In May 2024, Worth.com lost nearly a third of its traffic. A site redesign or algorithm penalty didn’t cause the drop—it was triggered by the rollout of Google’s AI Overviews.
These AI-generated summaries, now common at the top of search results, offer instant answers to users—no click required. They’re fast, helpful, and catastrophic for publishers who depend on referral traffic. In Worth’s case, traffic fell 30% in a single month. That story is repeating across the industry.
According to Similarweb, news and media sites have experienced a year-over-year decline in search referrals of more than 17%. When an AI Overview appears, some outlets see click-through rates drop by as much as 79%. Across the top 500 publishers globally, traffic from Google is down 27%—a loss that translates to billions in ad revenue.
The core issue is that zero-click search is becoming the norm. Before AI Overviews, 56% of news-related searches didn’t lead to a website. A year later, that number has jumped to nearly 69%. Google, once the web’s primary traffic driver, is increasingly its most significant gatekeeper.
Many publishers call it an existential threat. Others are fighting back in court. The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for using its articles to train ChatGPT. They’re not alone. Earlier this year, Ziff Davis filed a similar lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of “intentionally and relentlessly” using its content without permission. It was one of the first major digital publishers to adopt this approach.
And yet—Ziff Davis hasn’t been hit nearly as hard by AI Overviews as others. (Full disclosure, I used to work at Ziff Davis and for a time reported to Vivek.)
“We analyzed thousands of queries across our key domains,” CEO Vivek Shah told investors in May. “The percentage of times that an AI Overview appeared… fell to 8%.” That meant 92% of the time, their results pages remained untouched. “At this point, we don’t see it as a significant change to the search experience.”
Why is Ziff Davis an outlier? For starters, the company owns high-intent, evergreen brands—PCMag, IGN, Mashable—that focus on service journalism and product reviews. Their content is structured, deeply maintained, and often resistant to AI shortcuts. If you’re searching for “best gaming headset under $100,” you probably want a list, not a paragraph.
Shah’s calm in the storm is striking—especially given the company’s legal stance. On one hand, Ziff Davis is proactively defending its IP in court. On the other hand, it’s watching AI-driven changes with a cool head and a strong dataset. That balance—measured litigation, aggressive product focus—has helped Ziff navigate the chaos better than most.
But there’s no easy fix. Google’s AI Overviews are just the beginning. As more users obtain their answers directly from platforms—via search, chat, or voice—publishers are being excluded from the conversation. If the content creators don’t share in the value their work provides, the business model breaks.
That’s why events like Techonomy 25 matter. On November 18 in New York City, Shah will take the stage to talk about AI, media, and what comes next. It’s a rare chance to hear directly from one of the sharpest operators in digital publishing—and someone who’s playing both offense and defense in the AI era.
If you care about the future of journalism, you should be in the room. Tickets are still available. And if you want a preview of what a smart, data-driven media strategy looks like in 2025, look no further than Ziff Davis.
Use the code DAN399 to get $250 off the ticket price.
