Google cuts traffic to media outlets, causing 50% drops

Google cuts off traffic supply as digital media hemorrhage

A forum user claims that Google has stopped sending organic traffic to news outlets. AI answers directly on the search results page without users visiting any website, and according to this participant, major Spanish digital newspapers are already recording 50% traffic drops. The magazine Pronto, which had an online presence since 2000, has closed its website. FormulaTV, eCartelera, Bekia, Zonared, Los Replicantes and MENzig, all part of the Noxvo group, disappear trinc the publisher's insolvency proceedings. For some participants, this is not just another sector crisis: it is a change of era in the information business model.

Organic traffic was 98% from Google and now is a broken pipe

For two decades, media built their model on a simple premise: write content, rank it on Google and monetize visits with advertising. That pact has broken, according to the debate. Generative AI answers user queries without them needing to visit the media outlet's site. The result is a bleeding of visits that, according to data circulating in the thread, already reaches 50% in headers like El Español, El Mundo Deportivo, Xataka, La Razón or Infobae. And the forecast is worse: some argue that in two years the drop could reach 90%.

The impact is not uniform. Generalist media and thematic outlets focused on technology, motoring or entertainment are the hardest hit because their content was easily replicable by language models. Highly specialized niches, however, might resist better. The key lies in whether AI needs original and updated content to avoid becoming obsolete.

Why is FormulaTV closing and what happens with the Noxvo group?

The editorial group Noxvo has entered insolvency proceedings and its entire staff must leave their posts within a month. Its portfolio included media outlets twenty years old: FormulaTV, eCartelera, Bekia, Zonared, Los Replicantes and MENzig. The magazine Pronto, with an active website since 2000, has also closed. These are the first visible casualties of an adjustment that threatens to spread.

The paradox is that these outlets did not die due to lack of audience, but because the audience no longer passes through them. Google's AI steals the click. And without clicks there is no advertising. Without advertising there is no newsroom. Without a newsroom there is no content to feed the AI itself. The vicious circle is complete.

The debate over who pays for the content feeding AI

Some argue that AI companies will have to pay content creators, just as streaming platforms pay music rights. There is already case law preventing massive scraping to train models without compensation, and some analysts point out that small generators —specialized blogs, local knowledge, technical niches— could charge more than generalist media, because their content is unique and non-replicable.

Others, however, doubt that this market will arrive in time. AI feeds on content uploaded by people. If fewer and fewer people create content because it is not profitable for them, AI will end up answering with outdated information. The result would be a poorer, more generic information ecosystem, more dependent on official press releases and press conferences.

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Television and traditional media next on the list

Television does not escape. Some predict that generalist channels will continue losing audience as younger generations abandon the remote control. Short video consumption on digital platforms already cannibalizes prime time, and generative AI produces visual content at zero marginal cost. The question is not if television stations will fall, but when.

Meanwhile, surviving media will have to choose between paywalls, proprietary apps or subscription models. Programmatic advertising, which was the engine of digital press for fifteen years, is fading. And with it, an entire model of doing journalism.

The future: Will AIs pay for content or will the source dry up?

The most plausible prediction is that the ecosystem will rebalance, but not without damage. Media that depended exclusively on Google's organic traffic have their days counted. Those with brand, community and irreplaceable content will be able to negotiate with AI companies. The rest will disappear. The doubt is whether by then anyone will be willing to pay for reporting.