AI Visibility in Media & Publishing: What Sources Shape AI Answers About Content Platforms?

When someone asks ChatGPT “What’s the best music streaming service?” or “Which platform should I use to publish a website?”, the brands appearing in that answer can become part of their selection process. Which sources sit behind those answers? 

Peak Ace’s LLM Industry Benchmark analysed a fixed set of 1,000 commercially relevant prompts across 10 industries in Germany during August 2026. Across Gemini, ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, we measured which brands show up, which source types are retrieved and how brands are spoken about. Here’s what this standardised snapshot reveals for Media & Publishing, with a focus on the source mix and its implications for GEO and Digital PR. 

Contents 

• How we conducted our LLM Industry Benchmark 
• AI Visibility for Media & Publishing: How does it compare to other industries? 
• Which Media & Publishing brands are most visible in AI? 
• Which Sources Do LLMs Use for Media & Publishing Questions? 
• How do Media & Publishing brands become visible in AI? 
• The Full Picture Is in the LLM Industry Benchmark 
• FAQ: AI Visibility in the Media & Publishing Industry 

How we conducted our LLM Industry Benchmark 

The benchmark is built on a defined methodology: 

• 1,000 standardised bottom-of-funnel prompts across 10 industries, each with 100 commercially relevant prompts. 
• Prompts were split across 10 topic clusters per industry. 
• Four intent types were tested: best/top/test winner, comparisons, pricing/where to buy, and criteria/guidance, with 25 prompts per intent in each industry. 
• The analysis focused on the German market and German-language prompts during August 2026. 
• Gemini, ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews were monitored. Each prompt ran 15 times, five per system. 
• Data was sourced from Peec AI exports; 50 brands per industry were monitored, with reporting focused on the Top 20 by visibility. 
• The three core brand KPIs are visibility, Share of Voice/SOV and sentiment. Visibility measures how often an entity appears in answers for the prompt set. Sentiment measures the tone of answers mentioning an entity on a 0–100 scale. For concentration analysis, SOV shares are normalised to 100% within the Top 20. 

The source analysis describes retrieval counts and URL types by industry and intent. All results apply to the selected prompts, monitored entities, systems and study period. 

For the full methodology, definitions and cross-industry breakdowns, the complete benchmark is available for download. 

AI Visibility for Media & Publishing: How does it compare to other industries? 

In our benchmark, comparison pages lead the Media & Publishing source-type lists across all four intents. This differs from the aggregate guidance results across all 10 industries, where how-to guides lead. 

Here’s how the leading source types compare: 

The percentages describe the cross-industry retrieval mix, not Media & Publishing shares or explicit citation rates. The industry scorecard recorded 96,603 retrievals. 

The distinction matters for content planning: in this snapshot, comparison formats feature beyond direct comparisons, including questions about criteria and practical guidance. 

For additional context, Media & Publishing records average visibility of 9%, average SOV of 3.15% and sentiment of 54.0. Sentiment should be read as a relative indicator of answer tone within the dataset, not an absolute rating of brand quality. 

Its HHI is 723, and its Top-3 Share is 32%. Three entities account for 32% of SOV normalised within the Top 20. These metrics describe concentration in the snapshot, not market share or why individual brands appear. 

Which Media & Publishing brands are most visible in AI? 

According to Peak Ace’s benchmark for Germany in August 2026, the top three entities by visibility in the Media & Publishing prompt set are: 

• Spotify: 24% visibility. 
• Apple Music: 13% visibility. 
• WordPress: 12% visibility. 

Their shared advantage is being a reference point for a buying decision. The white paper describes these brands as category defaults: familiar options that the selected AI systems name when users ask which subscription or platform to choose. That helps explain their prominence in a prompt set focused on purchase decisions. 

Spotify and Apple Music are alternatives within the same decision: which music-streaming service to subscribe to. WordPress plays a similar role in a different category: which platform to use for publishing a website. What connects the three is not the content they publish, but their role as products users can select. 

The source mix reinforces this focus on selection. Comparison pages lead all four intent lists in the Media & Publishing snapshot. For competing brands, the useful question is therefore how clearly relevant comparisons explain when to choose their product over a familiar alternative. Focus on specific use cases, capabilities and pricing, and assess streaming and publishing-platform questions separately. 

Which Sources Do LLMs Use for Media & Publishing Questions? 

The benchmark analysed which types of content the selected AI systems retrieved when processing Media & Publishing prompts. 

Note: retrieval data shows which sources a system accessed, not necessarily what it explicitly cited in the final answer. The source mix varies by intent: 

A few things stand out. 

• Comparison pages lead all four intent lists, not just prompts explicitly asking for a comparison. 
• Product pages feature in every list and rank second for recommendations and purchasing questions. 
• How-to guides rank second for criteria/guidance and also feature in comparison prompts. 
• Listicles feature in recommendations, while homepages appear in the purchasing list. 

What does the source mix suggest? 

• Comparison content can address more than “A versus B”. Its presence across all four intents suggests reviewing whether content explains selection criteria, trade-offs and pricing differences as well as alternatives. 
• Product information remains part of the decision journey. Product pages appear throughout the mix. Review whether service and platform pages clearly explain plans, capabilities and suitability. 
• Practical guidance complements evaluation. How-to guides feature alongside comparisons for guidance questions. Consider connecting platform selection with useful explanations of how to get started. 

How do Media & Publishing brands become visible in AI? 

The data raises several questions that media and publishing teams should consider: 

• Are you visible on the listicles, comparison pages and product pages retrieved for relevant questions? Review your own content and appropriate third-party sources, including the actual pages and domains behind your monitoring results. 
• Does your content strategy cover all four intent types? Focusing only on “best” queries can leave comparisons, criteria and pricing unaddressed. Plan around what the user wants to accomplish. 
• Is your brand represented consistently across relevant sources? Check service names, plans and capabilities across product pages, comparisons and editorial coverage. Treat consistency as an information-quality priority, not a visibility effect proven by this study. 
• Are you thinking beyond your own publishing channels? Coordinate SEO, content and Digital PR. Use a fixed prompt set to monitor brand mentions and retrieved sources separately, and review changes by intent and system. 

Expert tip: Think beyond your own publishing channels

The Full Picture Is in the LLM Industry Benchmark 

This blog post covers the Media & Publishing highlights. The full LLM Industry Benchmark goes further: 

• How the source mix differs across all 10 industries. 
• How source types shift between recommendations, comparisons, pricing and guidance. 
• Visibility, SOV and sentiment for the reported brands. 
• How concentrated SOV is within each industry’s Top 20. 
• The industry scorecards and complete methodology. 

Download the full LLM Industry Benchmark here. 

Had a look at our benchmark and looking to improve your brand’s presence in AI answers? Get in touch with our team. 

FAQ: AI Visibility in the Media & Publishing Industry 

How visible are Media & Publishing brands in ChatGPT and other AI assistants? 

Average visibility was 9% in our German-market benchmark for August 2026. This applies to the monitored entities and fixed commercial prompt set, not all media-related questions. 

Which Media & Publishing brands are most visible in AI search? 

Spotify has 24% visibility, Apple Music 13% and WordPress 12%. The prompt set covers commercial choices across streaming and content production, which matters when interpreting these figures. 

What types of content do LLMs use to answer Media & Publishing questions? 

In our benchmark, comparisons lead all four intent lists. Product pages, how-to guides, listicles, homepages and “Other” also feature. Retrieval does not necessarily mean citation. 

Does AI visibility matter for Media & Publishing brands? 

It measures brand presence when users ask commercial questions. Consider it alongside traffic, subscriptions, conversions, audience engagement and revenue, not as a replacement. 

What is a GEO strategy? 

Generative Engine Optimisation combines SEO, content, Digital PR and monitoring to work on presence in AI answers. It does not guarantee recommendations or citations. 

How can Media & Publishing brands improve their AI visibility? 

Map audience questions across recommendations, comparisons, guidance and pricing. Review retrieved sources, improve relevant content and assess third-party coverage. Monitor changes using a consistent prompt set.