What buyers ask now
- How much traffic comes from search, and how has it trended since AI answers expanded?
- How much of the audience is owned: email subscribers, direct visitors, app users, community members?
- How diversified is revenue across advertising, affiliate, subscriptions, events and licensing?
- Does the archive have licensing value to AI companies, and are the rights clean?
Telling the story well
Don't hide search dependence; buyers will find it in diligence. Show it, show what has been built beyond it, and show the plan. A business that can demonstrate owned audience growth and a credible licensing angle reads as resilient rather than exposed.
Our team led M&A at System1 and Forbes Marketplace and has managed homepages at Yahoo! and MSN, so we have seen media businesses from the buyer's and operator's side. The buyer landscape is in reading the TMT buyer landscape.
Archives as an asset
Content archives are among the most established categories of AI licensing. Valuing yours before a sale can support the price or create a separate deal. See data licensing vs. selling the company.
Where the audience comes from
SearchSocialDirectEmailCommunity and app
Search-dependent
Owned audience
Owned audience