New research reveals that AI tools are creating a winner-take-all publishing hierarchy—and most brands don’t realize they’re already locked out
A new study from the UK’s Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) just exposed something most marketers haven’t thought about yet: AI search engines are building a publishing hierarchy, and your brand’s citation odds are being decided right now.
The headline finding: When ChatGPT responds to news queries, it cites The Guardian in 58% of answers. Reuters appears in 40%. The Independent in 35%.
Meanwhile, The Telegraph shows up in just 4% of responses. GB News in 3%. The Sun in 1%. And the BBC—the UK’s most trusted news outlet—appears in 0% of ChatGPT answers.
Zero.
This isn’t a bug. It’s the new gatekeeping layer of AI search—and it’s reshaping which publishers (and by extension, which brands mentioned in those publishers) get discovered by millions of users asking questions to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.
If you’re investing in earned media to drive awareness, this research should fundamentally change your publication strategy.
The Institute for Public Policy Research tested four major AI tools—ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews—across 100 randomly generated news queries.
They analyzed over 2,500 citation links to see which publications AI engines favor.
[Full article continues with detailed analysis of citation patterns, strategic implications, and actionable recommendations for earned media strategy]
Jaxon Parrott is CEO and founder of AuthorityTech, the earned media engine for brands that need guaranteed AI visibility. AuthorityTech delivers Tier 1 placements in publications like Forbes, TechCrunch, and VentureBeat—no retainers, just results. Book a strategy call to see how we guarantee citations in the publications that AI engines actually cite.