Since 2024, ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews have revolutionized the way people search for news online. Although ChatGPT traffic recommendations to news websites have grown many times, overall clicks have fallen as users get news directly via AI responses.
The change is rewriting Google search traffic decline since ChatGPT launch and news consumption habits across the world. The shift in news reading is restructuring the online media environment. Tech is accelerating the pace at which individuals are accessing information, but it is also creating new problems on how news sites retain users and ad revenue.
AI and News Discovery
Online market intelligence company, Similarweb, reported that the news searches’ percentage not resulting in a click to news websites rose from 56% to nearly 69% since Google introduced its AI Overviews. Meaning, growing numbers of consumers are receiving news summaries or essential facts presented to them via AI instead of visiting the publisher’s website.
Organic traffic to news websites also dropped from an all-time high of over 2.3 billion visits in mid-2024 to below 1.7 billion in 2025.
News-related searches entered on ChatGPT, in turn, picked up by 212% between January 2024 and May 2025 – a testament growth to the increasing need for LLM content and shifting habits among news readers.
ChatGPT Traffic Referrals Increase but Don’t Offset Losses
Though ChatGPT referral traffic to news websites has increased exponentially – from below 1 million in early 2024 to well over 25 million in 2025 – this is still short of making up for the decline in clicks because of the drop in algorithmic search traffic.
Publishers have done better in other instances, where it is clearly seen when Reuters revealed an 8.9% increase in ChatGPT referral to news websites, while New York Post and Business Insider posted 7.1% and 6.5% increases, respectively. The New York Times, which is locked in a court case with OpenAI, only recorded a slight 3.1% increase.
As observed by Similarweb, most AI news queries are on stocks, finance, and sport, but politics, weather, and economy-related topics are also increasing, indicating a drift from quick news updates to deeper, topic-based conversations with the use of ChatGPT content.
Publishers are finding it hard to adjust as AI remakes reading news. Google launched a new product, named Offerwall, that enables publishers to monetize in addition to simple ad traffic, with possibilities such as micropayments and signups for newsletters. However, the future is uncertain, since ChatGPT traffic increases and most of the newsrooms are facing cuts or shutdowns.
“I do think there will be areas where some jobs go away, or maybe there will be some whole categories of jobs that go away. And any job that goes away, even if it’s good for society and the economy, is very painful — extremely painful — in that moment,” said OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, acknowledging the pain caused by AI.
The relationship between ChatGPT and Google search traffic continues to influence how news is created, shared, and consumed in the digital age, and this is a critical issue.
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