| Owner situation | First route to examine | Evidence that permits progression |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist B2B archive, one serious enquiry | Direct negotiation plus scoped legal/technical support | Authorised buyer, defined use, paid or restricted evaluation |
| Audiovisual archive, weak buyer relationships | Modality-specific aggregator comparison | Comparable deals, contributor permissions and sample controls |
| Recurring structured data product | Existing customer channels and governed distribution | Named consuming teams, delivery economics and product boundaries |
| Current publisher with measurable AI access | Retrieval/access pilot | Agreed chargeable events and a complete cash reconciliation |
| Scholarly publisher with entitlements | Controlled retrieval and collective-rights comparison | Subscriber-access rules, author permissions and allowed AI uses |
| Mixed acquired portfolio | Inventory and cohort prioritisation first | Rights evidence and a shortlist of commercially credible assets |
This decision table is a proposed starting order, not a supplier endorsement. Approve a pilot with a clear maximum cost and stop conditions. If demand, permissions or measurement remain unresolved, a deferred decision is a valid result.