To publishers, AI search summaries mean “end of traffic era”

The era of traffic is approaching its end as AI summaries and chatbots are rapidly changing the way consumers use the internet, a new report has found. Media managers, desperate to find ways to generate revenue again, now expect journalists to emulate the style of TikTok-like content creators.

A new report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which included the views of 280 media leaders from 51 countries, found that media executives around the world fear search engine referrals will fall by 43% over the next three years.

Search traffic to news sites is already falling consistently, mostly due to AI-generated summaries, chatbots, and changes to the search algorithm.

Google Search alone is down 33% globally, Chartbeat data shows, and the figure is even higher in the US, where Google’s AI Overviews already appear at the top of about 10% of search results.

Probably the only bit of good news is that outlets carrying out live reporting and current affairs are more protected from AI summaries. Light content, such as lifestyle advice and celebrity shenanigans, is a lot more heavily affected, the Reuters report says.

This comes after substantial falls in referral traffic to news sites from Facebook (-43%) and X, formerly Twitter (-46%), over the last three years.

“Search engines are turning into AI-driven answer engines, where content is surfaced in chat windows, raising fears that referral traffic for publishers could dry up, undermining existing and future business models,” reads the report.

A response is proving difficult, especially since traditional media publishers are not only having to live with lower revenue but are also regularly threatened legally and continuously branded as “fake news.”

Independent journalists are also more often than not bypassed entirely by politicians, businessmen, and celebrities who instead choose to speak with sympathetic podcasters or YouTubers and avoid tough questions.

Publishers are planning to focus on more original investigations, on-the-ground reporting, contextual analysis, explainers, and human stories.

Still, the surveyed media managers have hope for the future. In fact, 53% of them said they were confident about their own business prospects.

As the report states, publishers are planning to focus on more original investigations, on-the-ground reporting, contextual analysis, explainers, and human stories.

By contrast, they want to scale back service journalism, evergreen content, and general news, which many expect to become commoditized by AI chatbots.

The hope, of course, is to continue attracting new subscribers. Most traditional news publishers have already transitioned to a subscription model, which they view as a path to long-term stability and profitability.

“It is not clear what comes next,” Nic Newman, senior research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, said.

“Publishers fear that AI chatbots are creating a new convenient way of accessing information that could leave news brands – and journalists – out in the cold.”

“But tech platforms do not hold all the cards. Reliable news, expert analysis, and points of view remain important both to individuals and to society, particularly in uncertain times. Great storytelling – and a human touch – is going to be hard for AI to replicate,” Newman points out.

On the other hand, media companies seem eager to emulate the content creators on TikTok and YouTube, and want their journalists to adopt the short-form video culture as well. One wonders what journalists think about this idea.

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