Stacker Research Shows Earned Media Triples AI Search Visibility

Study finds 239% median lift in brand citations from distributed content across 8 AI platforms

Mar. 16, 2026 at 1:38pm

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Stacker, an earned media distribution platform, released a study showing that distributing content through earned media channels produces a median 239% lift in AI search visibility compared to brand-owned content alone. The study analyzed 87 stories across 30 clients and 2,600+ prompts on 8 AI platforms, providing evidence of earned media's impact on AI citation behavior.

Why it matters

As AI-powered search platforms become primary discovery tools, brands are seeking strategies to maintain and grow their visibility. Stacker's research offers statistically significant evidence that earned media distribution is a critical tactic, increasing cross-platform AI coverage and positioning 'coverage breadth' as a new key performance indicator for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

The details

The study found that Stacker-distributed stories saw a median 239% increase in AI citations compared to brand-owned content alone. Syndication increased cross-platform AI coverage from 5.4% to 17.9% at the median, nearly tripling how consistently brands surfaced across AI platforms. 97% of Stacker-distributed stories earned at least one AI citation, compared to 82% for owned content. 64% of AI citations came from third-party publisher sources, and distributed versions were 5.3x more likely to be the sole source of a story's AI visibility than the brand's own website.

  • The study was conducted over 30 days in partnership with AI Customer Experience Platform Scrunch.

The players

Stacker

The earned media distribution platform trusted by more than 150 organizations.

Noah Greenberg

CEO at Stacker.

Scrunch

An AI Customer Experience Platform that partnered with Stacker on the study.

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What they’re saying

“AI search isn't a single ranking position; it's a long tail played across platforms, prompt variations, and answer formats. Our data shows that coverage breadth is the new authority signal. Brands that show up consistently across AI engines will define the next decade of organic visibility, and earned media is the most reliable way to get there.”

— Noah Greenberg, CEO

The takeaway

This study highlights the growing importance of earned media distribution in an AI-driven search landscape. Brands that prioritize consistent coverage across multiple AI platforms through earned media will be better positioned to maintain and grow their visibility in the years to come.