Who Owns Your Readers: You or AI?
Download MP3Your readers are asking AI for the news instead of coming to your site. Every week, 10% of people get their news from AI, according to Reuters. For younger people, it’s 17%.
A new Tow-Knight Center report, The Three-Layer Cake, says owning the reader relationship is one of the prizes of the AI age. It also argues that blocking AI hurts the public. Pete thinks those two ideas pull in opposite directions.
So how do you let AI in and still keep your readers?
Pete answers the questions publishers are asking right now:
How do Google AI Overviews keep readers from reaching your site?
What content can publishers create that AI can't replace?
Should publishers license their content to AI companies?
Should publishers block AI bots, and how do you keep your Google traffic?
How does a registration wall build your email list?
How should magazines set up a registration wall differently from news sites?
Will AI agents replace your website visitors?
You'll also hear how Mexico News Daily grew its traffic with a registration wall, and how your newsletter turns a growing email list into return visits with the Publisher Flywheel(TM).
CHAPTERS
0:00 Who owns your readers: you or AI?
1:26 How many people use AI for news
1:54 How Google AI Overviews keep readers on Google
2:36 The Three-Layer Cake: content, AI bots, readers
3:11 Should you license content to AI?
3:35 Should publishers block AI bots?
4:26 Build your email list with a registration wall
6:49 Mexico News Daily registration wall results
7:03 Registration wall setup for magazines and niche publishers
8:07 When AI agents become your readers
1:26 How many people use AI for news
1:54 How Google AI Overviews keep readers on Google
2:36 The Three-Layer Cake: content, AI bots, readers
3:11 Should you license content to AI?
3:35 Should publishers block AI bots?
4:26 Build your email list with a registration wall
6:49 Mexico News Daily registration wall results
7:03 Registration wall setup for magazines and niche publishers
8:07 When AI agents become your readers
Ready to grow your subscription revenue? Talk to the Leaky Paywall team: https://leakypaywall.com/ Learn more about paywall strategies: Publisher Revenue (link: https://publisherrevenue.com/)
SOURCES
Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures, "The Three-Layer Cake: Public-Interest Information in an AI-Intermediated Age": http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/three-layer-cake-tow-knight-2026-10-21-final.pdf
The Decoder, "More people get news from AI chatbots, but trust remains low" (Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 data): https://the-decoder.com/more-people-get-news-from-ai-chatbots-but-trust-remains-low/
Leaky Paywall, "How Mexico News Daily Built a 100% Reader Revenue Model (Without Ads)": https://leakypaywall.com/how-mexico-news-daily-built-a-100-reader-revenue-model-without-ads/
