People Inc., recognized as one of the leading media publishers in the United States, has entered into an AI licensing partnership with Microsoft. The company, previously known as Dotdash Meredith, revealed the news on Tuesday during the third-quarter earnings report of its parent company, IAC.
Through this agreement, People Inc. will serve as an inaugural partner in Microsoft’s new publisher content marketplace. This marks the company’s second AI-related partnership, following its initial deal with OpenAI last year.
Neil Vogel, CEO of People Inc., described the new marketplace as “essentially a pay-per-use market where AI players directly can compensate publishers for use of their content on, sort of like an ‘a la carte’ basis.”
He also commended Microsoft for its willingness to pay for content to enhance its AI initiatives, mentioning that Microsoft’s Copilot would be the marketplace’s first customer.
“It’s a very strong endorsement of us to be in the room with them and a very strong endorsement of the publishing marketplace and the value of content to make AI that is of high value,” Vogel said.
The Microsoft partnership was announced during IAC’s earnings call, alongside the disclosure that Google Search’s AI Overviews have negatively impacted the publisher’s web traffic. For the first time, People Inc. provided investors with data showing that Google Search, which made up 54% of its traffic two years ago, accounted for only 24% in the most recent quarter.
This arrangement is different from the OpenAI partnership, which Vogel described as more of an “all-you-can-eat” approach, but he emphasized that People Inc. is satisfied with both models. What’s most important, he said, is that the company’s content is “respected and paid for.” The specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.
People Inc. has expressed concerns about AI companies using media content without compensation to develop and train their AI systems. Recently, Vogel criticized Google, labeling the company a “bad actor” for employing the same bot to index websites for both its search engine and AI features. Publishers are unable to block this bot, since Google Search remains a significant source of their traffic.
Nevertheless, People Inc. utilizes Cloudflare’s technology to prevent other AI crawlers from accessing its content, which has led AI firms to approach the publisher with licensing proposals. In September, Vogel explained that adopting Cloudflare’s solutions was a strategic move to encourage negotiations with AI companies, and noted that progress on such deals accelerated after implementing this technology.
He reiterated these points during today’s earnings call, stating that blocking AI crawlers has proven “very effective” and has “brought almost everyone to the table.” Vogel also indicated that additional agreements are likely to be announced in the future.
According to IAC, People Inc. increased its digital revenue by 9% to reach $269 million in the quarter, with performance marketing and licensing growing by 38% and 24%, respectively. The company also highlighted its acquisition of Feedfeed, a media publisher and influencer network focused on food.
