Google is paying roughly 100 digital publishers through its AI contribution pilot, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the tests. The reported payments vary widely. Some smaller sites have earned less than $1,000 over several months, while one early participant is earning more than $1 million a year.
For several small and midsize sites in the pilot, the payments amount to less than 0.1% of their advertising revenue, according to people familiar with the payouts.
When I covered the pilot on Sept. 14, Digiday could say only that at least dozens of publishers had been approached, and it couldn’t confirm a total. The new figure counts publishers being paid. Some of them told The Information they still don’t know how their payments are calculated.
What Participants Are Reportedly Earning
The Information’s payout figures come from different publishers over different stretches of time. A publisher that joined a few months ago has made about $50,000 to $60,000 so far, according to the report, and said that amount doesn’t represent much of its business. Google started testing the program less than a year ago, a person close to the company told the outlet.
How Payments Are Calculated Is Still Unclear
Some participants in the pilot told The Information their payments can change from month to month without explanation.
The help text Digiday published on Sept. 14 says content earns when it “contributes significantly” to AI-generated responses in the Gemini app, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Confirming facts or being linked after a response is generated doesn’t qualify. Participants see a monthly earnings figure with some history in Search Console, without detail on how it was calculated.
When I compared the pilot with Cloudflare’s and Microsoft’s payment models on Sept. 18, the published record didn’t define what “significantly” means.
Some publishers in the pilot also say content on topics that draw strong user interest but are less widely covered appears to earn more, according to the report, with anime and gaming among the examples.
Some Larger Publishers Are Holding Out
The size of the payments has kept some larger publishers out of the pilot, The Information’s sources said. Some are holding out in hopes of getting Google and other companies to pay more for content used by AI.
Digiday reported on Sept. 14 that the program had appealed more to small and mid-sized publishers than to large ones. In my Sept. 18 comparison, I noted that one exec told Digiday the numbers offered to their company and several peers were too low to opt in, and that talks with Google were ongoing.
Why This Matters
The reported payouts give the pilot a sense of scale that the mid-September reporting didn’t have. For several small and midsize sites, payments amounted to less than 0.1% of advertising revenue. That puts the $1 million-a-year example in context without establishing a typical payout. The report still doesn’t explain how Google calculates individual payments.
Looking Ahead
Whether Google publishes what counts as a significant contribution, or adds that detail to the Search Console panel, would tell an invited site what to expect before it opts in. Google told Digiday in September that the pilot is at an early stage, without giving an expansion timeline. A participant count from Google, or publishers going on record with their payments, would let readers check the numbers against a named source.
Featured Image: ugguggu/Shutterstock. Google wordmark: Source: Google.
