Information Corp is scoping out the potential for a multi-licensing LLM portfolio technique, based on sources acquainted with the matter.
The media group, which struck its first licensing deal (reportedly to the tune of $250 million unfold over 5 years) with OpenAI in Could 2024, is pursuing branching out — a logical transfer, since AI licensing offers are typically non-exclusive by design.
Information Corp CEO Robert Thomson described the media group’s technique as a “woo and sue” method in an August earnings name, and was understood to be immediately negotiating with the LLM gamers throughout this window, though Digiday was unable to ascertain the actual names of whom he met with.
Google started AI licensing talks with a number of publishers in the summertime, however has been far much less vocal about its partnerships than AI rival OpenAI. Information Corp has used Google’s product set (Gmail, Google Workspace, and so forth.) for years, and for the reason that summer time, it has been taking a look at tips on how to work extra carefully with Google Gemini (which powers Google AI Overviews), based on Digiday sources. Information Corp declined to touch upon whether or not it was talking with Google about AI licensing.
Talking at The Instances Tech Summit in London on Oct. 21, Thomson stated Information Corp had a partnership with Google and “important” partnerships with OpenAI and Apple, however that not each tech firm was aware of its social or industrial tasks. “Clearly, it has a social consequence when you’ve got fewer journalists; clearly, it has a social consequence if the flexibility to put in writing books in a significant, sustainable manner is undermined. And there are people who find themselves conscious of that, Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai at Google, Tim Cook dinner, you’ll be able to discuss with them in a manner that they perceive their enterprise must have this fixed artistic circulation,” stated Thomson.
He criticized AI corporations for pouring billions into chips and knowledge facilities whereas placing little again into the newsrooms and creators whose work fuels their LLMs. “It’s far more vital to do large offers with the bigger, respected gamers,” he stated on the convention. “And so they, you already know, they’re beginning to acknowledge that want, partly as a result of AI is retrospective, and so they want information to stay and hold the AI engines contemporary. And in order that immediacy that information organizations can present is important to them.”
In the meantime, Dominic Carter, evp and writer of The Solar referenced the so-called woo and sue stance final week at Digiday’s Publishing Summit Europe in Lisbon. “It’s a must to do your offers the place it’s acceptable, whether or not it’s in our case with OpenAI or with Google and presumably others,” Carter stated, having beforehand spoken about the way it makes use of Google’s LLM-powered analysis and notetaking device NotebookLM.
“You understand – if you happen to steal our content material, do one thing or we’ll sue you — however in any other case, we’re very blissful to take your cash,” stated Carter.
Google has not too long ago labored with publishers on curated “featured notebooks” in NotebookLM, together with The Economist’s World Forward 2025 report and The Atlantic’s “Tips on how to Construct a Life” recommendation collection by Arthur C. Brooks.
A Google spokesperson stated, “We have now a protracted historical past of collaborating with publishers, and we’re evolving our partnerships to assist the information ecosystem harness the advantages of AI. We’ve stated that we’re exploring new kinds of partnerships and product experiences, however we aren’t sharing particulars about particular conversations right now.”
Thomson’s feedback on the necessity for AI firms to keep up aggressive LLMs by getting access to premium journalism may present fertile floor for publishers’ future income diversification. And a sign that media teams like Information Corp aren’t betting on a single LLM however are evaluating whether or not it might make offers with a number of LLMs.
The elephant within the room relating to Google is how this is able to sq. given the difficulty Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode have triggered publishers’ referral visitors, together with the titles inside Information Corp’s portfolio, which embrace the Wall Road Journal, The Instances of London, and British tabloid The Solar.
Information Corp isn’t alone in looking for a number of LLM income streams. On Tuesday, Individuals Inc. CEO Neil Vogel burdened that it had famous a serious change in angle from most AI firms after it began to dam AI crawlers in the summertime (courtesy of Cloudflare’s replace). “It was very efficient. It introduced nearly everybody to the desk,” stated Vogel through the earnings name. I count on, and I feel the punditarit [sic] additionally expects there might be extra offers taking place. Hopefully, we’ll have some information for you over the approaching months and quarters over offers, that might be each kind of the all-you-can-eat offers and à la carte. So we really feel excellent about that. The worth of our content material is turning into clear to folks. That is essential.”
In the identical earnings replace, Individuals Inc. attributed its dip in programmatic ad income to Google’s AI Overviews in its third-quarter earnings name.
U.Okay. regulator, the Competitors Markets Authority (CMA), has designated Google with “strategic market standing (SMS) usually search and search promoting providers,” and can quickly seek the advice of trade stakeholders on acceptable interventions. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has been amongst these to submit proof to the regulator.
In an Oct. 10 announcement, the CMA clarified that Google’s Gemini AI assistant will not be in scope of the designation, though it will likely be saved beneath assessment, and confirmed that its different AI-based search options, corresponding to AI Overviews and AI Mode, are labeled as SMS.
A number of LLM income streams and non-exclusive offers
Whereas no exact element has been divulged about how the woo and sue method works, publishers have extra choices relating to blocking entry to undesirable AI scraping, because of strikes made by CDN distributors like Cloudflare and Toblits. They’ll now block and unblock at will if an LLM agrees to pay.
True to kind, Information Corp sued Perplexity in October 2024 for alleged “huge unlawful copying” of content material with out permission or compensation to generate responses for its customers, diverting visitors and income from Information Corp’s publications within the course of. In August, a choose rejected Perplexity’s bid to have the lawsuit dismissed. The case is ongoing.
It’s but to be seen whether or not Information Corp will negotiate every other lump-sum deal akin to its OpenAI deal, however there was a basic shift away from these deal constructions towards extra pay-per-usage offers, as publishers have woken as much as simply how dependent LLMs are on contemporary, up-to-date, high quality data to RAG from.
Information Corp may have its fiscal first-quarter 2026 earnings name on November 6 at 5 pm ET.
Publishers and LLMs alike have by no means courted exclusivity of their contracts. That may be counterproductive for each side, famous Aaron Rubin, companion within the strategic transactions & licensing group at legislation agency Gunderson Dettmer. “The default expectation is that these offers are going to be non-exclusive,” he stated.
For publishers, exclusivity wouldn’t make sense as a result of it might restrict their skill to have a number of LLM-driven income streams. For the tech firms, it likewise wouldn’t make sense to restrict choices to at least one writer, he burdened.
“There’s a basic presumption when each events come to the desk that they’re each going to be pursuing offers elsewhere,” he added.
Wider collective efforts
Sources advised Digiday that Information Corp’s scale as one of many largest information conglomerates has emboldened its management to barter immediately with main AI platforms. In distinction, smaller entities might lack the assets to chop equitable offers, and IAB Tech Lab has been making an attempt to corral publishers into motion in current months.
For instance, after a difficult begin, the technical physique’s Content material Monetization Protocols, or CoMP, AI working group is now penciled in for weekly conferences to assist them navigate the torrent of change upon them.
Its central purpose is to assist publishers outline their content material for LLMs, instruct them on tips on how to crawl it, and inform them of the prices – colloquially, this method has been dubbed “crawl me perhaps” by the concerned events. Nonetheless, sources advised Digiday that introducing a “permissioned wall” system — i.e., the much-vaunted pay-per-crawl mannequin — poses important infrastructure challenges.
Business marketing consultant Krish Raja defined a number of the priorities publishers must juggle as they transfer from the normal “unwalled mannequin” traditionally favored by most publishers. He added, “There’s lots of infrastructure issues, for instance, how can DSPs [demand-side platforms] crawl your content material to keep up your ad income mannequin?”
