• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, February 16, 2025

Some B2B publishers are wary of AI. But these poor people may be missing a chance to transform their businesses, judging by 5 AI Opportunities for B2B Publishers in 2025, a paper by Flare. 

Here are the five big benefits that await daring companies that embrace AI: 

1. Transforming B2B companies into intelligence providers. 

Among the possible offerings are premium subscriptions to dashboards, predictive analytics and exclusive reports, licensing data and partnerships.

“AI and machine learning (ML) technologies can empower publishers to transition from traditional content providers to intelligence companies in their chosen market,” the study says. “This shift positions them in the more lucrative market for actionable insights, real-time analytics, and strategic forecasting—a space traditionally dominated by consultancies and research firms.” 

2. AI for Data-Led Product Creation in Publishing

Publishers can use AI to move beyond advertising and subscription sales to data subscriptions. 

“Subscriptions—whether for digital content, niche reports, or newsletters—are particularly lucrative in the B2B space, where audiences are willing to pay for reliable, industry-specific insights,” the study notes. “Similarly, licensing arrangements allow publishers to monetize proprietary data or content by granting external organizations access to their archives, analytics, or aggregated datasets." 

3. Gaining Leverage With Generative AI Companies

Exclusive content is a “critical asset for publishers and an essential resource for large language model (LLM) technology companies – OpenAI probably being the most well-known,” the report claims. 

Some publishers have sued OpenAI, charging copyright infringement. Others have signed lucrative contracts with the company. 

“Because LLMs are hungry for data, publishers with unique, high- quality materials can position themselves as indispensable partners or gatekeepers, commanding  licensing fees for access to their archives,” the paper continues. “This is especially true in domains where trusted sources are limited.”

4. Empowering journalists to be marketing leaders. 

Far from replacing journalists, “AI and machine learning tools can enhance their ability to create exclusive, high-value content that puts pure ‘AI chatbot’ content to shame.” This means reporters can and should become thought leaders.

How can AI help? For one thing, “NLP algorithms can sift through vast quantities of unstructured text—such as reports, news articles, or social media posts—to extract key themes or identify emerging trends.”

In addition, “Machine learning models can detect subtle patterns in data, such as correlations between economic indicators and industry performance, offering journalists a fresh angle to explore.”

5. Streamlining workflow

Here’s how the study lays it out: “AI and machine learning technologies enable publishers to acquire, interpret, and extract actionable insights from massive amounts of data with unparalleled speed and operational efficiencies, positioning publishers to make better-informed decisions and deliver more impactful content to their audiences.”