2024 in review: A timeline of the major deals between publishers and AI companies
This year was the year many publishers took formalized stances on AI companies, many of which resulted in deals between the two.
The wave was first kicked off by an agreement between the Associated Press and OpenAI in July 2023, then followed by another deal between OpenAI and Politico, Business Insider, Bild and Welt owner Axel Springer.
The deals are usually content licensing agreements, where publishers let the AI companies use their content to train the large language models (often including paywalled content). In exchange, publishers get attribution for that content surfaced on the AI companies’ chatbot or search platforms, as well as access to technology that publishers can use to build AI-powered products and features.
Which large publishers haven’t signed major deals with AI companies yet? A number of media companies have chosen to go a different route and pursue legal action against AI companies. The New York Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI in December 2023, alleging its copyrighted articles were used to train AI models. So did Raw Story, AlterNet, The Intercept in February, eight daily newspapers in April and a group of Canadian news publishers in November. News Corp sued Perplexity in October alleging the company violated copyright and trademark laws by misusing content from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post.
Here’s a list of all the major deals signed between publishers and AI tech companies in 2024, in chronological order:
March 13: Le Monde, Prisa & OpenAI
Two major European publishers — French newspaper Le Monde and Spanish media company Prisa Media — signs a content licensing deal with generative AI company OpenAI, to put summaries of their news content in the ChatGPT chatbot with attribution. The publishers agree to use OpenAI’s tech to build and develop AI-powered products and projects.
“It also has the advantage of consolidating our business model by providing a significant source of additional, multi-year revenue, including a share of neighboring rights. An ‘appropriate and equitable’ portion of these rights, as defined by law, will be paid back to the newsroom,” wrote Louis Dreyfus, CEO of Le Monde, in a post announcing the deal.
April 29: Financial Times & OpenAI
U.K. business publication the Financial Times signs a deal with OpenAI. FT CEO John Ridding said in a statement that AI platforms should “pay publishers for the use of their material” and that AI products should “contain reliable sources.”
The deal is worth $5 million to $10 million a year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
April 29: Axel Springer & Microsoft
Axel Springer expands its partnership with Microsoft to develop new AI-driven products, working together across advertising, content and cloud computing. The news publisher will use Microsoft Advertising’s Chat Ads API to monetize the chat-based experiences, and work with the tech company to launch an AI-driven chat experience.
May 7: Dotdash Meredith & OpenAI
Dotdash Meredith signs a deal with OpenAI. As part of the agreement, OpenAI’s tech will be used to improve the company’s ad-targeting tool D/Cipher. It’s later reported the deal is worth at least $16 million.
“We have not been shy about the fact that AI platforms should pay publishers for their content and that content must be appropriately attributed,” Neil Vogel, CEO of Dotdash Meredith, said in a statement. “This deal is a testament to the great work OpenAI is doing on both fronts to partner with creators and publishers and ensure a healthy Internet for the future.”
May 8: Informa & Microsoft
U.K.-based B2B publisher Informa signs a deal with Microsoft, giving the tech company access to its data until 2027. The FT reported the deal is worth more than $10 million in its first year.
May 22 : News Corp, OpenAI
News Corp signs a five-year content licensing deal with OpenAI, worth over $250 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“We believe an historic agreement will set new standards for veracity, for virtue and for value in the digital age,” Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, said in a statement.
May 29: The Atlantic, Vox Media & OpenAI
On the same day, The Atlantic and Vox Media announce separate deals with OpenAI.
“We believe that people searching with AI models will be one of the fundamental ways that people navigate the web in the future,” Nicholas Thompson, The Atlantic’s CEO, said in a statement.
The Atlantic’s product team will get access to OpenAI’s technology — to give feedback on news experiences in ChatGPT and other OpenAI products, and to build a new experimental site called Atlantic Labs, where it will develop AI-powered products and features.
Vox Media will use OpenAI’s tech to improve its first party data platform Forte, and for content discovery and recommendations on its sites.
June 27: Time & OpenAI
Time and OpenAI sign a multi-year deal, giving OpenAI access to Time’s 100 years of content.
July 30: Time, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribune & Perplexity
Five publishers — and WordPress owner Automattic — join a revenue share program offered by AI search engine Perplexity. Time, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Entrepreneur and The Texas Tribune can make revenue from advertising served on Perplexity’s platform, a business that later launches in November.
August 6: Financial Times, Axel Springer, The Atlantic, Fortune & ProRata
The Financial Times, Axel Springer, The Atlantic, Fortune (and Universal Music Group) agree to license their content to generative AI startup company ProRata.ai. The deal offers 50% of subscription revenue made from an AI search engine, Axios reported, which later launches in December.
August 20: Condé Nast & OpenAI
Condé Nast enters a multi-year content licensing deal with OpenAI.
“Over the last decade, news and digital media have faced steep challenges as many technology companies eroded publishers’ ability to monetize content, most recently with traditional search. Our partnership with OpenAI begins to make up for some of that revenue, allowing us to continue to protect and invest in our journalism and creative endeavors,” writes CEO Roger Lynch in an internal company memo.
October 1: FT, Reuters, Axel Springer, Hearst, USA Today Network & Microsoft
Four publishers sign on to have their content appear in Copilot Daily, a new Microsoft feature of its Copilot AI-powered assistant that provides news summaries. Microsoft will pay the Financial Times, Reuters, Axel Springer, Hearst and USA Today Network to be part of the product, TechCrunch reported.
October 8: Hearst & OpenAI
Hearst announces a new licensing deal with OpenAI that will include content from its 20 magazines and over 40 local newspapers.
“Our partnership with OpenAI will help us evolve the future of magazine content,” Hearst Magazines president Debi Chirichella stated. “This collaboration ensures that our high-quality writing and expertise, cultural and historical context and attribution and credibility are promoted as OpenAI’s products evolve.”
October 25: Reuters & Meta
Reuters and Meta sign a multi-year deal to be paid to let Meta’s AI chatbot use Reuters content to answer users’ questions about the news in real time, Axios reported. The Meta AI chatbot is available across the company’s platforms, including Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram.
November 20: DMG media, Sky News, Guardian & ProRata
U.K.-based media companies DMG Media, Sky News and Guardian Media Group sign content licensing deals with ProRata. DMG Media also makes a “significant investment” in ProRata, Press Gazette reported.
“DMG media is delighted to have entered a commercial partnership with ProRata and to become the first U.K. news publisher to invest in an equity stake in this industry-leading platform,” stated Rich Caccappolo, vp of DMG Media, adding, “It could be the cornerstone of a sustainable economic model for news publishers, giving them the incentive to continue investing in high-quality, informative journalism.”
December 5: 14 publishers & Perplexity
Perplexity adds 14 more publishers to its revenue share program, including Blavity, Gear Patrol, The Independent, Lee Enterprises, Los Angeles Times, MediaLab, DPReview, Mexico News Daily, Minkabu Infonoid, NewsPicks, Prisa Media, RTL Germany brands stern and ntv, Adweek and World History Encyclopedia.
“Part of my mandate is to really grow and evolve this program. This is really just the first iteration. I’m looking forward to bringing on more partners early next year, and then working with our partners across different product collaborations as a benefit,” Jessica Chan, Perplexity’s new head of publisher partnerships, told Digiday.
December 5: Future & OpenAI
Future plc — which owns a number of websites including Tom’s Guide, PC Gamer, TechRadar and Marie Claire — signs a content licensing deal with OpenAI. Future is using OpenAI’s tools for sales, marketing and editorial functions, according to a statement. Future had already launched AI chatbots using OpenAI’s tech on the Tom’s Hardware and Who What Wear sites.
December 9: Lee Enterprises & OpenAI
Lee Enterprises enters into a content deal with ProRata. ProRata’s technology will help personalize local content, create ads and automate certain processes on Lee’s properties of local news sites.
