In PR and media circles, AI is a constant topic of discussion. PR practitioners are breathing a sigh of relief, at least momentarily, as earned media’s importance continues to rise as a cornerstone to AI visibility for brands (a topic we discuss in Part 1 of this series). However, there is another, much more complex, side to the story.
PR requires strong media partners, and media personnel are suffering from the increased adoption of AI tools. Media outlets are on the frontlines, and ‘progress’ may bulldoze the reluctant-to-change faster than we’d like to admit. It’s not all bad news, though…with great disruption comes innovation and adaptation.
In part 2 of our PR & AI blog series, we’re uncovering four significant changes occurring in the media landscape as a result of AI, and detailing how media personnel are adapting to this new AI reality.
Media Landscape Background
AI didn’t kickstart the current media landscape trajectory; it’s just accelerating it. Traditional journalism is shrinking. If we take the U.S. newsroom as a proxy measure for the health of the media landscape, it paints a grim picture. From 2008 to 2020, U.S. newsroom employment fell by 26%. If we zoom in further to the U.S. newspaper newsroom, it’s even more sobering, with staff down more than 50% in the same period.
These cuts were not a result of AI, but rather a symptom of the already changing media consumption habits. However, change in the digital search ecosystem is now accelerating far faster than most people anticipated.
Change #1: The Zero-Click Reality
As we mentioned in PR & AI Part 1, a majority of online searches no longer result in a click. That represents a tectonic shift in discovery infrastructure.
Over the last two decades, the bulk of our online media system has operated on a click-priority basis, capturing new readership through organic search traffic. Now, AI tools are directly answering consumer queries, reducing the need for users to scroll through search engine result pages and visit webpages in some instances. In fact, according to our Darby Communications 2025 State of the Media survey, the most pressing concern among participating editors centered on addressing dwindling site traffic.
Press Gazette analyzed site data pulled from Similarweb and found 46 of the top 50 news sites experienced lower traffic in 2025 compared to 2024.
In light of receiving increasingly less organic traffic from search engine discovery, media outlets are revisiting their approach to each piece of content. Publishers are prioritizing meaningful relationships with readers, relying on retention, engagement, and user-sharing to attract new site visitors and retain their current audience.
Now, a written article is viewed as a hub of content that can be repackaged and used across various channels…squeezing as much value as possible out of an idea. One article can be used to spark conversation via long-form newsletters or encourage users to stop scrolling on Instagram and engage with content in a visual format.
Change #2: Rethinking Revenue Streams
With organic traffic declining, publishers are reevaluating their traditional media revenue and content models. Media companies have long relied on traffic to drive revenue. But when clicks decrease, ad impressions drop, which undermines the financial model many publishers have relied on for decades. Publishers are turning to alternative monetary streams to combat dwindling traffic revenue.
Affiliate Commerce
Affiliate commerce is increasingly relied upon by many outlets to fill the funding gap. While affiliate marketing — commissions earned from product links and referrals — isn’t new, its influence as a revenue driver is growing. A 2024 study from the Performance Marketing Association shows U.S. affiliate sales have increased by almost 50% since 2021.
The Great Paywall
Search and AI volatility have led some publishers to introduce dynamic paywalls or digital subscriptions as a means of generating revenue. In 2024, Reuters and CNN moved to a digital paywall model, and in 2025, the BBC followed suit.
However, media entities must weigh the pros and cons when considering a switch to a paywall model. It’s no longer solely about consumers’ willingness to pay for something they once received for free; publishers now have to consider the loss of AI-generated visibility and relevance. Unless publishers are negotiating deals with the AI LLM parent companies, going behind a paywall makes content unavailable for indexing, meaning the information won’t get cited in queries, potentially risking relevance and increased visibility.
Nonprofit News Outlets
The nonprofit news model is gaining traction, filling in gaps left by shrinking for-profit outlets. The Institute for Nonprofit News now spans over 400 nonprofit news outlets in its U.S. network, up from only 20+ outlets in 2009.
Chris Keyes, former Editor-In-Chief at Outside and founder of RE:PUBLIC (a new nonprofit outlet), was recently interviewed on The Rock Fight Podcast. The conversation focused on exploring Chris’s new RE:PUBLIC project, why he decided to start it, and the reasons he chose to structure it as a nonprofit news entity. As he put it, “Maybe that’s the 25 years of being abused by the for-profit model. But there’s something really intriguing about the independence that you can have in a nonprofit model.”
Change #3: Restructuring and Decentralizing
One standard cost-cutting measure employed by outlets involves reducing editorial staff in favor of a deep pool of freelancers. It’s an all too common reality right now to open up LinkedIn on a Monday morning and read some variation of a post like: “Today is my last day at [insert media organization]. My position has been eliminated due to an internal restructuring.”
Nearly one-third of U.S. journalists now work freelance or are self-employed rather than on staff. This has created a fragmentation of media channels with a growing pool of independent voices and “micro-outlets.”
Interestingly, in our 2025 State of the Media Survey, one point of optimism among many outdoor industry freelancers is the resurgence of niche, independent outlets. According to the Global Project Oasis, a database tracking the independent news ecosystem, the total number of independent publications has doubled in the U.S. and Canada since 2020. Currently, there are 1,299 independent media outlets in the U.S. alone.
Change #4: Journalist Influencers
As the data suggests, editorial staff jobs in media are taking a beating. Who knows how and if they’ll return, as media outlets attempt to do more with less. But, journalists are a resilient cohort that know their audience better than most. Freelancers are building influence, monetizing their output, and cutting out the middleman by going straight to their audience with social platforms, Substack, and podcasts.
Remember that sobering graph detailing changes in site traffic from major news organizations? The one clear positive outlier is Substack. Launched in 2017, Substack now boasts over 35 million subscribers with more than 17,000 writers earning an income on the platform.
And podcasts? More than half of all Americans over the age of 12 now listen to podcasts. Spotify alone has over 7 million podcast titles on its platform, demonstrating that there’s a podcast for virtually any topic. The demand for podcast content is predicted to rise, and with relatively low barriers for entry, journalists are getting in on the creative action.
PR & AI Part 2: Closing Thoughts
Consumers’ rapid adoption of AI is upending the current media landscape. Product and brand discovery increasingly starts with an AI tool like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. This shift in information gathering has accelerated many of the harsh realities that media professionals have already been facing: the media landscape is changing, and it’s changing rapidly.
As AI tools reduce the need for users to scroll through search engine result pages and click on relevant links, organic traffic has taken a hit. With dwindling organic traffic, many media outlets are unable to sustain themselves using their standard revenue models. This has led to a restructuring of the workforce and a decentralization of the media ecosystem.
However, with challenge comes opportunity, and media personnel who are adapting have reasons to be optimistic. Independent voices and creative storytelling remain in high demand. But, the discovery and delivery infrastructure is changing.