MARKET REPORT · US NATIONWIDE · SEPTEMBER 2026 · DATED RECORD

Who AI Recommends in US nationwide

Window, corrected 2026-10-05: this report counts September 1 to 28, 2026 (28 run days). Our Perplexity collection method changed on September 28. The full-month record (30 run days) is the September panel: /panels/us-nationwide.html.

For 28 days we asked five AI engines the same buyer questions a US nationwide customer would ask, about AI marketing tool for DTC brands, AI video ad maker, ai visibility checks, connected TV and streaming advertising agency, crypto education, short-term rental, short-term rental business model, short-term rental software, and wrote down every business they named. This is the dated record of what they said.

Key findings

Most named by Perplexity

Businesses Perplexity named most often when asked US nationwide buyer questions, 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-28.

Most cited in Google results

Domains Google's results cited most often on the same questions.

The engines disagree

Same questions, same days, different answers. That disagreement is the point: a check that skips an engine is guessing on your behalf.

Days asked counts the days each engine received the questions. Gemini returned no business names after September 26, so its answered days are fewer than its days asked.

Anthropic answered all 28 days and named zero businesses; it returned buying criteria and directories instead of names. Perplexity named 57 distinct businesses. If your customer asks Perplexity and you're invisible there, the other four engines don't save you.

What this means if you run a US nationwide business

If you run a business competing nationally, this page is your competition's report card and yours. The engines were asked the same questions your customers ask, every day for a month, and their answers are dated above. The free 5-engine check runs the same test on your business specifically, all five engines, one dated transcript, no card.

Method