Commercial resources, Copyright & IP Resources, Digital, Public Affairs
Search crawlers, AI training scrapers, real-time answer-engine bots, and AI assistants retrieving content on a reader’s behalf are all hitting your site – each with different intent, different value, and different implications for how you respond. The question isn’t whether to respond; it’s how.
In this session at PPA HQ, publishers dived into what rising non-human traffic and falling search referrals mean for your business. The speakers – from The Guardian, Which?, Movement for Open Web, the CMA, and MonetizationOS – shared what you can and should be doing about it.
Keep reading for a reminder of the agenda (with timestamps), key takeaways, and resources.
| 00:00 Mel McVeigh (PPA) | Opening remarks |
03:11 Magda Woods (Data & AI Transformation Leader) | Who gets in, and how they pay for it This session explores the recent PPA report on AI content licensing. For thirty years, robots.txt has governed who can read a publisher’s content. In 2026, that’s not enough as bots now make up more than half of all web traffic, and each one has a different purpose and willingness to pay. This session moves past “block or allow” to ask a question: what does access mean now? We will map what’s new – from pay-per-crawl to pay-per-use to AI licensing, and what publishers need in place before these decisions get made for them. |
24:41 Tami Hoffman (The Guardian), James Henderson (MonetizationOS), James Rosewell (Movement for Open Web) | Why publishers are choosing different paths to payment Blocking bots protects your content. But this session looks at how publishers are moving from defence to offence – treating the many different types of bots, crawlers, scrapers and AI agents not as threats to shut out, but as a new audience to license and monetise. And why the smartest combination of payment routes will differ by publisher business model. |
55:26 Jenni Allen (Which?) | Built to last: a strategy that survives the next AI update As publishers respond to AI platforms in different ways, this session explores the strategic thinking behind a more open approach. The speakers will explore how some publishers are weighing visibility, value, monetisation, and long-term audience strategy when deciding whether to allow their content to be used in AI environments. We will look at the trade-offs between restriction and participation, and what publishers need to consider as they shape their own approach to access, licensing, and commercial opportunity. |
1:18:57 Courtney Jarrett (MonetizationOS) | When your customer’s agent comes to buy The next wave of subscriber acquisition won’t always come from a human landing on your homepage. AI agents acting on behalf of your readers are already capable of finding, evaluating, and purchasing content subscriptions, but most publisher infrastructure hands them a paywall and nothing else. This session moves past the big-picture AI economy narrative to ask a more immediate question: what does your product need to look like for agent-mediated purchasing to work? From offer structure to entitlement signalling to payment flow, we’ll look at the practical gaps most publishers don’t know they have. |
Experiment but make sure you understand the ramifications
AI has changed the game, and whilst a test and learn approach is the quickest way to progress, don’t undermine the value of your offering by not being prescriptive about what, why, and how your content will be accessed. Bring together your legal, commercial, editorial, and tech teams to holistically assess the risks and opportunities.
Whatever you decide, make sure it’s unambiguous
Things are developing quickly, so it’s a good idea to regularly assess the climate and tech capabilities. A collective industry voice is essential, as is regulation (albeit the progress being outpaced by developments). To protect your IP you need a clear business position on what, if any, bot activity you’ll allow and the value exchange you deem appropriate. Check it’s watertight by road testing your policy against what would happen if you had to litigate.
A machine working for a person is a customer, not a crawler
Not all bot traffic is the same, and the difference is a commercial one – an agent acting for a named individual can be sold to in a way a scraper can’t. Which is what Courtney showed live using MonetizationOS: the request arrives, the response is a price rather than a refusal, and the person the agent is working for approves the payment much as they would any other online purchase. It keeps a human in the loop and creates a new revenue stream, one where you set the terms and still own the relationship and audience data.
Tech companies are now gatekeepers of how consumers buy and consume content
But the PPA continues to defend the best interests of our sector. Google must comply with the CMA’s search conduct requirements by December 2026, allowing publishers to stop their content training AI models and block it from being featured in other Google AI products; clear attribution; fair ranking of organic results; advance notice of major ranking changes; greater transparency; and a clear way to raise concerns about ranking changes.
Feedback from publishers during the rollout is crucial, and you can still influence this process. Please continue sharing how your business is being impacted, and what support you need from the CMA – contact Eilidh Wilson (Head of Policy & Public Affairs, PPA).
Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) Publisher and Fair Ranking Conduct Requirements
Two short guides explaining how its new rules for Google search will work: the publisher conduct requirement and the fair ranking conduct requirement. Download now.
Report: AI licensing strategy for UK publishers
Research commissioned by the PPA – packed with expert interviews and scenario modelling validated by industry experts. Download now.
The third option: the machine traffic response no publisher can make
A simple guide by Monetization OS on selling access. Download now.
PPA Publisher AI Licensing framework
A practical diagnostic framework, designed to help members assess their position and identify the most appropriate strategic pathway for their business. Check it out.
Who owns the future of publishing: LLM licensing framework
Catch up on a session from Festival 2026 where Magda Woods, MonetizationOS, and PLS explore how PPA members’ search traffic has changed. Watch now.
PPA AI series
Magda Woods makes the case for the commercial value of bot segmentation (training crawlers, live retrieval bots, and search crawlers) and lays out how you can enforce strategic segmentation.
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