ATLANTA, March 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A December 2025 research report from Muck Rack’s Generative Pulse platform found that journalistic and earned media sources account for nearly 25% of all citations generated by large language models, with non-paid media sources collectively representing approximately 94% of all AI-cited links. The study analyzed more than one million links drawn from AI responses across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, spanning a wide range of industries and query types.
The findings arrive at a moment when AI tools have become a primary research interface for business buyers, and they carry a clear message for companies evaluating their communications strategy: the brands that show up in AI-generated answers are, overwhelmingly, the brands that have invested in credible, consistent earned media.
“Every earned media placement, every bylined article, every well-constructed press release built around real news is an investment in AI visibility. The companies showing up when a buyer asks an AI system who leads in their market are the ones that have been doing the hard work of thought leadership consistently,” said Will Haraway, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of LeadCoverage. "This research does not diminish the value of press releases. It raises the bar for what a press release should be. If it is not carrying real data, a genuine point of view, or news that matters to your industry, it is not going to move the needle for AI or for anyone else.”
Press release activity is also growing in relevance within that ecosystem. Citations to press releases distributed through wire services such as PR Newswire, Business Wire, and GlobeNewswire increased fivefold between July and December 2025, rising from 0.2% to 1% of all AI citations. Across all distribution channels, press release citations grew from approximately 1.2% to 6% over the same period. The research found that cited press releases differ meaningfully in quality from those that are not: they contain roughly twice as many statistics, 30% more action verbs, 2.5 times as many bullet points, and a 30% higher rate of objective sentences. In short, AI rewards press releases that are genuinely newsworthy and substantively written.
The report also found that AI citation rates are highest for content published within the first seven days of release, with more than half of all citations referencing material published within the prior 11 months. Recency is a meaningful factor, one that reinforces the value of a sustained publishing cadence rather than episodic campaigns.
Among the research’s most striking findings is that the journalists most frequently pitched by PR professionals and those most frequently cited by AI engines share an average overlap of just 2%. For communications teams that have not yet mapped their media targeting to AI citation behavior, the gap represents both a risk and an opportunity.
“The growth in press release citations is actually an encouraging signal, but only if companies meet the standard the data describes,” said Courtney Herda, VP of Digital at LeadCoverage. “AI is not citing boilerplate. It is citing releases that are data-rich, clearly written, and anchored to something that actually matters in the market. The same is true for editorial coverage. The path to AI visibility runs directly through quality, through content, placement, and consistency of presence in the publications your buyers already trust. That is exactly what we measure in our Logistics Growth Efficiency Ratio. The companies at the top of the LGER Index are not there by accident. They are publishing consistently, earning the right coverage, and building the kind of market presence that AI systems recognize as authoritative.”
The Logistics Growth Efficiency Ratio (LGER) is LeadCoverage’s proprietary benchmark for measuring qualified pipeline generated per go-to-market dollar spent. Published quarterly as part of the Supply Chain Growth Index, the LGER tracks GTM efficiency across freight, logistics, and freight tech companies, giving revenue leaders a data-driven view of how their programs stack up against the market. The Q4 2025 index revealed a growing performance divide, with top-quartile companies reaching an LGER of $204.30 while nearly half of tracked companies fell below $3.00. The full index is available at info.leadcoverage.com/indexv2.
About LeadCoverage
LeadCoverage is the premier supply chain go-to-market consulting group, dedicated to driving revenue growth for their clients. They specialize in crafting GTM strategies that are grounded in data-backed insights and sophisticated mathematical models. Their proven expertise transforms businesses into market leaders, ensuring they stay ahead of the competition and achieve sustained success.
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Michaela Dildine
LeadCoverage
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