"When the chief executive of the Financial Times suggested at a media conference this summer that rival publishers might consider a Nato for news alliance to strengthen negotiations with artificial intelligence companies there was a ripple of chuckles from attendees. Yet Jon Slade's revelation that his website had seen a pretty sudden and sustained decline of 25% to 30% in traffic to its articles from readers arriving via internet search engines quickly made clear the serious nature of the threat the AI revolution poses."
"Last week, the owner of the Daily Mail revealed in its submission to the Competition and Markets Authority's consultation on Google's search services that AI Overviews have fuelled a drop in click-through traffic to its sites by as much as 89%. DMG Media and other leading news organisations, including Guardian Media Group and the magazine trade body the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA), have urged the competition watchdog"
News publishers are experiencing steep declines in traffic from search engines following the introduction of Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. Searches historically drove significant referral clicks, with Google holding more than 90% of the market. AI-generated summaries and chatbot-style answers often appear at the top of results and can remove the need to follow links to original reporting. Publishers report drops ranging from around 25–30% up to 89% in click-throughs. Major news groups and trade bodies have asked the competition regulator to force greater transparency from Google and to provide traffic data from AI features.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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