The publishing industry's response to AI has been sharply divided. While some major outlets scramble to block AI crawlers and file lawsuits, a select group of forward-thinking publishers has quietly transformed AI disruption into a revenue goldmine. The numbers tell a compelling story: ChatGPT referrals to news publishers skyrocketed from 1 million in May 2024 to over 25 million visits in May 2025, a staggering 25-fold growth that's generating millions for publishers who understand one simple truth: AI isn't the enemy, it's the opportunity.

The 25x Winners: Publishers Thriving the AI Era

NY Post and Business Insider: The Unlikely AI Success Stories

The New York Post (7.1%) and Business Insider (6.5%) have emerged as unexpected AI traffic winners. These publications, traditionally known for their tabloid and business coverage, respectively, have proven that AI success isn't limited to traditional "prestige" outlets.

Their secret? Embracing what Infactory calls an "API-native content strategy". Rather than treating their archives as static, dormant repositories, these publishers have transformed their content into dynamic assets that ChatGPT can reliably and legally access and reference via their licensing agreement.

From 1 Million to 25.2 Million: The Referral Traffic Explosion

The 25x growth in ChatGPT news referrals represents more than just increased visibility; it's a fundamental shift in how content reaches audiences. As AI shifts from general-purpose models to smaller, domain-specific models and agentic applications, there's a fast-emerging need for tools that let companies turn their proprietary data into structured, AI-ready assets.

Publishers who recognized this shift early are now reaping the rewards, with referral traffic translating directly into substantial advertising revenue and exciting new monetization opportunities through data partnerships.

The Strategic Divide: Embrace vs. Restrict

Why CNN and the New York Times Are Missing from AI Referral Rankings

CNN is nowhere to be found in AI referral rankings. The New York Times barely registers. Why? They chose lawsuits and paywalls over partnerships. While they fought to lock down their content, competitors grabbed millions of new readers through ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. The irony? Their defensive playbook backfired; they protected their content right out of the biggest traffic opportunity they’ll have in years.

Data owners need new monetization paths, yet many traditional publishers remain stuck in outdated models of content protection rather than content productization.

The Cost of Saying No to AI Platforms

Publishers blocking AI access aren't just missing out on traffic; they're also missing the larger opportunity. Domain data owners hold high-value archives but lack knowledge on how to safely and scalably expose that data for AI without compromising control. This fear-based approach costs them millions in potential revenue while competitors capitalize on AI partnerships.

Case Study: Publisher Generates $5.5M Annual Revenue from Archive APIs

Here's what smart looks like: One publisher took their dusty content archive and turned it into $5.5 million in annual revenue. How? They stopped thinking of their content as static files and started selling it as live data. Instead of handing over their entire archive for a one-time fee, they built APIs that charge for every single query. Each article, each search, each data pull—it all generates money. That's the Infactory model: don't sell your data wholesale. Sell it by the sip, and watch the revenue flow.

Beyond Traffic: The Real AI Revenue Opportunity

From Bulk Licensing to Query-Level Monetization

The traditional model of bulk content licensing is giving way to a more sophisticated approach: query-level monetization. Publishers can sell at the query level or the entire archive: extract metadata, apply schema constraints and data policy, and license as API endpoints with logging. This granular approach allows publishers to maintain control while maximizing revenue potential and relevance.

Your Archive as AI Infrastructure: The Untapped Asset

Publishers sitting on decades of content possess what AI companies desperately need: domain-specific, high-quality training data. Advanced query tracking and reporting reveal user intent, turning untapped data into strategic assets and uncovering data trends.

Why Data Partnerships Beat Data Restrictions

Smart publishers understand that complete visibility into query and API activity enables them to understand user intent and the strategic value of data. By partnering with AI platforms rather than restricting them, publishers gain insights into what content is most valuable while creating new revenue streams. This shift in mindset from restriction to partnership can open up new opportunities and revenue streams for publishers in the AI era.

The New Publisher Revenue Model

API-First Content Strategy: Lessons from Early Adopters

The winners in AI aren’t just writing good articles; they’re re-packaging their expertise into API endpoints that AI builders desperately need. Infactory makes this process seamless. Our Unique Query Methodology™ (UQM) analyzes your entire archive in minutes and generates Intelligent APIs that answer the exact questions AI companies' users are asking.

Your sports coverage? That’s an API for an AI fantasy league app. Your tech reviews? APIs for shopping agents. Every vertical you cover is a potential revenue stream waiting to be activated. The publishers making real money aren’t sitting around hoping AI will send them traffic; they’re building the infrastructure AI needs to function, then licensing them. If you’re not turning your content into APIs, you’re leaving millions on the table. It’s that simple

Query-Level Licensing: $100K+ Monthly Revenue Potential

Publishers implementing query-based licensing models report monthly revenues exceeding $100,000 from AI partnerships alone. With query-level APIs, publishers control exactly who sees what and how much they pay for it. That old blog post from 2015? It's now a micro-product. That investigative series? It's generating revenue every time an LLM needs to fact-check something. Publishers aren't just sitting on content anymore—they're running data businesses, one query at a time.

Maintaining Editorial Control While Maximizing Distribution

The fear of losing editorial control has paralyzed many publishers; however, successful AI partnerships prove that this is a poor choice, as they involve no concession of core IP, with potential for tiered products and monetization. Publishers can maintain complete control over their content while maximizing its reach and revenue potential through structured AI partnerships.

Publishers have two choices right now: fight AI or feed it. The fighters are losing. The feeders? They're watching their traffic increase and discovering revenue streams they never knew existed. But here's the thing: the traffic boom is just the appetizer. The real money comes from turning your archive into something AI companies will pay to access, again and again. Some publishers get it. Most don't. Which one are you?

Ready to join the AI winners? Book a demo now!

Recap of Infactory’s Three-Part Series

The publishers losing 70% of their search traffic (check out Part 1 if you missed it) have a choice. Keep fighting AI and watch competitors collect millions, or join the winners. Reuters pulls 8.9% of ChatGPT traffic. One publisher is banking $5.5 million annually. The math couldn't be clearer: search is dying, AI is exploding. Adapt or become irrelevant.

Ready to stop bleeding traffic and start printing money? Check back next week for Part 3, where we'll break down exactly how to transform your content archive into AI infrastructure.

Part Two: Inside the AI Gold Rush, Most Publishers Are Missing