Affiliate revenue has carried product review publishers for more than a decade, and AI search is now testing that model harder than any algorithm update before it. Google's AI Overviews are appearing on far more shopping related searches, click through rates drop sharply when they do, and shoppers are starting product research inside chatbots. Yet fresh survey data shows those same shoppers still go looking for reviews before they buy.
That gap is where publishers can still win. This guide pulls together the latest numbers from Semrush, Advanced Web Ranking, Feedvisor and PartnerCentric, looks at how Wirecutter is reshaping its business, and lays out seven proven ways to protect and grow commission income through the holiday season and into 2027.
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Why Affiliate Revenue Is Under Pressure
The classic model is simple. A reader searches for the best frying pan, lands on a review, clicks a retailer link and buys. The publisher earns a commission. Almost every step of that path started with organic search, which is exactly the step AI is changing.
Cliff Levy, deputy publisher of Wirecutter, put it plainly in an interview with Digiday. Product recommendation sites "sprung up from organic search," he said, and so much of Wirecutter's journalism, audience and revenue models were structured around it. That has changed in recent years.
The industry has already seen what happens when search shifts. Digiday noted that Google's algorithm change at the end of 2024 hit product review sites hard and led to the shutdown of USA Today Co.'s Reviewed and AP's Buyline. Business Insider also scaled back its commerce business because of its reliance on search.
The topic is busy right now. Our count of original public posts on X mentioning affiliate marketing, affiliate links or commissions together with AI, ChatGPT, AI Overviews or publishers found 490 posts in the seven days to the morning of October 25, 2026. Posts about AI shopping, ChatGPT shopping and agentic commerce reached 2,539 in the same window, peaking at 546 on October 22. Google Trends shows steady US interest in "affiliate marketing", with a 90 day average of 29 on its relative scale.
AI Overviews Are Spreading to Commercial Searches
For years, AI Overviews mostly showed up on informational queries. That is no longer true. In a six month analysis of more than 600,000 keywords across 10 industries, Semrush found that the share of commercial intent results pages with an AI Overview grew 71% between November 2025 and April 2026. Over the same period, the share of transactional results pages with an AI Overview fell 5%.
That split matters for affiliate revenue. Commercial queries, such as comparisons and "best" searches, are where review content lives. Transactional queries, where someone is ready to buy a named product, tend to go to retailers anyway. AI is moving into the research stage, which is the stage publishers monetize.
Some categories moved much faster than others. Finance saw the largest jump in commercial queries triggering AI Overviews, up 231% in six months, followed by computers and electronics at 108% and games at 77%. Semrush also found Google Ads and AI Overviews now appear together on the same results page roughly twice as often as a year earlier.
When an AI Overview appears, fewer people click. A September 2026 study from Advanced Web Ranking, cited by Digiday, found that the click through rate for commercial intent Google searches was 11.91% overall but only 3.51% when an AI Overview was present. That is less than a third of the normal rate.
For a review page, fewer clicks from search means fewer visitors who can reach an affiliate link. If your traffic skews toward the categories Semrush flagged, the pressure on your income is likely higher than average.
Shoppers Start With AI but Finish Elsewhere
The picture is not all bad. Shoppers use AI to research, but most do not let it make the final call. Feedvisor's 2026 Consumer Buying Behavior Report surveyed 1,006 US consumers and found that 55% of shoppers use AI to research products, yet only 5% would buy immediately on an AI recommendation.
In data reported by Digiday, the same Feedvisor survey found that ChatGPT is where 16% of shoppers start looking for products, but only 9% go there to actually buy something. Most check Google, Amazon or other platforms for better prices first. Feedvisor also found that 74% buy on Amazon while only 62% start their search there, and that 45% of shoppers are comparing prices more than they did a year ago.
A separate survey by Prosper Insights and Analytics, cited by Channel V Media's Kieran Powell in Digiday, shows how little shoppers trust AI to complete a purchase. Only 7.3% would let an AI agent buy apparel for them, compared with 12.1% who would let it book a restaurant and 11.0% who would let it buy groceries.
Powell's point was simple: AI is winning the research step, and the rest of the shopper journey still exists. For affiliate publishers, the journey after the AI answer is the opportunity.
Reviews Still Seal the Deal
What do shoppers do after an AI suggestion? PartnerCentric's survey, reported by Digiday, gives a clear answer. After an AI recommendation, 33% of shoppers go check existing reviews, 22.3% compare prices and 18.8% search Amazon or another retailer. Only 14.8% visit the brand's website, and 7.6% look for creator content about the product.
Even the most enthusiastic AI users keep checking. In PartnerCentric's data, 42.2% of shoppers in the top two AI trust categories still want reviews before acting, and 31.2% go to check reviews right away. PartnerCentric founder and CEO Stephanie Harris summed it up: "AI is a starting point, not a final verdict."
Policy details matter too. PartnerCentric found 33% of shoppers say shipping and return policies often or always change what they buy. Harris noted that AI assistants read the same ecosystem shoppers use to verify a product, including reviews, product pages, retailer listings, creator content, pricing, shipping and returns. When those signals conflict, she said, AI surfaces the gap sooner.
That is a strong case for affiliate revenue built on genuine testing, because the review is where trust is won. It is often the page that answers the question the AI answer raises. The challenge is making sure your review is the one shoppers find and trust.
How Wirecutter Is Diversifying
Wirecutter offers the clearest example of a large review publisher adapting. As Digiday reported, the New York Times owned brand is not replacing its core recommendations. It is building more around them, including franchises, podcasts and YouTube shows, so advertisers have more to sponsor.
The results are notable. Wirecutter drove more than $1 billion in gross merchandise value in the last year, Levy said. Its Best New Picks franchise, launched in March, has drawn more than 2 million page views, and its Hall of Fame Awards, launched October 1, drew more than 3 million page views with related coverage. Hall of Fame highlights 50 products Wirecutter has recommended for six or more consecutive years and has multiple sponsors.
The biggest shift is commercial. Wirecutter now sells what head of revenue Danielle Betras calls hybrid deals, campaigns that combine digital advertising, licensing, brand partnerships and affiliate. A Times spokesperson said hybrid deals have grown more than 300% year over year. Betras said Wirecutter had "almost maxed out in some ways" with affiliate partners, so adding advertising was net positive.
Betras rejected the idea that the franchises simply repackage old reviews. She described them as a way to "eventize" top recommendations so audiences find them outside the moment of transaction, with advertising wrapped around them. Wirecutter then promotes the franchises through newsletters, social platforms and other channels, which reduces its dependence on search.
Buyers like the approach. Danny Weisman, co-founder of media agency Obsessed Media, told Digiday that conversions are the top priority for many advertisers while budgets are pinched. Multi component deals that combine display advertising with affiliate commerce let publishers raise ad revenue, and bundling can command higher prices and better margins, especially for brands with strong recognition.
Wirecutter is also leaning on people. It now has more than 175 journalists, up from 115 in 2022. Levy said emphasizing the humans behind the reviews, and their expertise and rigor, is how Wirecutter will differentiate itself from AI models.
What This Means for Smaller Publishers
Most affiliate sites are not owned by The New York Times, and the lessons still apply. The common thread in the data is that AI handles discovery while trust is earned later in the journey. A small site with deep expertise in one category can be the page a shopper checks after a chatbot answer, which is the role 33% of shoppers say reviews play.
The weak spot is generic content. Pages that summarize specs or rewrite manufacturer copy compete directly with an AI Overview and usually lose, since the summary sits above them. Pages with original testing, clear verdicts and current pricing give the reader something the summary cannot. That difference decides whether your affiliate revenue holds up as AI Overviews spread.
7 Proven Ways to Protect Affiliate Revenue
You do not need Wirecutter's scale to apply the same lessons. These seven steps focus on the parts of the shopper journey AI has not taken over.
1. Audit your exposure by category
Map your top earning pages to the categories Semrush tracked. Finance, computers and electronics, and games saw the fastest growth in AI Overviews on commercial searches. Pages in those areas deserve the closest watch on clicks and conversions.
2. Make reviews the proof, not the summary
Shoppers go to reviews to verify an AI answer. Give them original testing, photos, measurements and clear verdicts that a summary cannot replicate. That is what 33% of shoppers are looking for after an AI suggestion.
3. Put shipping, returns and price checks on the page
With 33% saying shipping and return policies change what they buy, and 22.3% comparing prices after an AI recommendation, include return windows, shipping notes and price comparison links near your buttons. Keep them current, since AI also flags inconsistent signals.
4. Show the humans behind the picks
Wirecutter grew its team to more than 175 journalists and puts them front and center. Add author bios, testing notes and photos of real use. Human expertise is the clearest difference between your page and a chatbot response.
5. Package recommendations as franchises
Annual awards, new picks lists and long term favorites give readers a reason to come back directly and give sponsors something to buy. Promote them through newsletters and social so they do not rely on search alone.
6. Sell hybrid deals
If brands already pay you commissions, offer packages that add sponsored placements, newsletter features or licensing. Our guide to vetting affiliate partners explains how to check a brand before giving it premium placement.
7. Plan the holiday push now
Levy called the fourth quarter the most important time of the year for Wirecutter, with a focus on gift recommendations. Our Black Friday affiliate marketing playbook covers timing and commission math for the peak weeks.
What to Watch This Holiday Season
The coming weeks will show how much AI search changes holiday shopping. Track three numbers on your own site: search clicks to commercial pages, affiliate click through rate from those pages, and conversion rate by retailer. Compare them with last year's holiday period to separate seasonal swings from structural change.
It also helps to track affiliate revenue per thousand sessions rather than total commissions alone. Total income can rise in November simply because more people shop, while revenue per session shows whether each visit is earning as much as before. If that number slips on pages where AI Overviews now appear, you know which content needs fresh testing, better comparison tables or a stronger case for why a reader should trust your pick over a summary.
Also watch where your referral traffic comes from. If AI assistants start sending visitors, see which pages they land on and whether those visitors convert better or worse than search visitors. Many publishers are testing AI tools for their own workflows too, and our roundup of AI affiliate marketing tools covers the main options.
The data points in one direction. AI is taking over the first step of product research, but shoppers still check reviews, prices and policies before they buy. Affiliate revenue that rests on trusted, human tested recommendations, sold in more than one way, is far better placed than income that depends on ranking first for a generic search.