OpenAI will pay DotDash Meredith at least $16 million per year to license its content

OpenAI is paying the digital media company Dotdash Meredith at least $16 million per year to license its content, according to public financial documents reviewed by Adweek. We already knew about this burgeoning partnership, but we didn’t have a financial figure. Now we do.

The actual payout could rise above $16 million per year, as it only reflects the “fixed” component of the payment. The “variable” component will be calculated in the future, according to a recent earnings call led by the chief operating and financial officer of Dotdash Meredith’s parent company IAC.

“If you look at Q3 of 2024, licensing revenue was up about $4.1 million year over year. The lion’s share of that would be driven by the OpenAI license,” CFO Chris Halpin said. “So that’s — on a quarterly basis — a good proxy for the revenue we’re recognizing. And then the variable components will be calculated and recognized in the future.”

Dotdash Meredith will license its content for OpenAI to train ChatGPT, but the publisher will also use the AI company’s models to boost its in-house ad-targeting tool. As part of this arrangement, ChatGPT will display content and links attributed to the various publications under the Dotdash Meredith umbrella.

These publications include stuff you likely already read, like Food & Wine, InStyle, Better Homes & Gardens, Lifewire and Investopedia, among others. Dotdash Meredith also owns and publishes the eco-conscious site Treehugger and we all know how great AI is for the environment.

As a side note, I have written for multiple Dotdash Meredith publications throughout the years. Can a lowly copywriter get a taste of that $16 million please? Actually, never mind. Huge payouts are for overpaid executives and not for the people who actually make the thing that people click on. Silly me.

On the plus side, at least OpenAI is paying some companies to use content now. The entity has been sued by everyone from The New York Times to comedians like Sarah Silverman, all accusing it of using content without permission or any kind of payout.

Dotdash Meredith is just the latest publisher to offer its content to AI companies to help create our glorious shared future in which nobody makes anything except pithy messages on social media sites. The Financial Times entered into a similar arrangement with OpenAI. Book publisher HarperCollins is also getting in on the act.