A sharp split between web and app audiences
French news publishers are seeing a clear gap between their websites and their mobile apps. An analysis by The Media Leader, based on certified ACPM rankings of digital brands published on October 8, found that websites of major French news brands lost 22.9% of their visits between September 2025 and September 2026. Their apps, measured on a comparable basis, declined by only 9.4%. 1 The widening gap appeared about two months after Google launched AI Overviews in France. 1
The headline figure of roughly 23% needs some context. It is not a number ACPM published itself. The Media Leader assembled the panel and calculated the averages from ACPM's certified data. 1 That doesn't make the figure unreliable, but it does make it an interpretation of audited data rather than an official industry statistic.
Some individual brands show much larger swings. Le Parisien's website fell 43.5% while its apps dropped 19.3%. 1 Ici, the network formerly known as France Bleu, saw web visits fall 55.8% while app visits rose 21.8%. 1 Ici also changed its domain name during this period, and a domain migration on its own can disrupt search traffic. 1 Its numbers are therefore a weaker signal of AI-driven losses than Le Parisien's.
Why the app comparison matters
The web-versus-app comparison is what makes this data useful. App audiences are largely direct. People open the app themselves instead of arriving from a search engine. 1 If general news fatigue or a slow news cycle were the main cause, apps would likely have fallen about as much as websites. Instead, websites, which depend most on search referrals, took losses more than twice as large. That pattern is consistent with search-driven traffic being where the damage is.
The timing points in the same direction, though it does not prove a cause. A year-over-year comparison covers many variables, including algorithm updates, editorial changes and site redesigns. The ACPM-based figures show a correlation that fits the AI Overviews explanation. They do not isolate it.
The experimental evidence points the same way
A separate line of research helps fill that gap. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern University ran a preregistered field experiment with 1,100 participants on Google Search. They posted the results to arXiv on August 18, 2026, under a title stating that AI in search reduces publisher referrals without improving user experience. 2 The study found that Google's AI Mode cut referrals to publishers by 18.8 percentage points. It also made users more likely to switch to competing search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo. 2
That second result is notable. The usual defense of AI answer layers is that users are better served even if publishers lose clicks. If the experimental findings hold, users are not clearly gaining either, and some are leaving. 2 A preregistered design with a defined sample is not the final word. Still, it gives causal weight to a pattern that observational audience data can only suggest.
The two sources measure different things. One looks at aggregate visits to French news brands. The other looks at referral behavior among study participants, with a focus on AI Mode. They should not be treated as one number. Taken together, they reinforce each other: AI-generated answers on Google appear to absorb attention that previously turned into publisher visits.
What publishers and site owners are doing about it
Search-industry guidance is changing to match. Current SEO commentary describes visibility as spread across classic results, snippets, video, images and AI-generated answer layers, not a single list of blue links. 3 It also argues that original analysis, first-hand data and a distinct point of view are becoming more valuable. Generic summaries are easy for machines to reproduce, while original material is more likely to be cited. 3 Brand searches, mentions and author credibility are described as increasingly important signals of trust. 3
For news publishers, the ACPM-based figures suggest a practical lesson. Owning the direct relationship with readers through apps, newsletters and brand loyalty protects them better than depending on search referrals. Le Parisien's apps held up far better than its website. 1 Ici's app grew even as its web traffic collapsed, despite the domain change. 1
Our reading
The evidence is not airtight, but it points in one direction. Websites that depend on search are losing traffic faster than direct channels. Controlled research suggests AI answer features reduce clicks without clearly benefiting users. 12 The French data is one of the first large, audited views of a market after the rollout. It indicates the decline in search referrals is already showing up in measured audiences. Publishers that still treat Google as a dependable source of traffic are working from an outdated model, and building direct audiences now looks like a necessity rather than an option.
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