Media companies are increasingly spending millions on paid search advertising to replace declining organic traffic, with publishers focusing investments on high-yield commerce content to maintain revenue growth.

Key Points

• Publishers in the Similarweb Top 100 Media index spent $113 million on paid search in July 2026, a 41% increase year over year.
• Forbes and The New York Times significantly ramped up paid search spending, with Forbes reaching $72.2 million in monthly expenditure.
• Organic search referrals for major outlets like CNN and USA Today declined by over 24% during the same period.
• Publishers are prioritizing paid traffic for high-conversion commerce content, such as pet insurance or debt consolidation, rather than general news.
• Some keywords for commerce-related content command costs as high as $50 per click.

Why it Matters

This shift forces publishers to pay Google for traffic that was previously free, effectively subsidizing the very platforms contributing to their organic search decline. By prioritizing high-margin commerce content, media companies are attempting to stabilize their business models, though this strategy risks driving up advertising costs for the entire industry.