Microsoft Opens AI Content Licensing Marketplace
Microsoft launches the Publisher Content Marketplace, enabling publishers to license premium content to AI systems with transparency, control and usage-based monetisation.
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Microsoft Advertising has launched the Publisher Content Marketplace (PCM), a new platform designed to let publishers license premium content to AI products and get paid based on how that content is used.
The marketplace creates a direct value exchange between publishers and AI builders. Publishers can set licensing and usage terms, while AI developers can discover and license content for specific grounding use cases. PCM also includes usage-based reporting, giving publishers visibility into how their content is accessed and where it generates value.
Microsoft said the platform is designed to scale without relying on one-off licensing agreements between individual publishers and AI providers. Participation is voluntary, publishers retain ownership of their content, and editorial independence remains intact. The marketplace is intended to support organisations ranging from large global publishers to smaller, specialised outlets.
The launch comes as AI systems increasingly move beyond answering questions to influencing decisions across areas such as commerce, finance and healthcare. As AI-driven agents guide user choices, premium and trusted content is becoming more critical to performance, positioning publishers as key partners in AI ecosystems.
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Microsoft Advertising said PCM was co-designed with several major U.S. publishers, including Business Insider, Condé Nast, Hearst, The Associated Press, USA TODAY and Vox Media. Early pilots have already grounded responses in Microsoft Copilot using licensed content, with Yahoo among the first demand partners onboarding to the platform.
Looking ahead, Microsoft plans to expand the marketplace to additional publishers and AI builders that share a common belief that high-quality content should be respected, governed and fairly compensated as the AI-driven web evolves.
The move addresses growing tension in the traditional web model, where AI-generated answers can reduce referral traffic while still relying heavily on premium content. Microsoft said PCM is intended to support a more sustainable content economy as conversational and agentic AI systems continue to scale.
