Source: Digiday
Google's AI Overview feature—which surfaces AI-generated answers directly in search results—has broken a long-standing assumption that search placement guarantees traffic. Media buyers now face pressure to justify spend on Google properties the way they would for any other channel. The feature reduces click-through to publisher and advertiser sites by intercepting user intent at the SERP level. Traditional search inventory is less valuable. Procurement teams have actual leverage to renegotiate rates or redirect budgets toward owned channels, direct partnerships, or competitors. This threatens Google's search monetization model. Search has lost its protected status in media planning—it now operates on proven performance metrics rather than assumed ROI.