News publishers are eyeing small business licensing as AI deals hit limits. With search traffic falling, SME content rights could reshape revenue models.
With search traffic shrinking and AI licensing deals proving unpredictable, publishers are turning their attention to a new source of revenue: content licensing for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The idea is straightforward. While OpenAI and Google have signed high-profile agreements, the SME market is much larger and mostly untouched.
The Reuters Institute’s 2026 Digital News Report highlights that social media and video networks have now overtaken publishers’ own websites and apps as the most widely used way to access online news globally.
AI licensing has set the pace so far. OpenAI has signed deals with News Corp., the Financial Times, Axel Springer, The Atlantic, Vox Media, Time, and the Associated Press. Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have also made agreements with publishers. Some mid-sized publishers are seeing annual licensing deals worth $1 million to $5 million. News Corp’s OpenAI deal could reach $250 million over five years, according to Press Gazette.
But the bigger opportunity may be elsewhere. SMEs make up 99% of all businesses worldwide. Omar Hamdi, CEO of Pathos Communications, believes that any of the 400 million SMEs globally could want to license journalism that mentions their sector or business for use in marketing or communications. If publishers can deliver content that appeals to entrepreneurs and build scalable licensing systems, the revenue could surpass even the largest AI deals.
Licensing beyond tech giants
Reuters Institute research, as summarized in multiple recent coverage items, attributes the Google referral decline to a wider erosion in search traffic. The report explicitly states it does not prove how much of the drop was caused by AI Overviews, highlighting the complexity of attributing traffic changes to a single factor.
Direct content licensing is also gaining ground. Companies featured in articles want to republish those stories on their websites, use them in investor presentations, or share excerpts with customers. Licensing frameworks set clear rules for attribution, editing, and placement. For smaller businesses, media recognition can have a much bigger impact than it does for global corporations, who see coverage as routine.
Discovery is still a challenge. Editors get flooded with pitches, and most SMEs don’t have communications teams to package their stories for journalists. As Hamdi notes, strong stories from small businesses often never reach newsrooms, while coverage of companies like Nvidia or Meta dominates the headlines. Publishers have little incentive to spotlight a local shop when a story about Elon Musk will draw more traffic.
Infrastructure and editorial integrity
Technology-driven PR services could help close this gap. Firms like Pathos Communications aim to offer scalable PR support to businesses that can’t afford traditional agencies. Still, Hamdi stresses the need to keep editorial coverage and commercial licensing separate. SMEs should be able to share their stories efficiently, but journalists must retain control over what gets published. This separation is what gives licensed recognition its value-companies pay to use independently produced articles, not for favorable coverage.
Publishers are now rethinking their business models. As previously reported, falling ad supply is already forcing a reassessment of digital publishing economics. Licensing to SMEs could help monetize editorial work without compromising journalistic independence, as long as publishers build the right systems and keep editorial and commercial interests apart.
The next wave of media licensing won’t be defined by a few tech giants. The real opportunity is in reaching a huge number of businesses looking for credible, third-party recognition-if publishers can solve for discovery, scale, and trust at once. The challenge is significant, but whoever figures out SME licensing first could set the new standard for sustainable media revenue as search traffic declines.
For context, News Corp. reported annual revenues of $10.7 billion in fiscal year 2025, with its Dow Jones segment-which includes The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s-bringing in $2.2 billion. Forbes, which actively markets its licensing and rankings, was valued at $800 million in its most recent acquisition talks. These numbers show the scale at which major publishers operate, and the potential if even a small share of the global SME market becomes licensing clients.
