Ziff Davis says integrated Google referrals to its properties cut concerning 37% twelvemonth complete twelvemonth in the third quarter. CEO Vivek Shah told analysts on the company’s Nov. 6 earnings call that referrals cut concerning 23% in the identical fourth final year, putting the two-year decrease at additional than 50%.
Shah referenced an impressions fig from Google Search Console as well. Ziff Davis’ digital media sites generated concerning 2.7 milliard impressions for the two AI Overviews and AI Mode during the quarter, which was nearly 10 times “the clicks those identical sites received from Google Search” according to his estimates. Other sites that have Search Console’s generative AI study are capable to create the identical comparison. Google’s definitions display this compares belief counts inner their AI characteristic reporting vs. all click throughs from Search.
Shah stated Ziff Davis is “not preparedness on a hunt recovery” and expects referrals to keep falling. Third-quarter revenue cut 5.6% to $289.3 million, a smaller autumn he attributed to businesses that don’t depend on Google traffic, specified as subscriptions and apps.
What The 2.7 Billion Figure Counts
Shah stated an belief is a figure of “how many times a nexus to a leaf was shown inner generative AI features” and that this fig is coming from Search Console. Google has a help page to explain what the generative AI achievement study does and it says the study counts the figure of times links to a location appeared in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Since the study draws these two features from the Web hunt data inside the chief Performance report, AI impressions are a subset of a website’s total Search belief figures.
Google’s help leaf on how clicks are counted says a click on a nexus to another website inside an AI Overview or in AI Mode counts towards a site’s total click count. None of the Search appearance types listed by Google for the Performance study includes either feature.
Shah did not say during the call anywhere he got his click total from. If Shah used Search Console to get his total clicks from Google Search, afterward those clicks would contain AI Overview clicks, AI Mode clicks and all another imaginable category of outcome in Search. This method that Shah’s proportion is comparing AI characteristic impressions to all clicks from Search. As of Nov. 8, Google documents no distinct AI click count.
I covered how Search Console counts AI clicks last week, following Google’s Gary Illyes stated the business had nothing to province yet on adding additional data.
Where Referrals Fell And What Held Up
Shah referred to “the disruption of hunt traffic by Google and LLMs” as a apparent endeavor headwind. He stated that Ziff Davis’ tech and buying brands “continue to visage the strongest hunt traffic headwinds in our portfolio”; however, he additionally highlighted offset areas, specified as social commerce and the relaunched RetailMeNot app.
Ziff Davis’ tech and buying income declined 3.8% twelvemonth complete twelvemonth during the fourth to $82 myriad (as reported in its earnings presentation). The decrease has narrowed for three successive quarters per Shah’s account.
Shah stated Ziff Davis’ largest asset according to hunt referrals, IGN, has continued to clasp up comparatively well. He explained that “a lot of its hunt referral is about equivalent help, which is extremely maps heavy” and that it is difficult to copy equivalent maps. IGN additionally receives a important amount of straightforward traffic.
Despite that, gaming and amusement income declined 2.1%, and Shah attributed the decrease to the mediocre gaming promotion surroundings foremost up to the publish of Grand Theft Auto VI afterward this month. He added that IGN’s endeavor is considerably driven by video, including vertical and social video, versus web traffic.
What Shah Said On Earlier Calls
In his comments to investors during the Ziff Davis earnings call in November 2025, Shah stated AI Overviews were current in 29% of hunt queries that create the bulk of Ziff Davis’ traffic. While there had been a minor decrease in the percent of searches containing AI Overviews, he was additional concerned alongside general Google hunt volatility than alongside AI Overviews themselves. His current fig for that quarter’s referral decrease is concerning 23%.
In August, he stated AI Overviews appeared on concerning 50% of the queries applicable to Ziff Davis’ properties, up from concerning 36% whenever he final gave the figure. He didn’t provision an AI Overview portion on the Nov. 6 call.
Licensing And The OpenAI Case
Shah stated making prosperity from Ziff Davis’ satisfied in AI answers was “the priority”, and that they are open to licensing agreements. Additionally, he expects the pending litigation by Ziff Davis against OpenAI volition assistance explain this space. In his words, “there is a gap between use and monetization” equal as marketers provision additional importance to AI visibility whenever choosing media partners.
Why This Matters
Ziff Davis plans for referrals to continue declining; Shah’s method volition provision all of these sites that have the generative AI study alongside a ample publisher’s figure to location next to its own. Those sites can recreate the proportion by comparing their AI belief data to their web hunt click data for the identical period period. Since clicks on AI nexus results are included alongside all another Search clicks, the outcome cannot be used as an AI click-through rate.
Looking Ahead
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has set a Dec. 3 deadline for Google to provision publishers impressions, clicks and click-through charge for AI hunt features in the UK, aggregated throughout features specified as AI Overviews and AI Mode, according to the regulator’s summary. As I reported final week, the CMA’s interpretive notes name Search Console as one example of anywhere that data could appear.
Watch how Google provides those metrics about Dec. 3. If it reports AI clicks distinct from another Search clicks, publishers could row them up alongside their AI impressions.
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