ChatGPT Drives Rising News Referrals Amid Declining Search Traffic

According to a report from digital market intelligence firm Similarweb, referrals from ChatGPT to news publishers are on the rise. However, this growth is insufficient to offset the significant decline in website clicks, as users increasingly consume news directly from AI or AI-powered search results.

Since the introduction of Google's AI Overviews in May 2024, the company found that the proportion of news searches ending without a click to a publisher's site has jumped from 56% to nearly 69% as of May 2025.

Unsurprisingly, organic traffic to news sites has also plummeted, falling from a peak of over 2.3 billion visits in mid-2024 to under 1.7 billion currently.

In contrast, news-related queries within ChatGPT surged by 212% between January 2024 and May 2025.

For news publishers, the swift integration of AI is reshaping the landscape. Similarweb points out that high visibility in Google Search and strong SEO may no longer guarantee the same returns, as a top ranking no longer translates to the same level of website traffic it once did.

Simultaneously, traffic referrals from ChatGPT to news publishers are climbing.

Similarweb states that from January to May 2024, ChatGPT sent just under 1 million visits to news sites. By 2025, that figure has soared to over 25 million—a 25-fold increase.

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Of course, within an industry facing massive drops in organic search traffic, this uptick in referrals does little to compensate for publishers' overall losses.

The report also highlights that some news websites are performing better than others in terms of AI-driven referrals.

Sites experiencing the largest growth in ChatGPT referral traffic include Reuters (up 8.9% year-over-year), NY Post (up 7.1%), and Business Insider (up 6.5%). Meanwhile, The New York Times, which is currently suing OpenAI for alleged unauthorized content scraping, is receiving significantly fewer referrals. While still among the top 10 sites for ChatGPT traffic, it has seen only a 3.1% increase.

Topics such as stocks, finance, and sports currently generate the majority of news-related prompts in ChatGPT. However, Similarweb's report indicates growing interest in other subjects like politics, the economy, weather, and more.

The firm suggests this shift could indicate a broader move away from seeking quick, reactive information toward more substantive, issue-driven engagement through AI assistants.

Alongside the growth in referrals, ChatGPT's user base across its website and mobile apps has also expanded significantly.

Similarweb reported that over the past six months, app users more than doubled, while website visitors increased by 52%.

The firm now offers a service enabling brands and businesses to monitor how and where they appear in generative AI tools like ChatGPT, and to benchmark their performance against competitors.

Viable solutions to the crisis facing news publishers remain scarce.

Under pressure from publishers whose traffic is being eroded by AI, Google recently launched a service called Offerwall. It allows publishers using Google Ad Manager to test alternative monetization strategies that are less reliant on ad impressions, such as micropayments or requiring newsletter sign-ups for content access. Publishers can also customize the Offerwall interface with their own options.

Other news organizations are experimenting with paywalls or different revenue models. Many have consequently implemented widespread layoffs or ceased operations entirely.

In a recent interview on The NYT's Hard Fork podcast, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed AI's impact on employment. He acknowledged, "I do believe there will be sectors where certain jobs disappear, and perhaps entire job categories will vanish. The loss of any job, even if ultimately beneficial for society and the broader economy, is profoundly painful in the moment... There will be genuine hardship in many instances."