AI agents are consuming content at a scale the web was never built for — and they don't watch ads, subscribe, or click. In this episode of TRB Conversations, powered by EX.CO, recorded at Cannes, Brian Morrissey talks with Cosmin Ene, CEO of Supertab, about why the old ads-vs-subscriptions dichotomy breaks down in an agentic world — and why micropayments, an idea publishers have circled for two decades, may finally have found its moment.

Cosmin makes the case that grounding — not AI training — is the real emerging monetization opportunity, why bulk licensing deals actually hurt publishers by capping upside and hiding usage data, and why he believes the market for AI-agent content payments will regulate itself the way any two-sided market does. He also walks through how Supertab Connect works in practice: rights declaration, pricing, metering, and settlement — and makes the case that this is publishing's "YouTube moment," circa 2007, not a fast-money play.

Topics covered:

Why AI agents threaten the ad- and subscription-funded web
What "grounding" means and why it's more valuable than training-data settlements
Why publishers' old fear of subscription cannibalization doesn't apply to agents
The problem with one-off bulk licensing deals (and the information asymmetry they create)
How AI-agent price discovery will actually work
Why publishers shouldn't expect meaningful revenue for 12–24 months — and what to do now

00:00 Intro — is AI scraping breaking the open web?

04:00 Why ads and subscriptions don't work on AI agents

12:00 What "grounding" means and why it's the real opportunity

16:00 The math problem with suing AI companies for content

25:00 Inside Supertab Connect: rights, pricing, metering, settlement

38:00 Why publishers shouldn't expect fast revenue