AI assistants overwhelmingly recommend category leaders in India, study of 375 responses finds
A Business Standard analysis across skincare, appliances, hospitals, banks and insurance shows AI tools skewing toward incumbents: Minimalist drew a 92% recommendation share, Cetaphil 84%, CeraVe 64%, and LG appeared in 74 of 75 appliance responses. With 84% of citations sourced from earned media, brands eye Generative Engine Optimisation to shape what AI recommends.
What happened
Minimalist · Business Standard analysis of 375 AI-generated recommendations shows AI assistants favor category leaders across skincare, appliances, hospitals,
Key facts
- 375 AI responses
- 5 categories
- Minimalist 92% recommendation share
- Cetaphil 84%
- CeraVe 64%
- LG 74 of 75
- 84% citations from earned media
Why this matters
Since 84% of AI citations trace to earned media and incumbents dominate recommendations, acquiring or partnering with high-authority, well-cited brands offers a strategic path to AI visibility that challengers can't easily buy.
What to watch
- New studies expanding the sample beyond 375 responses or into new categories
- AI platforms announcing changes to sourcing/citation transparency
- Challenger brands publicly disclosing GEO budgets or wins
- Regulatory noise on AI recommendation disclosure or paid influence
- Emergence of GEO-specific tooling and agency service lines
- Audit current AI recommendation share across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity for our brand vs category leaders
- Map the earned-media sources AI tools cite most and prioritize placements there
- Build a GEO measurement dashboard tracking recommendation share as a core marketing KPI
- Commission comparison content, reviews, and third-party listicles that LLMs can retrieve and cite
- Brief PR/agency partners to shift from impression metrics to AI-citation outcomes