"The tone has flipped: instead of lamenting lost clicks, publishers are outlining where and how they're building sustainable growth. That's been a key throughline in third-quarter publisher earnings calls: People Inc. saw search traffic declines that hurt its overall digital ad revenue, but was confident its strategy to focus on AI licensing and off-platform reach would help it overcome these challenges going forward."
"Execs from five different publishers detailed how they're future-proofing against traffic erosion, investing in video, direct-to-audience strategies, and AI licensing plays. "Even in an environment where the moves of big tech companies are leading to less and less traffic for publishers, we see large and persistent demand for what we do," said New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levin during the company's earnings call on Nov. 5."
"IAC's People Inc. (formerly Dotdash Meredith) was the most transparent about how much Google AI Overviews has eaten not just traffic - but programmatic ad revenue. Google search traffic dropped from 54% to 24% of total traffic and led to a decline in programmatic ad revenue, and an overall 3% drop in digital ad revenue in the quarter, People Inc. CEO Neil Vogel said during the company earnings call on Nov. 4."
Publishers are shifting from lamenting lost referral traffic to building sustainable growth through diversified strategies. Several publishers reported search-driven traffic declines that reduced programmatic ad revenue, with People Inc. noting Google search traffic fell from 54% to 24% and causing a 3% digital ad revenue decline. Many publishers reported year‑over‑year digital ad revenue growth in Q3, with BuzzFeed and People Inc. as exceptions. Executives described investments in video, direct-to-audience approaches, off-platform reach, and AI licensing as ways to future-proof revenue. The New York Times reported persistent demand for its content despite platform-driven traffic erosion.
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