AI Is Booming in RFPs. Here’s How Publishers Are Winning Business

In less than a year, as generative artificial intelligence has grown from a fringe pursuit to an object of mainstream fascination, marketers have sought to capitalize on the fervor by creating campaigns that align their brands with the topic.

As a result, news publishers have seen an uptick in the number of requests for proposals (RFPs) from advertisers whose central theme is AI, according to interviews with six publishing executives. 

At The Atlantic, inbound interest picked up in June, about six months after blue-chip tech brands first invested in the space, according to Alice McKown, the publisher and chief revenue officer of The Atlantic.

“We are excited about the AI space,” McKown said. “It feels momentous, and there are a lot of creative ways to tell its stories with partners.”

Financial publisher Fortune fields roughly one RFP per week related to the subject, while Bustle Digital Group says it has submitted a few dozen proposals involving generative AI. 

To win the highly competitive business, publishers have employed a mix of more turnkey approaches—such as experiential offerings and editorial packages—with solutions whose innovation mirrors the spirit of AI itself, including bespoke generative bots, custom research and AI-generated narration.

Critically, the advent of AI has also brought about the return of formerly dormant technology budgets, a key source of revenue for many media companies. 

Events and editorial alignment

At The Atlantic Festival later this month, the publisher has drawn up two sessions concerning AI, which found sponsors in Genentech and Leaps by Bayer, according to McKown. Pfizer is also sponsoring a forum exploring the impact of AI on healthcare.

Likewise, Fortune secured four new sponsors—Salesforce, Amgen, Workday and Checkpoint Software—for its third Brainstorm AI event in December, according to vice president of partnership marketing Sheyna Bruckner. 

This is a complex subject, not something you pop in and out of.

Sheyna Bruckner, vp, partnership marketing, Fortune

Other publishers have spun up new events dedicated to AI, in part to meet advertiser demand. Forbes will host its first-ever Forbes AI Summit this fall, while The Washington Post will convene its own AI Summit—sponsored by Intel—in October, according to chief advertising officer Johanna Mayer-Jones.

Similar to events, editorial packages can also offer publishers an expedited vehicle for custom alignments. 

Forbes—no stranger to a franchise—will release its first-ever AI 50 list in December to coincide with its AI Summit, according to chief revenue officer Sherry Phillips, and Time plans to debut its inaugural Time100 AI list later this month. 

Eye on AI, a newsletter Fortune launched in 2019, has seen an uptick in sponsorship interest this year as well, according to Bruckner, and The Atlantic plans to launch a capsule newsletter covering the subject this fall. (Editor’s note: Adweek is producing its first AI Awards in November in conjunction with our annual NexTech event).

Generative bots and generating leads

Publishers have also won business by building chatbot products for clients.

This month, Bustle Digital Group unveiled a product, sponsored by Tyson’s Hillshire Farm, that presents users with a custom sandwich recipe based on their conversation with a generative AI bot. 

The publisher is pitching a similar product, an AI-powered Holiday Hotline, and is pacing to close seven figures of revenue related to generative AI this year, according to chief revenue officer and president Jason Wagenheim.

In an experimental vein, The Atlantic has begun working with the firm ElevenLabs to create narrated versions of its articles using AI, according to McKown. Publishers have been offering oral versions of written articles for years, but the new technology creates such a realistic product that two companies—a streaming giant and technology mainstay—both have sponsorships in the works.

Publishers have also won AI-centric RFPs by creating custom research on the technology, then integrating sponsors. These white papers offer brands the sheen of expertise, and they appeal to the kinds of enterprise software purchase-makers that can turn into leads.

The Washington Post Client Solutions team has incorporated its research on the enterprise applications of AI into its Power Index—a partnership with Kantar—and Forbes’ Research team is currently fielding a C-suite survey on the subject. Fortune, likewise, has compiled a C-Suite AI playbook, which Salesforce has underwritten.

“AI gives us the opportunity to work with partners in the way we work best,” Bruckner said, “which is across platforms and years. This is a complex subject, not something you pop in and out of.”