The Death of the Click: How AI Just Erased Journalism’s Business Model
Google didn’t just change how we search, it's quietly vaporising the internet’s biggest business model, and the collapse has already begun.
Publishers built their business models on Google’s search referrals, but those blue links are disappearing fast. Google’s AI Overviews and its new AI Mode now deliver full answers directly, sidelining traditional traffic routes.
The result? HuffPost lost over half its search traffic; Business Insider cut 21% of staff after a 55% drop; and The Atlantic is planning for near-zero Google traffic. It’s not just a dip, it’s a systemic collapse. Leaders like William Lewis (Washington Post) and Nicholas Thompson (The Atlantic) are blunt: adapt fast or fade out.
The story here isn’t about disruption, it’s about disintermediation. AI is severing the link between discovery and destination. Dotdash Meredith lost half its search share since 2021. Even the mighty New York Times saw a steep drop and is now battling OpenAI while licensing to Amazon. WSJ is faring slightly better, but even they’re pivoting toward habit-driven loyalty and trust.
This isn’t a temporary algorithm shift, it’s the beginning of a post-search world:
- AI Mode gives answers, not links.
- Publishers pivot to events, newsletters, and apps.
- Lawsuits and licensing deals scramble to control AI’s training diet.
The question now isn’t whether news will survive, it’s what kind of news ecosystem we’ll have when AI controls the gates. This is exactly the reason why we are building Futurwise, the intelligence layer for the world's trusted information. We are early stage, but we plan to offer publishers a helping hand in this unfair battle.
In a world where attention is currency and curation is automated, will you build trust directly, or be replaced by those who do?
Read the full article on Wall Street Journal.
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