Look no further than your most recent search results to see the impact of AI-driven search on earned media. AI-driven search gives you a snippet of an article answering your question or an AI created answer based on top sources. You’ve seen it and probably used the answer and went on your way. I bet you also didn’t click on any of the article sources that informed that answer.
Search engine traffic to news and media sites is declining, and its downward trajectory is only expected to accelerate in the coming years at the hands of AI. At the risk of sounding cliché, we’re at a tipping point. With the future of media depending so heavily on traffic, PR and comms professionals need to pivot their strategies to win.
Here’s my read on where we stand today and how I think PR and comms can help close the deficit.
Like the death of DVDs changed the economics of the movie industry, AI-driven search is transforming earned media.
I saw Matt Damon explain once that the death of DVDs forever changed the types of movies studios could make because it forced movies to make all their money in theaters. Production companies no longer have the secondary assurance of DVD sales to make up for disappointing ticket sales, which we all saw crumble completely during COVID. The shift in economics is having a lasting impact on what movies are being made.
News media isn’t that different. Publishers make money with initial and long sustained search traffic over time. Anywhere from 30-75% of traffic to top publishers comes from search engines like Google. About a third of traffic for the top 100 publishers came from Google in April, for example.
The introduction of AI-driven search significantly impacts that traffic. It extrapolates the answer to whatever you’re looking for versus driving traffic to the article that answers it. As a result, search traffic to media outlets is expected to decrease by up to 60%, potentially eliminating up to $2 billion in ad revenue for publishers.
A steep decline in search traffic forces a shift in how we think about earned media today.
Reporting based on what drives traffic will only become more important.
AI doesn’t mean the end of the media industry. It does mean that everyone that touches it must operate with the same motivation: driving traffic.
When publishers center their entire business model around traffic that they are accumulating without the help of search, it becomes even more important for reporting to focus on the bleeding edge of culture, news, politics, etc. Media must capitalize on the now because they have to capture attention before news cycles pass. PR and comms need to follow suit.
Filling gaps in traffic gives earned media a path to recovery.
At the end of the day, your pitches are not really about you or the brand you work for. Your pitches should be a gateway for both you(r brand) and the journalist to drive traffic. If you don’t know what coverage is driving traffic, you’re never going to win. You’re not going to actually move the needle for your brand narratives, and you’re likely not going to make any progress in strengthening your relationship with whomever you’re pitching either.
Article traffic can and should impact pitching strategies. The more data you have to guide your strategy, the more likely you are to land that story, the better your results will be.
Learn more about how readership data can help you maximize the impact of your media strategy.