For almost 20 years, publishers and search engines worked in a balanced system.
Publishers allowed Google and others to crawl their websites, and in return, search engines sent traffic back. This traffic helped fund journalism through ads and subscriptions.
But AI is breaking this old model.
With AI Overviews, ChatGPT answers, and other “answer engines,” users get answers directly on the platform instead of clicking on publisher websites.
Traffic is falling, while AI companies are crawling more content than ever.
Because of this, publishers and tech companies are now negotiating new payment models—some based on usage, others on flat fees, and some ending in court settlements. Nobody knows yet which model will work long term.
AI Overviews are causing clear traffic drops:
At the same time, AI crawler activity is rising sharply.
Cloudflare’s data shows:
This imbalance means fewer pageviews, fewer ads, fewer subscriptions, and less revenue.
Three main models are starting to appear.
Payments depend on how often AI uses an article. But the revenue pool is much smaller than traditional search revenue.
Several publishers have signed direct deals with OpenAI:
These deals usually include:
Bigger publishers with large archives get better deals; smaller publishers struggle to negotiate.
Microsoft and Google are also making licensing moves with select publishers.
Anthropic settled with authors for $1.5 billion after a court ruled:
This settlement gives a benchmark for future negotiations.
How Publishers Are Responding
Leaders at Condé Nast and Dotdash Meredith say these deals help replace lost search revenue.
Benefits include:
The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, calling their actions “unlicensed exploitation.”
Forbes rejected Perplexity’s offer.
More lawsuits have followed from News Corp companies and others.
Reasons for rejecting deals:
News/Media Alliance and Digital Content Next say AI systems risk harming journalism unless publishers are paid fairly and given transparency.
Two classes of content are emerging:
This could widen the gap between big publishers and smaller ones.
Also read about: AI Content Creation 2025: Adobe Upgrades GenStudio Tools
AI answers include citations, but users rarely click them.
SEO experts now focus more on:
Publishers now decide whether to:
Falling traffic raises tough questions for businesses that depend on ads.
Publishers are turning to:
Publishers with licensing deals may create content tailored for AI training needs.
Smaller publishers must decide whether investing in high-quality content pays off.
Large publishers with strong brands and diverse revenue streams are doing better. Smaller ones are struggling most.
Current payment models don’t match lost search revenue or reflect how much AI companies benefit from crawling content.
The future depends on:
For now, publishers must make quick decisions about:
—without knowing which path will be sustainable.
Also Read:
I know that some people live in bad homes and want to get out. I…
Being a college student frequently entails navigating a world of limited cash, tight budgets, and…
Teachable is perfect for creating and selling online courses with its easy-to-use platform and powerful…
What is an Instagram blog and what eight steps are required to create one? Create…
After testing countless tools to improve my online marketing results, I stumbled upon Prime Ads,…
I don't like getting calls out of the blue from people I don't know. This…