For decades, news publishers have relied on search and social platforms to help audiences discover our journalism. But in a world of rapidly changing algorithms, declining referrals, and increasingly zero-click behaviour, the next top-of-funnel visit is no longer guaranteed.

This means we need to think differently about how and where our journalism reaches new audiences.

At Nine Publishing, we increasingly see strategic licensing as part of that answer — not simply as a new revenue stream, but as a mechanism for building awareness, creating direct audience relationships, and supporting the subscription funnel over the long term.

The rapid evolution of generative AI has made this a major focus for our business. We recently appointed a head of strategic licensing to stay close to the changing landscape and lead our approach. The opportunity is too important, and moving too quickly, to manage on the sidelines.

While the market remains relatively young, we are already striking agreements, including our Microsoft Copilot deal. We are also developing a view of what responsible licensing looks like for our journalism, audiences, and subscription business.

It’s important to note that Nine Publishing, which includes The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Australian Financial Review, actively blocks large-language models (LLMs) from scraping our content. We firmly believe you shouldn’t be able to access our journalism for free elsewhere because public-interest journalism costs money to produce.

We want our mastheads to exist well into the future because of the important role they play in informing the public and holding power to account. Any licensing strategy must support that goal.

Protecting the value of our journalism

Our starting point is that licensing must protect our intellectual property, the long-term value of our journalism, and the trust audiences place in our mastheads.

That requires clear non-negotiables. Content must always be attributed to the original publication, and its editorial meaning cannot be altered or misrepresented. We remain responsible for what we publish, and we expect AI platforms to work with us to ensure our journalism is represented accurately.

Another important consideration for us is the scope of use. Content should support accurate, high-quality answers in the moment, while the full depth, context, and authority of our journalism remain reserved for the subscribers who fund it.

Where licensing ends, the subscriber experience begins

Licensing partners play a role in making our journalism more accessible, by using our reporting to deliver fast, accurate answers. Meanwhile, subscribers enjoy the complete experience: the deeper analysis, nuance, context, and direct access to the journalists behind the stories.

Essentially, we’re preserving the high-value features audiences can’t get for free anywhere else. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is. It’s the same principle that guides our paywall strategy when we decide what sits in front of the paywall and what belongs behind it.

Done correctly, licensing complements the subscriber proposition rather than becoming a substitute for it.

Connecting licensing with the audience funnel

Historically, business-to-consumer (B2C) subscriptions and business-to-business (B2B) licensing have often been treated as separate businesses — and sometimes as competing revenue streams. We believe the greater opportunity comes from considering them as parts of one connected audience funnel.

Sure, we’re different teams with separate profit and loss statements (P&Ls), but the mission is the same: to protect the future of our mastheads.

A campus or institutional agreement, for example, creates immediate licensing revenue. More strategically, it introduces our journalism to a large and relevant audience, establishes reading habits and builds a future subscriber pipeline through a trusted institution. That gives publishers another path to discovery rather than leaving the top of the funnel entirely dependent on a third-party algorithm.

For decades, we’ve built organic awareness by optimising our content for platforms including Google and Meta. But the strength of our brands also opens doors with universities, businesses, and other institutions. They understand the value of our journalism and the benefits access can provide to their organisations and communities.

Crucially, a direct institutional relationship cannot disappear overnight because a platform changes its algorithm.

Creating value beyond the click

This matters as referral traffic from traditional search and social platforms declines and zero-click behaviour becomes more established.

Licensing may not always deliver an immediate click. But it can put our journalism, mastheads, and authority in front of audiences at the moment they are seeking trusted information. In that environment, awareness, attribution and repeated exposure become meaningful audience outcomes, even when they don’t generate an instant site visit.

The next phase of strategic licensing should therefore be measured not only by the revenue a deal generates today but by how effectively it protects our journalism, expands its reach, and strengthens the audience business of tomorrow.

Banner image: Adobe stock image by JOURNEY STUDIO7.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .