Where Publishing Meets Innovation with Karen Oh

On this episode of The Community Exchange Podcast, we welcome Karen Oh, Chief of Staff at Ziff Davis, to discuss: — Building a career across Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, and Meta before landing in media — The story behind one of media's rarest roles: Chief of Staff at a major digital publisher — The real reasons publisher traffic is declining beyond Google Zero — The growing pressure on publishers to diversify beyond a single traffic channel — How Ziff Davis thinks about blocking AI bots, and when that strategy backfires — AI scraping as a business model threat, not just a content problem — The enduring value of authoritative brands in a world of AI-generated answers — The duality every publisher is living: fighting AI scraping while using AI every day — The case for one-on-one aha moments as the key to internal AI adoption And more. New episodes of The Community Exchange Podcast are released each week. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts to get the latest right in your feed. About OpenWeb: OpenWeb's mission is to improve the quality of conversations online, building a healthier web where content creators of all kinds are empowered to thrive in the emerging community economy. As a product company, OpenWeb partners with publishers and brands to build strong, direct relationships with their audiences. OpenWeb's technology empowers its partners to build vibrant communities rooted in healthy conversations and robust social experiences. OpenWeb works with more than 5,000 top-tier publishers, hosting more than 150 million active users each month. Founded in 2015, OpenWeb has over 350 employees in New York City, Tel Aviv, Kiev, San Diego, Canada, London, and Paris and is backed by world-class investors including Georgian, Insight Partners, Entrée Capital, The New York Times, Samsung Next, Dentsu, and ScaleUp. To date, the company has raised $393 million in funding and is currently valued at $1.5 billion. To learn more about OpenWeb's platform visit OpenWeb.com or follow @OpenWebHQ on LinkedIn. Chapters: 0:00 – 1:58 — Intro and Karen's path from Atlanta to Georgia Tech 1:59 – 4:53 — From Goldman Sachs intern to Deloitte consultant and burning out on the road 4:54 – 9:08 — Joining Meta, building culture, and what made it a great place to work 9:09 – 14:28 — The Meta layoffs, the shock of losing a job, and lessons on career security 14:29 – 19:30 — The power of network, landing at Ziff Davis, and what a Chief of Staff actually does 19:31 – 22:29 — Ziff Davis, the pivot to digital media, and betting on strong brands in the AI era 22:30 – 28:07 — Google Zero unpacked, AI Overviews, ads crowding publishers out, and Google Discover 28:08 – 32:07 — Search fragmentation across social, AI platforms, and commerce 32:08 – 37:11 — The AI bot blocking debate and why fair value exchange is the missing piece 37:12 – 42:25 — The accuracy problem with AI health answers and why authoritative brands still matter 42:26 – 46:57 — Driving internal AI adoption, the Gemini Champions program, and going all-in on Claude