What happened. In its second-quarter release People Inc. wrote that core sessions fell 22 per cent, citing the growing weight of AI Overviews in Google search results. In the same quarter digital revenue rose 6 per cent to $290 million, its eleventh consecutive quarter of growth. Growth came from revenue not tied to traffic: up 16 per cent, with licensing up 23 per cent. Digital adjusted EBITDA rose 18 per cent to $74 million, a 26 per cent margin. Advertisers see the same picture: across 54 Brainlabs clients sessions fell 10.5 per cent, but conversions from AI platforms rose 335 per cent, and those visitors convert 1.5 times as often as organic search visitors.
The bigger picture. For twenty years the currency of the open web was the visit. The visit count stood for audience, revenue and bargaining power at once. When Google started giving the answer itself, the three came apart. People did not try to win its traffic back. $125 million of its $290 million in digital revenue now comes from lines such as licensing that do not count sessions. The loser is not the side whose traffic falls, but the side that keeps chasing traffic as it falls.
For executives: Ask yourself: which number falls when your revenue falls, and is it still the number you track every week?