News UK launches AI-generated audiences to speed up campaign testing
News UK, publisher of The Times and Sunday Times, has released Times ExplorAItion, a product that uses AI to simulate how audience groups might respond to advertising campaigns. The tool lets marketers run surveys, focus groups and experiments against synthetic audiences trained on real reader data-and get results in minutes instead of weeks.
The product emerged after Electric Twin, a synthetic audience startup, presented at an AI summit at News UK's London headquarters. Marketing teams at the publisher showed early interest, leading to commercial deployment.
How it works
Times ExplorAItion lets advertisers test different messaging, creative and campaign approaches against AI-generated audience models. Rather than commissioning traditional research each time, marketers can validate campaign ideas quickly or identify niche audience segments within The Times' readership.
News UK built the synthetic audiences using reader panels, surveys and PAMCo data-a nationally representative demographic dataset. The company describes this human-gathered information as the seed data that trains the AI models.
Cost and speed advantages
Charlie Celino, commercial services director at News UK, said Times ExplorAItion could deliver "around a 10x saving" compared with traditional audience research in both time and resources. Marketers can generate "real insights and meaningful insights in a matter of minutes" rather than waiting for slower, more expensive human research.
Agencies and advertisers have pushed for faster turnarounds. "With the inclusion of AI in our everyday lives, agencies and clients are expecting responses quicker than ever," Celino said. "They need to be validated more than ever."
Not a replacement-yet
News UK is clear that Times ExplorAItion won't replace existing audience research. Celino said human-led research remains the "gold standard" because humans can tell stories, propose provocative ideas and disagree-capabilities the company wants to preserve.
The tool functions as another option in the planning and activation framework. News UK's studio team might use it to test messaging or gauge receptiveness from different angles, but not as a sole decision-maker.
Electric Twin's CEO Alex Cooper sees it differently. He argues the product "has the potential to be more accurate" than human research because actual behavior differs from stated preferences. People say they'll do one thing but do another.
Growing market
Synthetic audience technology has existed in testing phases and at agencies, but The Times appears to be the first major UK publisher to bring such a product to market from the supply side. The space is expanding rapidly. "When we started, everyone thought we were mad," Cooper said. "Now it's like a real thing, and it's dozens of companies."
News UK launched Times ExplorAItion with The Times first and plans to roll it out to other News UK titles in coming months. One early client is using the product to understand a niche audience segment for an upcoming campaign.
The company's ambition is to move synthetic audiences from experimentation into routine use across its publishing operations.
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