With AI disrupting the business models of news media, some publishers are finding a potential revenue stream through Dow Jones. Axios is reporting that the company has quietly built an AI marketplace that now includes nearly 5,000 publishing partners, up from 2,000 just six months ago. The marketplace provides research and data tools to hundreds of enterprise companies globally.
Key Points:
- The marketplace has grown from 2,000 publishers six months ago to nearly 5,000 today.
- Introduction of “Smart Summary,” a generative AI tool creating concise summaries from licensed content.
- Plans to partner with AI companies for content licensing are underway.
The initiative operates under Factiva, Dow Jones' business information and research division, which already maintains relationships with over 30,000 news and information sources globally. The company's generative AI product, Smart Summary, allows corporate clients to create concise summaries from content provided by Factiva's trusted publishing partners – with full transparency for attribution and compensation.
Highlighting the company's strategy for navigating the complex landscape of AI content licensing, Dow Jones CEO, Almar Latour emphasized, "We are making sure that we strike large commercial agreements. That's by far our preference."
While Dow Jones doesn't currently license publishers' materials directly to AI companies, Latour indicated that such partnerships are on the horizon, simply stating: "That's coming."
The marketplace has quickly grown its global footprint, with publishing partners spanning 200 countries and 32 languages – from major outlets like the Associated Press and the Washington Post to specialized agencies like the Swiss business news provider AWP Finanznachrichten AG.
Dow Jones isn't alone in this space. Several companies are working to build similar marketplaces that help publishers monetize their content in the AI era. TollBit recently raised $24 million in Series A funding for its two-sided marketplace connecting publishers and AI companies. Meanwhile, ProRata has developed a search engine using only high-quality, licensed content with systems to attribute and share revenues with content owners.
The development comes as News Corp., Dow Jones' parent company, pursues a multifaceted approach to AI. The company made headlines last year with its lucrative multiyear licensing deal with OpenAI, reported by the Wall Street Journal to be worth more than $250 million over five years – a figure Latour declined to confirm directly, instead quipping, "Read the Wall Street Journal is all I can say."
Chris McKay
Despite these partnerships, News Corp. has shown it will defend its content rights through litigation when necessary, suing AI search startup Perplexity for copyright infringement last October.
For Latour, what determines whether News Corp. will partner with or sue an AI company comes down to "a recognition of value," including compensation for information that "may have been used already without permission for a long period of time."
As traditional publishers continue searching for sustainable business models in the digital age, Dow Jones' expanding AI marketplace suggests one potential path forward – turning their valuable content into an asset for the AI economy, rather than just seeing it scraped without compensation.