A comprehensive list of confirmed content licensing deals, their value, and the drivers behind this activity.
Big tech companies are locking in content to train their models and enrich their chatbots.
OpenAI in particular has been on a tear, landing content and product partnerships with a range of organizations in the last year. 
These deals can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Most notably, OpenAI’s 5-year deal with News Corp is valued at over $250M, including “cash and credits for use of OpenAI technology.”
Confirmed licensing deals
Besides OpenAI, other big tech players like Microsoft and Google have also linked up with publishers and other content providers.
CB Insights customers can see all these partnerships and more with business relationships on company profiles:
Table of reported licensing deals since January 2023
| AI company | Publisher/vendor | Date | Deal value | Notable sub-brands |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | TIME | 6/27/2024 | ||
| OpenAI | The Atlantic | 5/29/2024 | ||
| OpenAI | Vox Media | 5/29/2024 | Vox, The Verge | |
| OpenAI | News Corp | 5/22/2024 | $250M+ | WSJ, Barron’s |
| OpenAI | 5/16/2024 | |||
| Microsoft | Informa | 5/8/2024 | $10M+ | |
| OpenAI | Dotdash Meredith | 5/7/2024 | People, Better Homes & Gardens | |
| OpenAI | Stack Overflow | 5/6/2024 | ||
| Microsoft | Axel Springer | 4/29/2024 | Politico, BI | |
| OpenAI | Financial Times | 4/29/2024 | ||
| OpenAI | Le Monde | 3/13/2024 | ||
| OpenAI | Prisa Media | 3/13/2024 | El País, Cinco Días | |
| Stack Overflow | 2/29/2024 | |||
| 2/22/2024 | $60M | |||
| OpenAI | Axel Springer | 12/13/2023 | $25M+ | Politico, BI |
| OpenAI | AP | 7/13/2023 | ||
| OpenAI | Shutterstock | 7/11/2023 | ||
| Meta | Shutterstock | 1/12/2023 |
Apple, Amazon, and Google also have deals with Shutterstock (deal dates undisclosed).
Private AI companies Reka and Runway have also landed deals with Shutterstock and Getty Images, respectively.
Many more relationships are still under discussion. Apple, Amazon, and Adobe have all been in conversations with various publishers, per media reports. Google-owned YouTube is also in talks with record labels like Sony, Warner, and Universal to license songs for training its AI tools.
Deal values
Mining vendor data gives insight into deal values.
Want to see more research? Join a demo of the CB Insights platform.
If you’re already a customer, log in here.
