Discover goes from lifeline to new challenge for digital media
The irruption of AI Overviews in search engines – those summaries generated by artificial intelligence that respond directly to the user without the need to click on a website – has dealt a direct blow to the global media.
For several years now, numerous international reports and analyses have confirmed the trend: organic traffic from Google to the media has fallen progressively, with reductions of up to 30% of visits in some sectors (a percentage that has risen even more in recent months 5). 30% of visits in some sectors (a percentage that has risen even more in recent months 5).. The reason is simple: if the user already gets the answer on the results page itself, there is no need to visit the original source.
In this context, Google Discover had functioned as a kind of lifelineA parallel channel that continued to drive large volumes of traffic to news articles, especially current affairs, features and human interest pieces.
But that too is changing.
Discover 2.0: more competition in the same space
Google has announced that Discover will no longer be an almost exclusive feed of media articles, but will instead become a multimodal feed where they will coexist:
- Press articles.
- YouTube videos and other audiovisual formats.
- Social network publications.
- Summaries created by AI.
In other words: the space where the media used to find oxygen against the loss of traffic now becomes a much more competitive terrain. A research article can appear next to a 30-second reel, a viral social post or an automatic summary.
A reality we must face
- Additional loss of clicks to the website AI Overviews had already cut visits. Now, with Discover 2.0, the fragmentation of attention will be even greater.
- Expanded competition Media are not only competing against each other, but also against influencers, social creators and quick content.
- Need for brand and community Media that rely on Google alone will be increasingly vulnerable. The loyalty becomes a strategic priority.
- The risk of invisibility If a medium does not adapt its formats, its voice may be hidden in the multimodal noise.
Essential actions to face this scenario
1. Build your own registered audience
- Incentivize free registrations with exclusive newsletters, personalized alerts or thematic communities.
- Make the data the basis of a direct relationship, independent of algorithms.
2. Promoting active communities
- Promote debate and participation, both in our own spaces and in networks.
- Create a sense of belonging around the environment.
3. Redouble social interaction
- Publications designed for conversation, not just clicks.
- Network-optimized headlines and images.
- Giving visibility to journalists as ambassadors ambassadors ambassadors of the media.
4. Diversify formats: short video and podcast
- Adapt each story to different consumptions: long article, short video, agile podcast.
- Leverage existing content in different media.
5. Innovate in multiplatform storytelling
- Tell the same story in multiple adapted formats: text, video, audio and image.
- Experiment with interactive and visual narratives.
A new beginning
Discover was, for a time, a refuge from refuge from the loss of traffic from search engines.. But now, its transformation into a multimodal feed changes the rules of the game.
The risk is clear: more noise, fewer clicks and greater dependence on external factors. But so is the opportunity: the media that bet on building community, diversifying formats and strengthening their direct relationship with the audience will be better prepared to survive and grow in this new scenario..
At Cibeles We will continue to accompany our clients on the technical side – whether in Editmaker or WordPress – so that they are always aligned with Google’s changes. But the real challenge is editorial and strategic: adapt, innovate and put the user at the center.
The time to start is now.