Reach pitches its Google AI deal as a licensing template and presses OpenAI

Key points

Reach, owner of the Daily Express, Daily Star and OK!, signed a paid AI content deal with Google covering its UK and Ireland news portfolio.
Digiday understands the Google deal runs two years; Reach CEO Piers North calls it time-limited and says renewal talks will follow.
Reach says it sent OpenAI a cease-and-desist letter and reports well over 100 million successful scrapes of its content in six months.
North says Reach is also in talks with Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, and calls the Google agreement the first of several deals.

Why it matters for marketers: Publishers are turning scraping logs into leverage for paid AI licensing, which signals that content sourced by AI tools may increasingly come with contracts, usage data and legal risk.

Reach, the U.K. publisher behind the Daily Express, Daily Star and OK!, has agreed a paid deal with Google that gives the company expanded rights to use news content from Reach's UK and Ireland titles in its news AI pilot. Digiday understands the agreement lasts two years. In return, Google can use the content in experimental AI features and new ways of delivering news while both sides assess whether they help engage audiences.

CEO Piers North describes the deal as a framework other AI firms should follow, built on consent and payment before content is used. He says it also gives Reach visibility into how its content is used, which will shape the renewal talks. Reach says it is in discussions with Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, and that it has sent OpenAI the next stage in the legal process after what North says is evidence from access logs of heavy use of its content. Reach reports well over 100 million successful scrapes across its portfolio in six months.

For marketers and content teams, the signal is that licensing, not referral traffic alone, is becoming a revenue and control lever for publishers. North acknowledged that scrapers are getting harder to tell apart from human traffic, which complicates both blocking and measurement. Brands relying on publisher content or placements should expect more AI-specific terms and reporting.

Watch for the terms of the Google renewal, any response from OpenAI, and whether other publishers copy the approach. North said the deal is the first of a number Reach plans to sign, so more agreements, or more legal escalation, may follow.