The news: People Inc. is pushing further into social video as Google’s AI Overviews eats into publishers’ search traffic.

• Its social video series “The Intern,” which has run 15 seasons since its debut at the end of 2024, has garnered close to 20 sponsors. Its most-watched season generated over 17 million views alone.
• “The Intern” has led to a spinoff, “The Boss,” and People is investing in two additional spinoffs.
• Sponsorship revenues from its social video franchises have increased 625% YoY.
• People expects its 2026 social ad revenues to increase more than 25% YoY.

The different series are part of People’s strategy to sustain audiences and revenues as open web traffic declines from Google’s AI features. Google accounts for only about 20% of all traffic to People’s portfolio, according to the company’s FY2026 Q2 earnings call.

The data: People is expanding its content portfolio in response to declining traffic from the open web.

• Traffic to top publishers, including People, has fallen significantly in the wake of AI Overviews. Monthly visits to the top 100 web publishers peaked at 7 billion in August 2024, a few months after AI Overviews first debuted. By August 2026, that figure fell to 4.9 billion, per Similarweb.
• Publisher referral traffic from Google for large publishers fell 43% YoY between June 2025 and 2026, per Chartbeat. That was consistent for medium publishers (-39.9%) and small publishers (-59.8%).
• The issue is likely to worsen as AI Overviews proliferate. Forty-three percent of Google searches worldwide showed an AI Overview in May 2026, up from only 16% in January 2025, per Similarweb.

Recommendations for marketers and publishers:

• Publishers can explore recurring franchises that audiences seek out directly to reduce reliance on Google referrals. Revenue streams that are less dependent on search traffic are increasingly important, but publishers should ensure new strategies foster repeat engagement over one-off interactions.
• Marketers should look beyond publisher website traffic when evaluating media opportunities. As AI-driven search changes how audiences reach and discover publishers, brands can explore partnerships around social video franchises and creator-led content to reach audiences in formats beyond traditional publisher websites.

This content is part of EMARKETER’s subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports. Our Briefings prepare you to start your day informed, to provide critical insights in an important meeting, and to understand the context of what’s happening in your industry. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.