Pranas Study Finds "AI Visibility Gap" as Third-Party Platforms Shape AI Search Results

Singapore-based AI search visibility company Pranas has released research identifying what it calls a growing "AI Visibility Gap" — the divergence between a brand's established online presence and how it is represented across AI search platforms such as Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude.

The core study analysed 20,839 unique prompts that generated Google AI Overviews during August 2026. After normalisation and deduplication, researchers recorded 225,094 source citations across 13,996 root domains.

Third-Party Platforms Dominate AI Citations

The study found that non-owned platforms accounted for a significant share of citations in AI-generated results. YouTube was the most frequently cited domain in the dataset, receiving 26,558 citations. Instagram followed with 16,779 citations, while Wikipedia accounted for 11,951 citations. E-commerce marketplaces and other third-party sites also appeared prominently.

According to the study, these findings indicate that AI systems do not build answers exclusively from company websites, but may instead rely on creator content, product listings, comparison pages, media coverage, public reference sources and online discussions when deciding which brands to mention and how to describe them.

Brand Mentions Do Not Reliably Drive Website Traffic

A separate Pranas analysis of 10,227 travel-related prompts examined the relationship between brand mentions in AI answers and direct website attribution. The study found that, depending on the brand, the proportion of mentions accompanied by a direct link to its own website ranged from 63% to 82.5%.

Pranas describes this as a commercially important distinction, noting that two businesses could receive a similar number of mentions in AI-generated answers while experiencing very different outcomes in terms of traffic, depending on whether the AI answer cites the brand's own site or a third-party publisher or marketplace.

AI Visibility Can Diverge from Market Share

A further study of 10,000 smartphone and electronics-related prompts compared AI visibility with established market position. Pranas found that the second-most visible brand in that dataset appeared in 21.1% of relevant prompts despite accounting for only a single-digit share of local device shipments. The company said this indicates that physical market share and AI visibility do not necessarily move together.

Company Comment

Arshad Rahman, Co-Founder of Pranas, commented on the findings: "AI systems are becoming an intermediary between brands and buyers, but most brands are still unable to understand their visibility on AI assistants deeply or correctly map how to optimize it."

Rahman added: "The next step is not to chase brand mentions in isolation. It is to understand where a brand appears, what evidence the AI relies on, and where customer questions are being answered by competitors or third parties instead."

Recommended Priorities

Based on its findings, Pranas recommended that marketing teams focus on three areas: tracking citations alongside mentions to identify which sources AI systems rely on; building authority beyond owned channels through trusted publications, creator platforms and industry resources; and analysing visibility by market, language and search intent, given that AI-generated answers can vary between models, countries and prompt types.

About the Research

Pranas, founded in March 2025 and headquartered in Singapore, describes its platform as covering more than 17 AI models from seven providers. The research was published as a press release on 21 September 2026 and distributed via a third-party press release distribution service. The source article notes that it does not represent the views of the publishing site and makes no guarantees regarding its accuracy or completeness.