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Nine signs Australian-first deal letting Microsoft Copilot use its masthead journalism

Nine and Microsoft announced an Australian-first AI news agreement under which Copilot can reference the text of The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times beyond paywalled previews. Terms were not disclosed.

July 3, 2026 Nine and Microsoft announced an Australian-first AI news agreement under which Copilot can reference the text of The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times beyond paywalled previews.1

Terms of the deal

Under the agreement, Copilot can reference the text of Nine's mastheads, including material beyond paywalled previews, during AI searches, and will show snippets, headlines and summaries with references and links to the full articles.1 No contract duration or payment amounts were disclosed.1

Background

Nine's Tory Maguire said the deal is the first of its kind for Microsoft in the Asia Pacific region and opens new revenue opportunities for the mastheads, without citing figures.1 Nine CEO Matt Stanton said the role of verified, premium journalism in grounding AI outputs is essential.1

Press Gazette's tracker lists the deal under July 3, 2026 and notes the terms as undisclosed.2

What it means for data sellers

Publishers outside the US can license text for grounding without selling training rights, and can expect revenue terms to stay private.

How the deal came together

  1. Announcement. Nine and Microsoft announced the agreement on July 3, 2026.
  2. Mastheads covered. The deal covers The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.
  3. What Copilot can do. Copilot can reference the text of Nine's masthead content, including material beyond paywalled previews, to ground its AI search outputs, and show snippets, headlines and summaries that point users to the full story.
  4. Terms. The announcement does not disclose duration or payment amounts.

Takeaways for companies with data

  • Grounding rights can extend past the paywall preview, which is a different permission from showing headlines.
  • Regional publishers are now joining Microsoft's licensing efforts outside the United States.
  • Without a disclosed price or term, the value of the access cannot be compared with other deals.

Sources

Every numbered reference above points to an entry here. Figures come from these pages as of the date shown at the top of the article. Where a source reports a number it got from unnamed people, the text says so.

  1. Nine and Microsoft announce Australian-first AI agreement for news media content (Microsoft Source Asia, July 2026)
  2. News publisher AI deals and lawsuits tracker (Press Gazette, 2026)

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About the AI Data Deal Tracker

SellYourAIData tracks publicly reported sales and licenses of data to AI companies, with the price, terms and sources for each. Entries are checked against public reporting and updated as deals change. SellYourAIData was not involved in this deal. To ask what your company's data could sell for, get a free valuation. To report a deal, contact us.