According to the latest report from Digital Market Intelligence company Similarweb, the traffic referrals from ChatGPT to news publishers are gradually increasing, but this growth is not yet sufficient to offset the decline in clicks caused by users directly accessing news through AI or AI-driven search results.
Since Google launched its AI Overview in May 2024, the percentage of news searches without clicking on news websites has risen from 56% to nearly 69%. This means that an increasing number of users are obtaining information through AI without clicking any links when searching for news.
At the same time, overall organic traffic is also showing a downward trend, decreasing from over 2.3 billion visits in mid-2024 to less than 1.7 billion visits currently. Despite this, the number of news-related questions on ChatGPT increased by 212% between 2024 and 2025, indicating the growing importance of AI in news acquisition.
In this rapidly changing environment, the survival strategies of news publishers are facing challenges. Visibility through Google search results and good SEO practices, which were previously relied upon, no longer seem to guarantee effective traffic conversion. Nevertheless, the referral traffic from ChatGPT to news websites is indeed increasing, rising from less than 1 million referrals in January 2024 to 25 million in 2025, a growth of 25 times.
However, despite the increase in referral traffic, the overall decline in organic search traffic makes this growth still insufficient. Some websites have performed better in terms of AI referral traffic, such as Reuters, The New York Post, and Business Insider, which saw increases of 8.9%, 7.1%, and 6.5%, respectively. In contrast, The New York Times ranked high in ChatGPT referral traffic, but its growth was only 3.1%.
Currently, topics such as stocks, finance, and sports dominate most news requests related to ChatGPT, while topics like politics, economy, and weather are also gradually growing, which may indicate that users are shifting from passive information consumption to more in-depth issue-driven engagement.
In addition, the user growth of ChatGPT is also significant. Over the past six months, app users have more than doubled, and website visitors have increased by 52%. To help brands and companies track their performance in AI tools, Similarweb has also launched a new service, allowing brands to understand how their brand appears in generative AI tools like ChatGPT, as well as comparisons with competitors.
Facing the increasingly severe situation, news publishers have few options for response. Recently, Google introduced a service called Offerwall, allowing publishers using Google Ad Manager to try other monetization methods, such as micropayments or user registration for newsletters. In addition, many publishers are exploring paywalls or other monetization strategies, and are carrying out large-scale layoffs or even closing operations.
Key Points:
📰 Traffic referrals from ChatGPT to news websites have increased 25 times, but cannot compensate for the decline in search traffic.
📉 The proportion of news searches without clicking has risen to nearly 69%, indicating changes in how users obtain news.
💼 News publishers are seeking new strategies, including Google's Offerwall service, to explore diversified revenue models.