AI Summaries Threaten Online News Audiences
News companies have been warned of a “devastating impact” on their online audiences due to the rise of AI-generated summaries, specifically Google’s AI Overviews, which reportedly lead to up to an 80% decrease in clickthroughs.
As search results become increasingly dominated by AI text summaries, media owners are expressing alarm over the potential existential threat to outlets heavily reliant on traffic sourced from search result links. The automated summaries provide users with detailed information without necessitating a click to the original content, thereby diminishing the visibility of those sources further down the results page.
A recently conducted analysis by the Authoritas analytics company indicates that a news website that previously ranked first in search results could see a staggering 79% drop in traffic if their link appears under an AI overview. Additionally, this analysis reveals YouTube links—owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet—are now also more prominently displayed than typical search results.
This research has been presented as part of a legal complaint to the UK Competition and Markets Authority regarding the influence of Google’s AI features on media traffic. In response, a Google spokesperson labeled the findings as “inaccurate and based on flawed assumptions and analysis,” arguing that the study utilized outdated estimations and a narrow range of search queries that do not reflect comprehensive traffic patterns for news websites.
“People are gravitating to AI-powered experiences, and AI features in search enable deeper inquiries, creating new opportunities for website discovery,” the spokesperson claimed. “We continue to direct billions of clicks to websites every day and have not observed significant aggregate drops in web traffic.”
Furthermore, a month-long survey conducted by the Pew Research Center indicated a significant decline in referral traffic attributable to Google’s AI summaries. The findings showed users clicked on a link only once in every 100 searches performed under AI-generated overviews.
Despite these claims, senior news executives express frustration as Google has repeatedly declined requests for data that could help measure the actual impact of these AI summaries on traffic. UK publishers are already reporting consequences; MailOnline executive Carly Steven noted an alarming 56.1% drop in clicks from search results showing AI summaries on desktop and a 48.2% decline on mobile.
The legal complaint comes as a collaboration between tech justice group Foxglove, the Independent Publishers Alliance, and the Movement for an Open Web, with Owen Meredith, chief executive of the News Media Association, accusing Google of trying to retain users within a “walled garden” while monetizing content created by others.
Meredith stated, “The situation as it stands is entirely unsustainable and will ultimately result in the death of quality information online.” He urged the Competition and Markets Authority to take prompt action against these developments.
Rosa Curling, director of Foxglove, echoed this sentiment, arguing that the research underscores the severe consequences of Google’s AI summaries on the independent news industry in the UK. “It would be bad enough if Google were simply stealing journalists’ work and passing it off as their own. But worse still, they’re using this work to fuel their own tools and profits, while making it harder for media outlets to connect with the readers they depend on to sustain their work.”