Research that shapes how the category thinks

Read the latest insights from the AirOps Research team to keep you ahead of what's coming next.

Marketing Leaders Reality Index

Get an honest look at how 300+ marketing leaders are funding growth, reshaping teams, and responding to higher targets. See where budgets are going, which teams are gaining resources, and how often marketers are being asked to deliver more without them.

REPLACE: one sentence describing all five results.

How ChatGPT Ads Are Reshaping Fintech Answers

Weekly ad load over all in-scope fintech brands. From near zero in April to ≈ 53% in the week of 2026-07-13. The window average is 7.35%; the trajectory, not the average, is the story.

Weekly ad load starts at 0.46%, remains below 10% through June 22, then rises to 14.5% and finishes at 52%—about 113 times its initial value.

The Fastest-Growing Source in AI Search

The old AI-visibility playbook was simple: own the page that answers the question. That still matters, but as consumer behavior is undergoing a huge shift with AI search, it’s no longer the whole playbook.

Creator and social sources grew 140%, followed by reviews at 38%, marketplaces at 15%, and media or publishers at 2%. Owned brand or product sources declined 10%, educational sources declined 27%, and communities declined 28%.

Third-Party Sources Drive 85% of Brand Discovery

Owned content is the baseline for earning visibility in AI search. AI systems establish credibility through external recognition and consistent narratives across trusted sources. This validates what others s...

October 17, 2025

Staying Seen In AI Search: How Citations & Mentions Impact Brand Visibility

The era of maintaining a fixed “#1 position” is over. In LLMs using web search, a brand’s visibility in the answer can shift from one response to the next. Each time a query is asked, the model generates its output from a...

September 23, 2025

From Query to Citation: How Snippet Signals Influence AI Search

Getting cited in AI search isn't just about having "good" content, it also needs tp aligns with what users are actually searching for. But here's the challenge: there are different ways to measure if your page...

August 28, 2025

The Silent Pipeline Killer: How Stale Content Costs You AI Citations (and Customers)

The era of static, “set it and forget it” content is over. As AI search engines like ChatGPT reshape how buyers discover, evaluate, and trust brands, freshness has become a critical battleground. The old playbook—publis...

August 4, 2025

More from AirOps

The New Rules of Growth: Five Takeaways From Krithika Shankarraman and Christy Roach

What are the new rules of growth? Krithika Shankarraman of Thrive Capital joined Christy Roach, CMO of AirOps, to discuss 2026 data and survey findings.

How Vibe Cut Its Competitive AI Visibility Gap in Half With AirOps

See how Vibe and AirOps built offsite authority to improve AI search visibility, lift brand mentions by 13.3%, and cut the gap with a category leader in half.

The paid layer of AI search has arrived: Introducing AI Ads in AirOps

Paid is now the third pillar of AI search. AirOps' new AI Ads feature lets teams track competitor ad activity in ChatGPT, act on those signals with on-brand Playbooks, and connect campaign performance, including spend, CTR, and CPC, to the same market data driving their organic AI search strategy.

Turn the AI-first buyer shift into a category advantage

Whether you’re starting from square one with AI discovery or ramping a successful program, our team will meet you where you are to drive results.