When publishers moved from print to digital, many traded dollars for cents. Now a lot of them worry they are about to trade those cents for fractions of a penny as readers shift to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude.
That concern came up again and again at recent media industry events, according to Steve Marcinuk, Co-Founder and CEO of KeyCrew, a real estate intelligence and media company that has been licensing and distributing its content to AI platforms for some time.
Why the Print-to-Digital Shift Is Back on Publishers’ Minds
Media companies that lived through the move from print to digital remember how much revenue disappeared in that transition. Many are having what Marcinuk calls “flashbacks” as AI becomes a new way people find and read content.
The worry is reasonable. “Candidly, a lot of the payments that AI companies are currently making are fractions of a penny, and that’s really hard to build a sustainable business around,” Marcinuk said.
So while there is real interest in new revenue from AI, the general mood is caution.
Websites Are No Longer the Only Way People Read
Part of what is changing is how people access content in the first place. “We are approaching a point in the internet where websites, as a user interface, are just one way in which people are engaging with content,” Marcinuk said.
Some bots are not scrapers at all. They are tools regular people use to get things done online. Marcinuk said he has several running in the background at any given time, performing tasks for him.
That means publishers face real uncertainty about how their work will be consumed in a few years. A reader might see an article on a website, in part through an AI answer, or in full through an AI assistant.
Treat AI as a Distribution Channel, With Controls
KeyCrew’s approach is to treat AI as another form of distribution, not a threat to avoid. “We don’t really care if someone’s reading our articles in full or in part via ChatGPT, Claude, etc., or in full on our website,” Marcinuk said. “We just see this as new forms of distribution.”
The company is betting heavily on Model Context Protocols, or MCPs. In simple terms, an MCP works like an API setup with more granular control. A media company could use one to give its paid subscribers direct access to its content inside AI platforms, while deciding exactly who gets in and what they can see.
This is one way publishers can participate in AI distribution without handing over everything for free. KeyCrew outlines how it makes its own reporting available on its editorial licensing page.
Proceed Carefully and Protect Your Content
The common advice among media leaders right now is to move forward, but carefully. “It’s proceed cautiously and protect your content so that you don’t give away the farm in the early days of artificial intelligence, which we are still in,” Marcinuk said.
For publishers weighing AI deals, a few questions are worth answering first:
Do you know who is already using your content? Many sites are scraped by bots that hide their identity. Visibility comes before negotiation.
What is a deal actually worth? Compare any offer to what that content earns you today, not just to having no deal at all.
Can you control access? Arrangements that let you decide who reaches your content, such as subscriber access through an MCP, give you more options than open scraping.
Does the deal fit your long-term plan? Different businesses will make different choices about how they monetize. The right deal is the one that fits yours.
AI is likely to become a major channel for reaching readers. The publishers who do well will be the ones who enter it on their own terms.
KeyCrew is a Florida-based real estate intelligence and media company that owns and operates digital publications covering the real estate industry. Its expert-sourced reporting is syndicated across more than 1,000 publications, news sites, and media outlets.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
