness to fundamentally alter content presentation, prioritizing experience over simple transcription in the fight against automated appropriation.

Reinforcing the Live Blog Infrastructure

The infrastructure for this strategy is not entirely new, demonstrating an evolution rather than a complete overhaul. The live blogging format has served as a central pillar of The Athletic’s coverage strategy since 2021, providing minute-by-minute updates during major sporting events. This format, historically text-heavy, is now being radically re-engineered.

The crucial change occurred just last month, relative to the current reporting period: the deliberate and systematic integration of dedicated video clips, analysis snippets, and highlights directly into these real-time feeds. This subtle but profound technical shift transforms the live blog from a mere textual chronicle into a dynamic multimedia hub.

Commitment to Video Leadership

The seriousness of this technological and editorial investment is underscored by significant organizational changes within the company. Recognizing the video pivot as central to its defense strategy, The Athletic made a decisive executive hire last month.

The appointment of Shaneika Dabney-Henderson as the platform’s first Global Head of Video sends an unambiguous signal. This is not a side project; it is a core directive. Placing dedicated, high-level leadership in charge of video production and deployment validates the belief that video—rather than just text—is the future moat protecting premium sports analysis.

Market Position and Audience Growth

Crucially, The Athletic is implementing this defensive strategy not from a position of weakness, but while demonstrating significant organic momentum. Data released in January 2026 paints a picture of a platform still aggressively growing its loyal readership base.

According to Similarweb data for January 2026, The Athletic clocked an impressive 16.9 million unique visitors. Even more telling is the year-over-year comparison: this figure marks a substantial 59% increase compared to the previous year.

This robust growth trajectory suggests that whatever friction the AI scraping threat presents, the core product appeal remains incredibly strong, offering a solid foundation upon which to test these new anti-scraping mechanics.

The Uncertainty of Long-Term Efficacy

While the immediate tactical execution appears sound—combining high engagement formats (live blogs) with high-friction content types (video)—the ultimate question remains unanswered. Will this specific tactic of video injection prove an insurmountable roadblock for sophisticated LLMs in the long run? As AI models continue to evolve, capable of not only transcribing video but perhaps even generating synthetic visual content based on metadata cues, the defense might require constant updating.

Time will ultimately tell if this "sticky gamble," as reported by @glenngabe, successfully safeguards premium sports journalism, or if it merely forces the next wave of AI innovation to find yet another vector of attack.

Source: Original Post on X by @glenngabe