The number of referral visits from ChatGPT to news outlets is on the rise, yet it remains insufficient to offset the decline in traditional reach, according to a study by Similarweb.
Users are increasingly opting to ask chatbots questions instead of the usual “Googling,” leading to reduced traffic for websites.
Since the launch of Google AI Overviews’ brief query summaries in May 2024, the proportion of news searches that do not result in a site visit has increased from 56% to 69% over the year.
Organic traffic has decreased from over 2.3 billion visits in mid-2024 to less than 1.7 billion. Meanwhile, the number of news queries on ChatGPT surged by 212% from January 2024 to May 2025.
News outlets face new realities amid the rapid development of artificial intelligence, the company notes. Effective SEO and visibility in Google search results do not yield the desired effect — high traffic.
At the same time, ChatGPT’s referrals to news publishers are increasing. From January to May 2024, the figure was less than 1 million, rising to 25 million in 2025.
The report also highlights the effectiveness of referral traffic across various sites. The largest increases are seen at Reuters (8.9%), NY Post (7.1%), and Business Insider (6.5%). The New York Times, which is suing OpenAI for allegedly unauthorized material copying, receives less, though it ranks in the top 10 with a 3.1% increase.
Topics such as stocks, finance, and sports are of most interest to chatbot users, with politics, economics, and weather gaining popularity.
News outlets are facing a crisis as AI “kills” their traffic, with few solutions available. Some are adopting paid subscriptions and other monetization methods, while others are forced to cut staff.
In a recent podcast, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman commented on AI’s impact on the job market.
“I really believe there will be areas where some professions disappear — perhaps even entire categories of professions. And every lost job, even if it is overall good for society and the economy, causes pain,” he noted.
Back in July, Cloudflare launched the Pay per Crawl service, creating a content marketplace for authors and AI companies.