Report
OpenAI's own API misses what ChatGPT cites
Researchers say Google and the company’s interface together identified 26-28% of referenced pages in an 11 October 2026 preprint, not peer reviewed.
Research
The reports, surveys and datasets that move marketing and media budgets, with a link to the source and our read on what matters in it.
Report
Australians research with AI but won't let it buy, ACAM finds
Only 11% would delegate a low-stakes purchase decision, versus 39% using generative tools to choose brands, products or services. Adobe-backed 'Chosen Twice', published 14 October 2026, describes two selection events along each path to sale.
Report
Bench Media finds 38% of marketers sign off AI strategy unchecked
Bench Media's survey of 71 senior Australian marketing leaders also found AI now outranks their own experience as an influence, with agencies near the bottom at 8%.
Report
Half of US consumers now use AI to find local businesses, SOCi finds
A vendor survey of US consumers found two in three AI users got wrong details about a local business. There is no Australian sample, but local cafés and tradies face the same review checks.
Report
One in five Australians will ask AI about Christmas gifts, IAS finds
Integral Ad Science's survey of 532 shoppers puts the figure at 22 per cent, up from 12 last year; 62 per cent are open to AI shopping tools, mobile is the main device for 62 per cent and 49 per cent will buy more online.
Report
Half of Australians say social media is bad for democracy, Pew finds
Pew's 36-country survey puts Australia among only seven countries where half or more think so, as 81 per cent use Facebook and 82 per cent back restricting children's access, against 56 per cent in the US.
Report
Active loyalty program use falls to 45% as Australians cut back
Honeycomb Strategy's three-wave national study found Australians now actively use four loyalty programs on average, down from five, and that contraction directly shrinks the audience pools that Cartology and Coles 360 sell to advertisers.
Report
AI halves buying time for half of Australians, WPP Media survey finds
AI also put brands in front of 61% of the 2,500 people surveyed that they had never considered, WPP Media found.
Report
B2B marketers say growth now hinges on younger buyers
LinkedIn commissioned research firm Censuswide to survey 18,050 professionals and 6,196 marketers across 12 markets, including Australia, in July 2026. The headline figure: 89% of B2B marketers say future growth depends on their ability to influence Gen Z and Millennial decision-makers.
Report
Myer posts $276.5m loss as consumer confidence sits at 72
Three numbers landed inside 24 hours this week and they all point the same way. Consumer confidence at 72. A $276.5 million loss at Australia's biggest department store chain. And a near-certain interest rate rise arriving just as retailers enter their most important trading quarter.
Report
ChatGPT's AI search share falls from 76% to 53% as Gemini gains
ChatGPT's share of generative AI web traffic fell from roughly 76% in June 2025 to about 53% by May 2026, according to Similarweb's generative AI statistics page, published 29 July 2026 and drawn from the company's proprietary worldwide traffic panel combining clickstream data with dynamic
Report
US ad spend to grow 12.3% this year while Australian TV grows 0.4%
IAB has revised its American forecast up for the second time in nine months, with podcasts up 8.7%. Madison and Wall's Australian number tells the opposite story.
Report
Trust in AI content falls to 34% as brands hide the bot
Three studies this year found the same reflex: trust in AI-generated content has fallen to 34%, and disclosure is the single lever that moves it. What that means for every brand running AI in service.
Report
93% of marketers say they're confident with AI, few can prove it works
The Advertising Research Foundation surveyed two national samples and found a confidence gap the size of the industry. The number that should worry a CMO is not the 93.
Report
Creators now drive brand discovery for 61% of Australians
IAB Australia's new research puts discovery where the budgets are not. The age gap in the data, and what it says about where the next campaign brief should start.
Report
Two-thirds of Gen Z object to AI in ads; older audiences less so
66% of 18 to 29-year-olds view AI in ad creation negatively, against 51% of 30 to 44s, 38% of 45 to 59s and 46% of over-60s. 73% of Gen Z call AI-made people or voices in ads unacceptable.
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Edelman Trust Barometer 2026: seven in ten now hesitate to trust anyone unlike them
33,938 people in 28 countries. 70 per cent unwilling or hesitant to trust people with different values. Employers trusted at 78 per cent, government at 53.
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Gartner CMO Spend Survey 2026: budgets flat at 7.8 per cent of revenue, 15 per cent of it going to AI
401 senior marketers. Budgets 7.8% of revenue (7.7% in 2025). 15.3% of budgets allocated to AI, but only 30% say they are ready to scale it. 56% say they lack the budget for their 2026 strategy.
Report
Most Australian agencies now sell AI search, and only a couple deliver
Bushletter audited 136 Australian agencies and their llms.txt files. Nearly nine in ten now sell AI search. Fewer than one in four say how they measure it.