MediaPost reports that consumers are increasingly settling into preferred AI platforms, turning tools like ChatGPT into habitual destinations for research and purchasing. This is beginning to reshape the traditional marketing funnel and how advertisers think about referral traffic and media budgets.

BrightEdge data featured in the article shows that ChatGPT’s referral traffic to brands increased 101% from January to August 2026, reaching 95.1% of AI-generated referral traffic. ChatGPT now generates roughly 22× the combined AI referral share of Gemini, Claude and Perplexity.