Built on more than 1.5 billion real-user prompts across 50+ industries and the top LLMs, the Profound Index gives brands a daily view into who is winning AI Search and why
NEW YORK, June 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Profound, the marketing platform for the AI era, today announced the launch of the Profound Index at Zero Click New York, the company’s second annual conference bringing together leaders shaping the future of AI Search and AI marketing.
Marketers are facing a new challenge. Consumers increasingly discover brands, products, and information through AI platforms rather than traditional search. Rankings on Google alone no longer tell the full story. Brands now need to understand how they appear inside AI-generated answers and recommendations, where buying decisions and brand perceptions are increasingly being shaped.
The Profound Index was built to answer that question. Powered by the largest dataset of real-user prompts in the market, the Profound Index analyzes more than 1.5 billion prompts across 50+ industries and major AI platforms, creating an industry-wide benchmark that shows which brands are winning visibility in AI Search and where competitors stand against them.
“Marketing teams spent years asking where they ranked on Google. Increasingly, that is becoming the wrong question,” said James Cadwallader, Co-founder and CEO of Profound. “People are asking ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other AI systems for recommendations, advice, and answers. The brands that matter are the brands AI recommends. The Profound Index gives marketers a way to understand where they stand and what they need to do to improve.”
The launch comes as AI-driven discovery reshapes the internet. Search behavior is increasingly moving away from blue links toward conversational systems that synthesize information and make recommendations on behalf of users.
Unlike conventional SEO tools or static reports, the Profound Index updates daily and provides visibility into the signals driving AI visibility across industries.
Early Findings from the Profound Index
Performance in AI search does not always mirror traditional search rankings or brand awareness. Early findings from the Profound Index suggest that visibility inside AI-generated answers is shaped by a different and rapidly evolving set of signals. Model updates can significantly reshape which brands appear in AI-generated answers, creating new leaders and unexpected movement across industries.
Sample findings include:
- ChatGPT 5.5 is recommending competitors more often, with Anthropic, Mistral, OpenRouter, and Groq all gaining visibility within ChatGPT-generated answers.
- IKEA is up 19% on ChatGPT while down 11% across AI platforms overall.
- Travelocity, Orbitz, and Priceline are down 35% to 56% on ChatGPT following the latest model update.
- Health insurance visibility has been reshuffled. Ambetter and Humana are down more than 50%, while Aetna is one of the few major brands moving in the opposite direction.
The Profound Index enables marketers to:
- Benchmark brand performance against competitors within their industry
- Track visibility across major AI platforms
- Understand movement and trends over time
- Identify category leaders and emerging brands
Turn AI Search insights into action
The Profound Index is available beginning today. Profound customers can access full Index data directly through the platform, while non-customers can access a preview experience and unlock deeper competitive and trend analysis through registration.
About Profound
AI is the new front door to every business. People no longer just search, they ask AI. Profound is a new-age marketing platform relied on by thousands of leaders globally to understand and control what AI says about their brand, and empower their teams to create AI-optimized content that increases brand awareness. Trusted by industry titans like Figma, Ramp, MongoDB, Chime, and U.S. Bank, Profound arms marketers with the tools to win in a future where AI agents, not blue links, define discovery. Win the zero-click internet with Profound.
Learn more at www.tryprofound.com
CONTACT: Layla Baradaran layla@tryprofound.com
