The news: Google is hiring aggressively to promote its publisher tools and repair strained relationships with publishers, who have been hurt by declining ad revenues, waning trust, legal battles, and AI disruption, reports The Information.

Publishers claim Google pays less than rivals like PubMatic and Magnite due to fewer advertisers and weaker demand. Some say their Google revenue share is falling as others innovate faster.

This news comes as Google’s AI Overviews drove zero-click searches up from 56% to nearly 69% by May, per Similarweb. Site visits fell from over 2.3 billion to under 1.7 billion between mid-2024 and mid-2025. ChatGPT referrals jumped from under 1 million to over 25 million in a year, by contrast.

Reading the room: To ease concerns and possibly fend off regulators, Google launched Offerwall, an ad tech tool for publishers, last week globally via Ad Manager.

• The AI-powered offering lets users unlock content through ads, surveys, signups, one-time payments, or Supertab subscriptions.
• Offerwall is especially useful for smaller publishers, providing alternatives to strict paywalls. For advertisers, it offers high-intent impressions in a brand-safe, opt-in setting.

Zooming out: Google’s renewed focus on publisher tools comes as antitrust pressure mounts. In April 2025, the DOJ ruled that Google monopolizes ad tech and should sell AdX and DoubleClick; a remedies trial is expected in September.