Turning Archives into Assets — AI Licensing, Rights & Revenues at MIPCOM 2025
“Creators and rights holders are sitting on training gold, and have the power to negotiate, shape, and benefit from this new economy.” — Catherine Warren, FanTrust
At MIPCOM Cannes 2025, FanTrust’s Catherine Warren moderated a second standout Innovation Lab conversation: AI Licensing, Rights & Revenues, featuring Dave Davis, Chief Content Officer at Protégé, and David Richtenburg, EVP of Content & Partnerships at Troveo.ai.
Together, these two companies represent some of the most active intermediaries building bridges between AI developers and rights holders in the fast-growing AI content licensing economy. The discussion revealed how entertainment archives, once static assets, are now becoming prime training data in a thriving new marketplace.
From Vision to Reality
Reflecting on the progress since last year, Dave Davis said:
“Last year at MIPCOM, we were selling a vision, a hypothesis. This year, we can share a track record of success: hundreds of media partners, millions in royalties. This model is going mainstream.” His comment captured the session’s momentum: AI licensing is no longer speculative. It’s operational, profitable, and scaling fast.
The Emerging AI Licensing Economy
Framing the discussion, Catherine shared FanTrust’s perspective:
“We’re co-creating AI licensing marketplaces that unlock millions of new dollars for rights holders while clearing rights and enriching data for AI training.”She cited early benchmarks showing that AI platforms pay $60–$300 per hour for premium, metadata-rich content. A revelation that electrified the audience. The panel also explored new deal structures, from one-time perpetual licenses to recurring royalties tied to ongoing model training.
Ethics, Trust & Translation
Both Protégé and Troveo.ai were described as “new translators between AI developers and rights holders.”
David Richtenburg emphasized that trust, transparency, and ethical guardrails are essential for long-term value creation, ensuring that artists, brands, and archives are protected even as innovation accelerates.
A Maturing Marketplace
Catherine’s closing remarks summed up the shift:
“AI licensing is moving from the margins to the mainstage, a new era where creativity and commerce meet in the entertainment economy.”
FanTrust Takeaways:
AI for Revenue and AI Licensing underscored FanTrust’s leadership at the intersection of innovation, ethics, and monetization. From standing-room-only panels to dynamic online dialogue, MIPCOM 2025 showcased the media-tech trends shaping the future of content and unlocking entirely new business models.
