DMG Media tells of a click rate fall of 89% at most with AI Overviews

Publishers tell of large traffic decreases after Google added AI Overviews, the AI summaries in search. DMG Media owns the Daily Mail and Metro. It told the UK Competition and Markets Authority that click-through rates decreased by 89 percent at most. This was between June and July 2025. Digital Content Next, a trade group of media companies, also tells of decreases among its members.

What changed

Google changed its search with AI Overviews. Pew Research found that persons click less frequently when they see one. Publishers tell that this decreases their visits.

The numbers

Digiday gave the data. The sources are the groups of publishers:

• DMG Media: click-through rates decreased by 89 percent at most, June to July 2025.
• Digital Content Next, a trade group of media companies: 19 members had less traffic from Google.
• The same group: the decreases were 1 to 25 percent, May to June 2025.

What is not known

All the numbers come from the publishers and their trade group. The source gives no reply from Google. It gives no total for all publishers.

Insight: Sites lose clicks by persons while agent visits increase

Publishers tell that clicks from Google decreased. Cheq, a cybersecurity company, tells that traffic from AI agents that buy items became 100 times more in 45 days. Amazon and eBay stop these agents. Sites stop the agents, while search sends less traffic. It reads as if Google gets control of who reads. Leaders must count visits by agents and by persons apart.