Business meeting modern office

How content publishers can monetize and maintain control in the AI age

Authors

  • Nuno Leal

    Principal, Marketing, Product and Data/AI, Consulting, Ernst & Young LLP

  • Duncan Avis

    EY Americas Customer & Growth Leader

5 minute read 07 Aug 2024
Related topics
Consulting
CMO agenda

As GenAI transforms how content is created, delivered and consumed, publishers assess B2B licensing, middleware services and owned channels.

In brief
  • GenAI and large language models are changing the way published content is consumed and monetized.
  • Publishers have an opportunity to create new business models and partnerships that complement their current efforts without cannibalizing existing business strategy.
  • B2B middleware services offer publishers a way to monetize content through per-query payments in AI ecosystems.

From lawsuits to licensing deals, we are already seeing artificial intelligence (AI) disrupt the economy for published content. Publishers are rushing to strike partnerships with tech companies to train large language models (LLMs) from their historical data sets. Writers and authors are suing tech companies, alleging improper use of their copyrighted work to train models. All the while, LLMs want to shake their reputation for hallucinations and inaccuracies by collecting stronger, more relevant data.

While generative AI (GenAI) presents new obstacles, publishers have a long history of responding to emerging technology and shifting with audience needs — from print to digital, to the rise of aggregators and app-delivered instant articles. Today, examples of publishers adapting to and utilizing GenAI are already abundant (see below). One example is news aggregators using LLMs to gather and curate content for each reader. This manifests in the form of “For You” pages, but in time, GenAI could even be used to customize the stories to the reader’s interest and comprehension levels.

GenAI can transform how published content is created and delivered

Instant intel

Remaster of long content

Convert delivery formats

Curation for every person

From Q&As that present answers in the form of multiple articles to delivering one direct, validated response

From multiple forms of long-form content (e.g., video broadcast) to summarized short-form content (e.g., an article or suggested video snippet)

From separately created video and text to a single content asset summarizing both

From a single piece of content for one audience to unique content created for each consumer (title, tone, etc., all customized)

Tomorrow, as consumers become more accustomed to these content features and interfaces, publishers will feel pressured to adopt them. Between traditional search experiences enhanced with GenAI, which present answers and summaries above traditional links, and LLMs, which quickly provide users with answers, traffic will likely decrease to publishers’ original sites. By 2028, one study predicts that brands’ organic search traffic will decrease by 50% or more as consumers embrace GenAI-powered search.1 If LLM mass adoption continues, the number of search referrals could continue to fall.

Organic search falls
of a brand’s organic search may drop off by 2028 as GenAI powers search results.

Although the landscape is still being defined, this shift in consumer behavior puts publishers at risk of losing revenue from subscriptions and ad sales. In addition, publishers will lose the opportunity to engage with their readers on their own platforms, missing out on key customer data and giving up control of the ways in which their IP is displayed. If users only interact with published content via generative engines and not on publisher sites, the publishers’ brands will lose value, relevancy and voice.

Rather than passively allowing market shifts to diminish publishers’ value, publishers have the opportunity to negotiate and consider new monetization and interaction models with LLMs to adapt to these changes and release new products. As tech companies and LLMs seek to gain market share by offering differentiated products and improving the customer experience — including the need for up-to-date, trusted information — publishers can bring unique value and can define their role in the evolving value chain vs. merely becoming a data provider or a footnote.

One monetization avenue publishers have already been exploring is data licensing to train models via lump-sum payments. Despite short-term upside, this revenue will not be enough to sustain most publishers in the long term after traffic is reduced and at the expense of brand voice. Licensing data for training also limits publisher control over how the content is displayed and how the user experience is delivered.

Rather than passively allowing market shifts to diminish publishers’ value, publishers have the unique opportunity to negotiate and consider new monetization and interaction models with LLMs.

How EY can help

Publishers should instead consider developing middleware services to sell to big tech players to provide them with real-time data and professionally curated content. Middleware services — that pay per query as opposed to via lump sum — allow publishers to receive a share of profits each time their information is accessed, and they receive credit in the form of official citation. A metering API can track the number of queries made to a publisher’s API and bill the tech company or LLM provider accordingly. This offering would also provide publishers with more visibility into how their content is used and allow them to control how it is displayed to customers.

 

Publishers should also think about what other value they can deliver and monetize through the middleware, such as personalized content recommendations and fact-checking or information validation services. With the influx of written content, accelerated by GenAI, this service would also be helpful for researchers and writers, both internally and as a service.

 

If publishers prefer to go directly to consumers, they can deploy this middleware on their own platforms and apps to provide customers with an optimized experience, with content specifically edited to suit their needs. This approach would also enable publishers to create interactive experiences for readers, who can query publisher content directly and receive answers. First movers that develop this technology and interaction model could syndicate other content to become the leader in the space.

 

Publishers are positioned to offer up-to-date, reliable information and the highest-quality content. Rather than wondering what’s going to happen as AI becomes mainstream, they can use this opportunity to reinvent their relationship with technology players.

Contributors to this article were Madhurika Rao, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young LLP; Amer Abed Rabbo, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young LLP; Vidisha Kanchan, Manager, Ernst & Young LLP; Sarah Rosso, Consultant, Ernst & Young LLP


Summary 

Publishers have a unique opportunity to renegotiate monetization models with LLMs and big tech to improve their value chain position once generative engines become the mainstream way to access information. In this arrangement, publishers can forge a partnership that works for both parties, where publishers offer rich, up-to-date information and content to LLM platforms, addressing the need for relevant and truthful information, while retaining control of the data.

About this article

Authors

  • Nuno Leal
    Principal, Marketing, Product and Data/AI, Consulting, Ernst & Young LLP
  • Duncan Avis
    EY Americas Customer & Growth Leader
Related topics
Consulting
CMO agenda

Related articles

How music companies can evolve the fan experience

To meet fan demands for new kinds of experiences, music companies will need to listen, engage and deliver in profoundly different ways. Learn more.

Charley Shoemaker + 1

Four steps to implement a large language model successfully

Organizations are eager to adopt LLMs, but navigating potential pitfalls can be challenging. Learn more.

Michael Stricklen + 2

Execs double down on AI: explore 5 AI adoption strategies for success

US execs double down on AI investments, signaling that AI is pioneering the business future. Discover our five key strategies for enterprise AI adoption.

Dan Diasio + 1

    EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.