Bill Gross said in October 2026 that no large AI company has paid ProRata.ai for the content of its 1,650 publisher partners.
From Bill Gross, CEO, ProRata.ai, Media & the Machine
Keep in mind: Vendor's own count.
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What can publishers learn from AI licensing deals: what they get, how deals get done, and whether they work?
From 2024 to 2026, AI companies signed dozens of content deals with publishers. OpenAI, Perplexity, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Google each use a different model: flat fees, revenue share, payment per use, or technology and credits. Few deals report their value. The first outcome data, a vendor study from August 2026, links OpenAI deals to more ChatGPT citations, and finds no such link for Google or Perplexity deals. Publishers that could not reach a deal are now suing. The Deals table holds each deal; this tracker holds what the deals teach.
Latest: what happened, newest first
Thomson Reuters said on 2026-11-03 that its Reuters segment earned $232M in Q3 2026, up from $207M a year earlier. The CFO credited about $19M of the quarter's revenue to generative AI content licensing that was largely transactional.
From Thomson Reuters (Q3 2026 earnings release and call), StockTitan
Keep in mind: Mostly one-time revenue, not recurring. Organic growth was 12% with it and 7% without.
ST-528On 2026-10-15, Google said more than 400 publications take part in its News AI pilot. Google pays them for the delivery and use of enhanced content for AI features.
From Google, blog.google
ST-266USA Today Co sued OpenAI in federal court in October 2026, seeking more than $250M for use of hundreds of thousands of articles from 19 of its papers. Press Gazette's tracker lists USA Today as already holding AI deals with Meta, Perplexity and Microsoft.
From USA Today Co (complaint, S.D.N.Y.), Press Gazette
Keep in mind: The $250M is what USA Today asks for, not an award. Deal terms are not public.
ST-531Editorial Perfil said it tried for more than a year to reach OpenAI about a deal. It sued OpenAI and Microsoft in Argentina on 2026-08-26.
From Agustino Fontevecchia, director of digital, Editorial Perfil, Press Gazette
ST-262CNN said it tried to agree a licence with Perplexity in 2025, and the two sides did not agree terms. CNN sued Perplexity on 2026-05-29.
From CNN, Press Gazette
ST-261On 2026-05-26, Folha de S.Paulo and UOL signed a commercial agreement with OpenAI. The agreement ended Folha's 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI.
From Folha de S.Paulo, Press Gazette
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What people saw
Observations and reported facts, newest first.
The Information reported in September 2026 that Google pays about 100 publishers in an AI contribution pilot. One early participant earns more than $1M a year, while several small and mid-size sites earn less than 0.1% of their ad revenue, and some have made under $1,000 over several months.
From The Information, Search Engine Roundtable
Keep in mind: Unnamed sources, not Google. Some participants do not know how payouts are calculated.
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The News/Media Alliance said in March 2025 that its ProRata deal lets members opt into one licence. ProRata pays members 50% of revenue from answers that use their content.
From News/Media Alliance, Press Gazette
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Future said in December 2024 that its deal with OpenAI involves payment but is not financially material to the company.
From Future plc, Press Gazette
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Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts said in July 2024 that OpenAI told Mumsnet it wanted datasets that are not easily accessible online.
From Justine Roberts, founder, Mumsnet, Press Gazette
Keep in mind: Dated 2024. One publisher's account of OpenAI's reply.
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The Verge reported in January 2024 that OpenAI offered news organizations $1M to $5M a year to license their content for training.
From The Verge, Press Gazette
Keep in mind: 2024 figure. Reported deal sizes vary widely since then.
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An IAB survey of 110 US publishers found that 20% of independent publishers had signed AI licensing agreements, against 60% of large media publishers. The survey also found that 40% of small independent publishers saw no meaningful results from AI yet.
From IAB Insights Engine (with Attest)
Keep in mind: Self-reported. Only publishers with $100K+ revenue. 'Independent' and 'small' not defined.
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Digiday reported in June 2026 that 17 publishers sell content through Snowflake's Cortex Knowledge Extensions. The six-figure deals so far are with financial institutions, on flat-fee and usage terms.
From Digiday, Press Gazette
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The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon pays The New York Times $20M to $25M a year under their 2025 AI licensing deal.
From The Wall Street Journal, Press Gazette
Keep in mind: Reported figure; neither party confirmed it.
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OtterlyAI and PressRanger found that trade and niche media got 75.8% of news citations across 16 US industries in August 2026. Licensed publishers held only 17.2% of the trade and niche citations.
From OtterlyAI and PressRanger
Keep in mind: Vendor study. One week of data (2026-08-08 to 2026-08-14), about 100 prompts per industry.
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OtterlyAI and PressRanger counted 91 confirmed licensing deals between AI companies and news publishers through 2026-07-28. Only 2 of the 91 deals had a publicly reported value.
From OtterlyAI and PressRanger
Keep in mind: Their count. The Beeler.Tech Deals table has more deals with reported values, from other outlets.
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OtterlyAI and PressRanger found that best-of lists, buying guides and product reviews made up 58.8% of AI citations to licensed publishers in June 2026. Dated news articles made up 5.1%.
From OtterlyAI and PressRanger
Keep in mind: Vendor study. Content types classified by URL pattern.
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OtterlyAI and PressRanger found no citation advantage for Google or Perplexity licensees in June 2026. Google-licensed publishers got slightly fewer citations per page on Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity licensees matched unlicensed publishers on Perplexity.
From OtterlyAI and PressRanger
Keep in mind: Vendor study. One month of data (June 2026). Citations, not clicks or revenue.
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OtterlyAI and PressRanger published a study in August 2026 on AI citations of news pages in June 2026. On ChatGPT, pages from publishers with an OpenAI deal averaged 10.2 citations, and pages from publishers without a deal averaged 6.9.
From OtterlyAI and PressRanger
Keep in mind: Vendor study. One month of data (June 2026). It shows association, not cause.
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What people think
Named views and readings, newest first. A view is not a fact.
Bill Gross said in October 2026 that he expects Apple to share AI answer revenue with publishers first, followed by Anthropic and OpenAI.
From Bill Gross, CEO, ProRata.ai, Media & the Machine
Keep in mind: A prediction.
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Bill Gross, CEO of ProRata.ai, proposed in an October 2026 interview that AI companies share about 50% of the revenue from each answer with the sources of that answer.
From Bill Gross, CEO, ProRata.ai, Media & the Machine
Keep in mind: ProRata sells answer attribution; a proposal, not an industry commitment.
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Reach CEO Piers North told staff in March 2026 that the usage-based Amazon deal gives Reach more control and more visibility than a flat fee. He called it a possible repeatable model.
From Piers North, CEO, Reach, Press Gazette
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Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch wrote to staff in August 2024 that the OpenAI deal begins to make up for revenue lost as search traffic fell.
From Roger Lynch, CEO, Condé Nast, Press Gazette
Keep in mind: Dated 2024. No number given.
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Reach CEO Piers North said in October 2026 that Reach's real-time reporting, local insight and archive are unique. He said their value grows as AI companies seek to stand apart.
From Piers North, CEO, Reach, Press Gazette
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Open questions
What nobody can answer yet. These are what the daily check looks for.
What does a mid-size or trade publisher need to win an AI licence? Most direct deals in the Beeler.Tech Deals table go to large publishers; smaller ones join opt-in programs.
Raised , pressgazette.co.uk
How much traffic and revenue beyond the licence fee do AI deals return to publishers? The first outcome data, from OtterlyAI and PressRanger in August 2026, measures citations, not clicks or revenue.
Use this tracker in your AI assistant
Add https://mcp.beeler.tech/mcp to Claude or ChatGPT as a custom connector, once. Then ask: “What can publishers learn from AI licensing deals: what they get, how deals get done, and whether they work?” It answers from these statements, with every source named and linked.
How this tracker works
Every statement links to its source and says when Beeler.Tech has a tie to it, such as an In View client. Community observations are anonymous; here is how we use them. Corrections are made in public.