- Google’s AI Overviews are sharply cutting publisher referral traffic, often by 30–40% and up to ~80% in some niches.
- Zero-click news searches are rising fast, from 56% in mid-2024 to nearly 69% by mid-2025.
- Publishers are pursuing lawsuits and regulatory pressure for licensing or compensation as ad and affiliate revenue erodes.
- Outlets with subscriptions and evergreen, high-intent content are proving more resilient than news-and-ads-dependent publishers.
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In May 2024, Google began rolling out AI Overviews—a feature that presents AI-generated summaries at the top of search results—intended to give users quick answers without clicking through to external websites. Since then, the effects on publishers have been profound and measurable. According to traffic‐analytics data from firms such as SimilarWeb, Ahrefs, and Seer Interactive, publishers are seeing sharp drops in referral traffic; Some publishers report losses in traffic from Google search ranging from ~30% to 40% or more, with a few niche verticals experiencing losses as high as 80% for specific queries or content types.
This traffic decline has translated directly into revenue losses for publishers heavily dependent on ad impressions and affiliate links. As fewer users click through, fewer ad views and lower subscription attachments occur. Smaller publishers are particularly exposed, due to lower margins and fewer diversified income streams. All this while Google gains both time‐on‐site traffic and control over which content is surfaced and summarized.
The situation is raising legal, regulatory, and strategic alarms. In the U.S., Chegg filed an antitrust lawsuit claiming that Google’s AI Overviews use Chegg’s content without compensation and divert traffic away from it, causing substantial harm. Similarly, Penske Media has sued, citing a 20% decline in referral traffic and millions in lost affiliate and ad revenue. Meanwhile, in the European Union, the Digital Markets Act and related investigations are probing whether Google’s use of publisher content for these AI features violates content licensing norms and competition rules.
Strategies of resilience are emerging. Publishers with robust subscription models, loyal readerships, or content aimed at high-intent searches (reviews, technical how-tos) are more insulated. Some publishers are experimenting with licensing deals, litigation, or opt-out mechanisms, though opt-out may risk loss of visibility in search. Others are investing in alternative distribution platforms, direct traffic, branded communities, and diversified revenue sources beyond ad dependency.
Open questions remain: How verifiable and transparent is Google’s attribution of traffic from AI Overviews? To what extent can smaller publishers negotiate fair compensation or regulation? Will regulatory bodies mandate licensing payments or opt-out rights? And what long-term impact will this have on the diversity and quality of journalism, especially niche and local outlets?
Supporting Notes
- The Atlantic reported referral traffic to publishers fell by ~30-40%, with some publishers reporting up to an 80% drop in clicks on pages where AI Overviews appear.
- Zero-click news searches (i.e. no link to a publisher) rose from 56% in May 2024 to nearly 69% by May 2025.
- CNN.com saw its traffic drop by approximately 28% year-over-year; HuffPost and Forbes lost ~40%; DailyMail.com dropped ~32%.
- NYPost network’s page views declined 12% from June 2024 to May 2025, per SimilarWeb and ComScore data.
- Chegg’s lawsuit claims a 49% drop in non-subscriber traffic, $143.5 million in revenue with a net loss of $6.1 million in Q4 2024, and stock plummeting ~90% over 12 months.
- Penske Media alleges roughly a 20% drop in referral traffic since May 2025, linked to millions in lost advertising and affiliate income.
- Publishers with content like product reviews and technical guides are more resilient to the impact of AI Overviews than short-lived news content, per data from Ziff Davis and others.