https://www.elenaverna.com/p/ai-is-killing-some-companies-yet Elena's Growth Scoop Elena's Growth Scoop SubscribeSign in Share this post [https] Elena's Growth Scoop Elena's Growth Scoop AI is killing some companies, yet others are thriving - let's look at the data Copy link Facebook Email Notes More AI is killing some companies, yet others are thriving - let's look at the data Traffic trends from WebMD, Quora, Stack Overflow, Chegg, G2, CNET, Reddit, Wikipedia, and Substack! [http] Elena Verna Feb 28, 2025 19 Share this post [https] Elena's Growth Scoop Elena's Growth Scoop AI is killing some companies, yet others are thriving - let's look at the data Copy link Facebook Email Notes More 1 1 Share AI is quietly upending the business models of major content sites. Platforms like WebMD, G2, and Chegg - once fueled by SEO and ad revenue - are losing traffic as AI-powered search and chatbots deliver instant answers. Users no longer need to click through pages when AI summarizes everything in seconds. Brian Balfour calls this phenomenon Product-Market Fit Collapse, a fitting term, marking it as the next big shift in tech. Key milestones accelerating this shift: Nov 30, 2022 - ChatGPT launches Mar 14, 2023 - GPT-4 released May 14, 2024 - Google rolls out AI Overviews Disclaimer: I'm simply observing traffic trends from an external perspective and don't have insight into the exact factors driving them. The timing aligns with AI, but like any business, multiple factors are at play and each case is unique. - The data comes from SEMRush. If you want access to trend reports like the one below, you can try it for free. Let's see who's losing traffic WebMD: Where every symptom leads to cancer. They're crashing and burning and the timing aligns with major AI releases. If they don't launch AI agents (like yesterday), they're in trouble. That said, they still pull in ~90M visits a month. [https] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Quora: Once the go-to platform where user-generated questions got a mix of expert insights and absolute nonsense - is struggling. And it's no surprise. AI now delivers faster, (usually) more reliable answers. Yet, despite the challenges, Quora still pulls in just under 1 billion visits a month. [https] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stack Overflow: The Q&A platform for developers, is now facing seemingly direct competition from ChatGPT, which can generate and debug code instantly. As AI takes over, the community is fading - but they still attract around 200M visits a month. [https] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chegg: A popular platform for students - now getting schooled by AI. Weirdly, they're fighting back by suing Google over AI snippets. Not sure what they expect... Google controls the traffic and that's the risk of relying on someone else's distribution. [https] --------------------------------------------------------------------- G2: A software review platform, is experiencing huge drop in traffic levels. This one is so rough. [https] --------------------------------------------------------------------- CNET: A technology news and reviews website is experiencing 70% traffic drop from 4 years ago. They still pull in 50 million visits per month - an impressive volume - but a steep drop from the 150 million they once had. [https] But not all is bad! Just look at Reddit. Many say they are impacted, but traffic says otherwise - they are CRUSHING it. Probably because people are gravitating toward authentic content and a sense of community. I know I cannot go a day without a Reddit scroll (/r/LinkedInLunatics alone is worth visiting on the daily). And look at the y-axis: their traffic is in the billions! [https] And even Wikipedia is managing to stay afloat (although research AI tools will probably hit it pretty hard). Also, over 5B visits a month - consider me impressed. [https] And you know who else is growing? Substack. User-generated content FTW. [https] Good reads on the topic * Tomasz Tunguz: What Happened to My Traffic * Brian Balfour: Product Market Fit Collapse - Why Your Company Could be Next * Mine: The future of SEO is User Generated Content ----------------------------------------------------------------- Edited by Melissa Halim If you're finding this newsletter valuable, share it with a friend, and consider subscribing if you haven't already. There are group discounts, gift options, and referral bonuses available. [ ] Subscribe 19 Share this post [https] Elena's Growth Scoop Elena's Growth Scoop AI is killing some companies, yet others are thriving - let's look at the data Copy link Facebook Email Notes More 1 1 Share Previous Discussion about this post CommentsRestacks [htt] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [htt] Tom Orbach 4h Substack going strong Expand full comment Reply Share TopLatestDiscussions No posts Ready for more? [ ] Subscribe (c) 2025 Elena Verna Privacy [?] Terms [?] Collection notice Start WritingGet the app Substack is the home for great culture Share Copy link Facebook Email Notes More This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts