Evidence Grows That Google's AI Overviews Have Eviscerated the Media Industry

"At their peak, the media companies brought in 112 million site visits per month from Google users in the US. By January of this year, that number was down to a little under 50 million - with some outlets losing over 90 percent of their traffic since the new feature rolled out."

"Digital Trends, which went from 8.5 million clicks a month in March 2024 to a heartbreaking 264,861 in January 2026. That's an astonishing decline - a drop-off of 97 percent of US web traffic from Google."

"Growtika theorizes that the disruption is due to three combined issues: Google's AI Overviews, which his in mid-2024; a bump in the algorithm that boosts Reddit to the top of the charts; and the growing number of AI chatbot users who eschew Google entirely."

Google's AI Overviews feature summarizes articles and presents them directly to users, eliminating the need to click through to original sources. This has devastated online media traffic, with major tech outlets experiencing dramatic declines. Data from SEO firm Growtika tracked 10 major tech publications from early 2024 to January 2026, revealing that combined monthly site visits from Google users dropped from 112 million to under 50 million. Individual outlets suffered varying losses: Mashable lost 30%, Wired lost 62%, and outlets like HowToGeek, The Verge, and ZDNet each lost over 85%. Digital Trends experienced the steepest decline, dropping 97% from 8.5 million to 264,861 monthly clicks. Growtika attributes this disruption to AI Overviews, algorithm changes favoring Reddit, and users switching to AI chatbots entirely.

Read at Futurism