Referrals from ChatGPT to news publishers are on the rise, yet the overall decline in organic clicks is substantial. As AI adoption progresses, users increasingly retrieve news directly from AI-powered search results. The percentage of news searches resulting in no clicks surged from 56% to 69%. Organic traffic to news websites plummeted from over 2.3 billion to under 1.7 billion visits. However, some news sites experience growth in ChatGPT referrals, with a notable 25-fold increase, which remains inadequate against the backdrop of overall traffic declines.
Since May 2024, the percentage of news searches leading to no click-throughs has risen from 56% to almost 69% as of May 2025.
Organic traffic, which peaked at over 2.3 billion visits in mid-2024, has declined to below 1.7 billion, indicating a significant drop.
Although ChatGPT referrals to news publishers grew from under 1 million to over 25 million from January 2024 to May 2025, this increase is not sufficient to offset overall traffic declines.
The report depicts varying success among news sites, with Reuters, NY Post, and Business Insider seeing notable increases in ChatGPT referral traffic.
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