Why it matters. Publishers who opt into the pilot risk undercutting their own future leverage, since Google can point to the program as evidence it already compensates publishers for AI use.
Signal from digiday.com · Jessica Davies, Sara Guaglione · read the original.
What’s happening, why it matters, who reported it, who followed, and how the story develops. Free with a reader account. Unsubscribe any time.
Continue free →Google, Meta and Amazon captured 56% of U.S. ad revenue in 2025, up from 53% in 2024, as AI-directed spending grew from 2% in 2023 to roughly 12% today, per Madison & Wall estimates.
Google is scaling a Search Console-based program paying publishers only when content “significantly” contributes to Gemini, AI Overviews and AI mode answers, with payouts opaque and skewed toward small and mid-sized sites.
EMARKETER’s Behind the Numbers podcast examines why major travel brands are largely invisible when consumers ask AI chatbots like ChatGPT for travel recommendations. Smaller or niche sites often surface instead, even when searchers name a specific well-known brand.