The average ChatGPT session lasts nearly three times longer than a Google search session: 14 minutes vs just 5 minutes. That small statistic hides a big story. It means people aren't just searching with AI, they're staying. They're exploring, generating, and iterating in ways search engines were never designed for. And it explains why answer engines like ChatGPT are becoming the first stop for millions of users who once reflexively typed "Google.com."
Answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are replacing traditional search traffic with direct answers, depriving publishers of the revenue they would generate from attracting those visitors to their websites. The shift mirrors the decoupling that occurred with Google News two decades ago, when aggregators began to sever the direct publisher-reader relationship, reshaping the economics of digital media, according to Felix Danczak, head of AI and growth at the venture capital firm Pembroke VCT.
