A publisher now earns from licensing other publishers' work to AI
Wiley's annual report shows AI licensing growing, with a large part of it now coming from content it licenses on behalf of others.
Picture made for ABURA Bureau.
In its annual report for the year to 30 April 2026, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 24 June, John Wiley and Sons reported AI licence revenue of $49.1 million, against $40 million the year before.
The detail is in how it was earned. $19.4 million of that revenue related to content Wiley licensed from other publishers, part of what the filing calls AI licensing as a service. In its research business, AI licensing revenue was $33.1 million, from about $11 million a year earlier. The company also warns that this revenue can swing from period to period, depending on timing and the content involved.
Two things stand out for owners. Licensing to AI is now a line in a listed company's accounts, reported year after year, not a one-off. And a large owner is already acting for smaller ones, bringing their content into deals they could not reach alone. That is the need any owner of a smaller archive has: a route to the people who want to use it, and a price that more than one of them has had a chance to set.
