Key findings: Most industries average below 50/100 in AI visibility — the majority of brands are invisible to AI assistants. Every industry shows 50+ point gaps between top and bottom performers, indicating huge first-mover opportunity.
The AI Discovery Shift
- 40% of Gen Z prefers AI search over Google
- 180M+ weekly active ChatGPT users
- 25% of web traffic will shift to AI by 2026
- 67% of users trust AI recommendations
Industry Benchmarks
Average AI visibility scores by sector (0-100 scale):
| Industry | Avg Score | Top 10% | Bottom 10% |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS / Software | 42 | 78 | 12 |
| E-commerce | 38 | 71 | 8 |
| Financial Services | 51 | 85 | 18 |
| Healthcare | 45 | 79 | 15 |
| Education | 48 | 82 | 14 |
| Travel & Hospitality | 35 | 68 | 9 |
| Real Estate | 32 | 65 | 7 |
| Marketing & Agencies | 55 | 88 | 22 |
Based on aggregated AEO audit data from Bull AI. Scores represent visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity.
Key Insights
- Marketing leads: Marketing agencies and tech companies have the highest AEO scores due to early adoption and content marketing expertise.
- Wide variance: Every industry shows 50+ point gaps between top and bottom performers — huge opportunity for first-movers.
- Low baseline: Most industries average below 50/100. The majority of brands are invisible to AI assistants.
- First-mover advantage: AEO is nascent. Brands investing now will establish authority before competitors catch on.
See How You Compare
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