Observed Signal · Aug 13, 2026 · Market Signal · Source: Profound · Impact: 3/5
Commercial conversations in ChatGPT more than doubled in a year
We classified 7.5 million conversations over a full year to find out, and increasingly, the answer is buy. Commercial intent grew from 13.9% to 19.2% of conversations, users are starting 41% more commercial conversations than a year ago, and at ChatGPT's current scale that adds up to an estimated 28 billion buying conversations a year.
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Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
ChatGPT Referrals to B2B Sites Quadrupled
Demandbase’s Labs data shows ChatGPT-driven referrals to tracked B2B websites rose from about 645,000 in June 2025 to 2.6 million in June 2026 (a 303% increase), with a sharp inflection in May 2026 when volume more than doubled. The Labs dataset covers more than 11 billion visits across 1,584 platform instances, but Demandbase warns the data is proprietary and not independently verified; attribution is further complicated because many AI-influenced sessions appear later via brand searches. Growth was concentrated in OpenAI’s ChatGPT while Perplexity referrals declined and Gemini and Claude remained largely flat. Demandbase also reports rising ad spend on its platform—CTV up 112% and display up 55% year over year, with CTV’s share rising modestly—and says AI-generated referrals may become an increasingly important buyer-intent signal. Independent evidence on conversion value is mixed.
Report: ChatGPT Users Differ from Google Searchers
BFJ Digital published a behavioural report showing distinct intent differences between users of conversational AI (ChatGPT) and traditional search engines. The study finds ChatGPT is primarily used for exploratory research and synthesis during the buyer journey, while search engines retain dominance for immediate transactional intent and checkout pathways. The report warns that treating all digital traffic as having equal purchase intent raises customer acquisition costs and recommends three operational shifts: optimise site data for AI contexts, split marketing budgets by intent (research vs transactional), and update attribution models to map AI-led research to eventual search-driven conversions. The article was published on June 12, 2026 by MarTech Series.
Why Conversational AI Is Harder to Monetize Than Search or Social Today, and Why That Is Changing Fast
Conversations carry richer intent than search or social. Here is why they underprice today, and how per-turn decisioning on intent, timing, and format closes the gap.
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