Observed Signal · Nov 5, 2026 · Trend Analysis · Source: Adweek · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Brands in ChatGPT: Proving ROI Remains Hard
Marketers are increasingly focusing on appearing in AI chatbots like ChatGPT, but they struggle to prove the ROI of these efforts. A survey by Emarketer and Semify found that 76% of SMB search marketers consider AI search visibility extremely or very important. However, 56% cite measuring ROI from AI visibility as their top challenge. Companies like Flo Health, Motorway, Glance, and Business Intelligence Group are improving their AI visibility, but the industry lacks standardization in reporting. Agencies like Jellyfish have built proprietary tools to track brand appearances, and a wave of startups are selling software to help. Investors are also taking notice, with Profound raising $180 million in Series D funding at a $1.8 billion valuation. The article highlights that while brands are finding ways to get into AI answers, tying that visibility to actual sales remains difficult.
The article discusses the growing importance of AI search visibility for brands and the challenges in measuring ROI. It is relevant to AdTech/MarTech as it highlights a new area of marketing focus, but the content is largely paywalled and lacks specific, actionable data beyond a few survey findings.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Emarketer and Semify survey found 76% of SMB search marketers consider AI search visibility important.
- 56% of SMBs cite measuring ROI from AI visibility as their top challenge.
- Profound raised $180 million in Series D at a $1.8 billion valuation.
- Agencies like Jellyfish have built proprietary tools to track brand appearances in AI answer engines.
- Flo Health, Motorway, Glance, and Business Intelligence Group are improving AI visibility.
Connected Companies & Entities
4 Entities mapped“Agencies like Jellyfish have built proprietary tools to chart brand appearances in answer engines like ChatGPT.”
“Profound, among the best-funded of the 11 startups ADWEEK profiled, raised $180 million in Series D at a $1.8 billion valuation.”
“In a survey of 75 small and medium business search marketers by Emarketer and Semify, 76% said appearing in AI search is extremely or very i...”
“Firms like Flo Health, Motorway, Glance, and Business Intelligence Group are improving AI visibility.”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Marketers scramble to measure AI brand visibility
Marketers are increasingly concerned about how AI chatbots and large language models (LLMs) cite or mention their brands in responses, prompting a shift in advertising strategies. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is developing a framework to standardize the measurement of AI visibility. Data shows brand citation shares vary significantly across platforms like Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, and Gemini, while LLMs show preferences for different source types. Trust in AI search is growing, with 95% of US respondents finding AI answers as trustworthy as search engines. However, measurement is challenging due to the non-deterministic nature of AI models. This has led to new roles like Head of AI Search and the allocation of ad budgets to influence AI recommendations.
CMOs Struggle to Link AI Visibility to Sales
Chief marketing officers are finding it difficult to prove that strong visibility in generative AI and LLM-driven search results translates into sales. Marketers use a patchwork of monitoring tools (e.g., Profound, Scrunch, AirOps), paid placements, bespoke MMMs and statistical models to estimate impact, but no single tool draws a clear causal line to commercial outcomes. The IAB published measurement guidelines and Google added a Search Console feature with generative AI performance data, while agencies and vendors (including Assembly and startup Emberos) are building new measurement solutions. Brands continue to pursue creator marketing, reputation management and paid ads, but attribution gaps remain when users convert off-site or via marketplaces.
Marketers Build Infrastructure for AI Search Visibility
Marketers are reallocating search and content budgets and reorganizing teams to win visibility within AI-powered search and answer engines. Multiple industry surveys show brands are dedicating meaningful budget — Fractl reports roughly 24% of search/content budgets routed to AI visibility and 82% of marketers allocating some funds — while B2B firms increasingly view AI-generated answers as a distribution channel. However, execution lags: many brands have only a minority of content optimized for AI discovery, and most do not track AI share-of-voice, sentiment, or bot traffic. Platform fragmentation and opaque LLM sourcing (Semrush data shows differing source mixes across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Gemini) mean marketers need varied strategies for different AI systems.
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