As you know, Google has a small pilot named the AI contribution pilot, where they are paying some publishers for using their content in AI features like AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini. Well, according to The Information, it is about 100 publishers and those publishers are getting about "one-tenth of 1% of their advertising revenue."
Various web sites and news sites are reporting wide differences in payments across both small and midsize blogs and websites. The math turns out to to less than 0.1 percent of ad revenue. The Information wrote, "For several small to midsize blogs and websites testing the programs, the payments amount to less than one-tenth of 1% of their advertising revenue, according to people familiar with the payouts."
"The program is unlikely to silence those complaints, however," the article wrote.
One publisher got a $1 million deal, the report says, but earned less than $1,000 over several months:
Google started testing the program involving its AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini chatbot less than a year ago, according to a person close to Google. Payments have varied widely. One publisher that joined a few months ago has earned about $50,000 to $60,000 so far, which doesn’t represent that much of its business, the publisher said. Another that joined early on is earning more than $1 million a year, which represents a bigger slice of its revenue, according to people familiar with the program. Smaller sites have earned less than $1,000 over several months, according to those people.
Supposedly, payments depend on how much each source contributes to an AI answer - such as what Google cites in an AI Overview, in AI Mode or in Gemini. But some participants told The Information that they have no idea how Google calculates these payouts. In addition, the actual payments do change from month to month without a reason on why it was lower one month or higher another month.
The article goes on to read:
Other publishers see the latest program as a chance to learn what content Google’s AI values and adapt theirs to match. An executive at one participating publisher said Google appears to be testing a new deal in which it uses publishers’ content and decides for itself what that content is worth.
As a reminder, here is a screenshot from Google Search Console of this AI contribution feature:
The help document explains:
The AI contribution pilot allows you to earn money when your content contributes significantly to the creation of AI-generated responses shown to users in participating products. Al contribution focuses on the phase of generation where web content can significantly influence what response is generated. Web content may also confirm facts or be linked to within Google's Al after a response is generated, but those instances don't qualify for Al contribution.
You earn from the Gemini app, AI Overviews and AI Mode. It goes on to say:
- Accrue earnings for your content: Your pages can accrue earnings when they contribute significantly to Google's AI-generated responses.
- Manage your participation: Accept the Program Terms to start earning, update payment information, or cancel your participation at any time in your Search Console settings.
- Track your earnings: See the history of how much your content has accrued in earnings.
- Track your payments: Check the status of funds transferred to your bank account, which may differ from your estimated earnings due to tax deductions or local payment thresholds.
Here is a screenshot:
The document should be located over here, I think, if you have access to the program.
Forum discussion at X.
