Google Reportedly Tests Paying Publishers For AI Search Results
(Wednesday September 30, 2026 @05:00PM (BeauHD)
from the pay-per-value dept.)
- Reference: 0185910660
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/09/30/1851246/google-reportedly-tests-paying-publishers-for-ai-search-results
- Source link:
Google is reportedly testing a program that [1]pays around 100 publishers based on how much their content contributes to its AI-powered search features . According to [2]The Information , one publisher earned more than $1 million over a year, while another has received roughly $50,000 to $60,000." Digiday reports:
> Once a publisher joins the "AI contribution pilot," they receive an extra AI earnings widget via their Search Console dashboard. This displays a monthly earnings number (with some history), though no other detailed information on how payouts are calculated currently. Payments are based more on value than raw usage, meaning Google only pays when it judges that a piece of content has meaningfully contributed to an AI-generated response. Publishers can opt out at any time.
>
> [...] Digiday has learned that at least dozens of publishers have been approached by Google for the AI contribution pilot, though the program has been more appealing to small and mid-sized, rather than large publishers and has widened far beyond news publishers. Digiday couldn't get final confirmation of the number. Screenshots from Google Search Console, seen by Digiday, show an "AI contribution" panel that appears once a publisher opts into the program. The interface lists the program name and a monthly payout figure.
>
> "It's quite black box," as one exec with knowledge of the matter told Digiday. "Do I wish they were more transparent? Definitely," said one publisher exec who is in the program. "But I'm hopeful that the fact that they're setting a precedent for exploring paying publishers directly for content through this is meaningful," they added.
[1] https://digiday.com/media/google-rolls-out-pay-value-ai-licensing-program-to-publishers/
[2] https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-paying-100-digital-publishers-ai-overviews
> Once a publisher joins the "AI contribution pilot," they receive an extra AI earnings widget via their Search Console dashboard. This displays a monthly earnings number (with some history), though no other detailed information on how payouts are calculated currently. Payments are based more on value than raw usage, meaning Google only pays when it judges that a piece of content has meaningfully contributed to an AI-generated response. Publishers can opt out at any time.
>
> [...] Digiday has learned that at least dozens of publishers have been approached by Google for the AI contribution pilot, though the program has been more appealing to small and mid-sized, rather than large publishers and has widened far beyond news publishers. Digiday couldn't get final confirmation of the number. Screenshots from Google Search Console, seen by Digiday, show an "AI contribution" panel that appears once a publisher opts into the program. The interface lists the program name and a monthly payout figure.
>
> "It's quite black box," as one exec with knowledge of the matter told Digiday. "Do I wish they were more transparent? Definitely," said one publisher exec who is in the program. "But I'm hopeful that the fact that they're setting a precedent for exploring paying publishers directly for content through this is meaningful," they added.
[1] https://digiday.com/media/google-rolls-out-pay-value-ai-licensing-program-to-publishers/
[2] https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-paying-100-digital-publishers-ai-overviews
Dwindling payouts (Score:2)
by Sebby ( 238625 )
> one publisher earned more than $1 million over a year, while another has received roughly $50,000 to $60,000. [...] Payments are based more on value than raw usage, meaning Google only pays when it judges that a piece of content has meaningfully contributed to an AI-generated response.
... and then watch those payouts go from $1/million tokens (or whatever the current measurement is) to $0.000001/million tokens within the next couple of years, if not months.
Leftist woke crap doesn't contribute anything (Score:2)
by thesjaakspoiler ( 4782965 )
So why pay them for 'content' that has no value?
looks like a reddit pay day (Score:2)
In my experience, Google regularly references reddit in its AI results, like every single time. Those results are usually of dubious quality. But it looks like this should work out well for reddit.
Re: looks like a reddit pay day (Score:2)
Gemini told me yesterday in literally so many words that it was going to quote me some URLs verbatim from its training data and then of course told me how right I am when I said it can't do that.