Google’s AI Shift Is Crushing News Publishers -Here’s What It Means for Ad Revenue and
Google’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) shift from a traditional search engine to what some are calling an “answer engine” is changing how people use the internet. Instead of directing users to a list of blue links, Google’s new features, like AI Overviews and AI Mode, summarize answers right at the top of the search results. That means fewer people are clicking through to websites. For online news publishers, this change is creating real problems.
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Impact on News Publications
Several major media outlets have seen their traffic from Google search shrink in a short period. According to Similarweb data (SMWB), organic search traffic to HuffPost fell by over 50% in the past 3 years. The Washington Post saw a similar decline. Business Insider’s traffic dropped 55% between April 2022 and April 2025. Last month, the company cut 21% of its staff, citing “extreme traffic drops outside of our control,” according to CEO Barbara Peng.
At a meeting earlier this year, The Atlantic’s CEO, Nicholas Thompson, told employees that the company should expect its Google traffic to move toward zero. The New York Times (NYT) reported that organic search accounted for 36.5% of its traffic in April 2025, down from nearly 44% in 2022. Even though The Wall Street Journal’s total traffic is up, the share of visits from organic search fell from 29% to 24%.
These changes began when Google introduced AI Overviews last year. The tool compiles information and provides users with a concise summary of their search query. Last month, Google went a step further and launched AI Mode in the US. It delivers results in a chatbot-style format that often avoids linking out to other websites entirely.
Adopting a Different Approach
Google says it still supports the open web and strives to elevate links to news sites. The company says people who do click after seeing an AI Overview tend to spend more time on the destination site. It also states that AI Overviews don’t always appear for trending news topics. However, publishers claim that the loss of search traffic is real and growing. The Washington Post’s CEO, Will Lewis, said the company is “moving with urgency” to find new ways to connect with readers and generate revenue in a post-search world.
Dotdash Meredith’s CEO, Neil Vogel, said that when his company merged with Meredith in 2021, Google search made up 60% of their traffic. Today, it’s about one-third.
Some media companies are also turning to the courts or striking licensing deals. The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft (MSFT) for copyright infringement and also signed an AI licensing agreement with Amazon (AMZN). News Corp. (NWSA), which owns the Wall Street Journal, has a content deal with OpenAI and a lawsuit pending against Perplexity.
ChatGPT Is Growing Fast
At the same time, generative AI tools like ChatGPT are gaining traction. ChatGPT handles about 37.5 million queries a day. That’s small compared to Google’s 14 billion daily searches, but the numbers are climbing. Between December and February, ChatGPT’s weekly users jumped from 300 million to 400 million, and OpenAI has said it’s aiming for 1 billion by the end of the year.
If these trends continue, some of the traffic that previously went to Google may shift elsewhere. Even a 5% to 10% decline in search traffic could affect billions in ad revenue. That’s something investors in Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and publishing stocks will likely be watching.
For now, Google remains the top player in search, and its advertising business is still producing strong results. The company generated $50.7 billion in search ad revenue in Q1 2025. But the habits that made that model work are changing. As AI tools assume a larger role in how people find information, both tech platforms and content creators are being compelled to reassess their operations.
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