U.S. news sites see sharp traffic declines in July due to shifting habits

Nearly all major U.S. news websites saw declines in traffic in July, with most recording single- or double-digit year-over-year drops, according to PressGazette’s monthly ranking based on Similarweb data. Only six of the top 50 outlets reported growth.

The New York Times remained the most visited site, drawing 462 million visits, though that figure was down 7% compared to July 2024. CNN followed with 323 million visits, a steep 38% decline, while Fox News recorded 249 million visits, down 26%.

Several publishers reported sharper falls. Forbes saw the largest year-over-year drop at 50%. Daily Mail declined 44%, while NBC News and HuffPost each fell 42%. The Washington Post and U.S. News were both down 40%.

A handful of outlets bucked the trend. India Times grew 46% year over year, while Substack was up 40% and Newsbreak gained 24%.

International publishers also faced challenges. The BBC’s U.S. edition, which introduced a paywall this year, registered a 16% decline in visits, falling to 100 million. Its traffic was also down 15% compared to June, the third-largest month-over-month decrease after Reuters (-24%) and the Associated Press (-16%).

Analysts say the downturn cannot be explained solely by the rise of generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews. Audience behavior is shifting, the online news market is saturated, and paywalls are discouraging casual readers.

SEO and audience consultant Barry Adams said in a LinkedIn post that news traffic may have peaked last year. “From now on, every click is a zero-sum contest for attention and revenue. It’ll only get harder to win online,” Adams wrote, noting that publishers must improve content, value propositions, and distribution strategies to compete.

Despite the declines, Google remains the primary driver of traffic for publishers. Data shows Google Discover has now overtaken Search as the largest referral source. That trend increases reliance on Google’s algorithms, while direct visits and referrals from social media continue to weaken. That is also due to Google Search now having AI overviews as well as SGE, which gives users answers rather than sending them to a third-party website. This also indicates the fact that people are looking for news more on platforms such as X(Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and even Reddit, rather than Google, which is a worrying trend for publishers.