Semrush Study: Super Bowl Ads Are No Longer a One-Night Event
What social engagement, search behavior, and AI-generated answers reveal about who really won the up-to-$10M ad battle
February 13, 2026
A new wave of disruption is underway—and this time, it’s not from Google, but from ChatGPT.
As AI-driven platforms become the default gateways to knowledge, they’re reshaping how people discover content, brands, and products.
You can dominate Google search and still be invisible in AI.
Using May 2025 traffic data, Semrush analyzed which companies are winning visibility across LLM platforms—and which are getting left behind.
Note: The % values represent the share of referral traffic each company receives from the respective AI platform. These are naturally lower for Perplexity and DeepSeek compared to ChatGPT, due to their significantly smaller user bases. For context, ChatGPT had ~555M unique users in May 2025—approximately 20x more than Perplexity.
You can dominate Google search and still be invisible in AI.
Using May 2025 traffic data, Semrush analyzed which companies are winning visibility across LLM platforms—and which are getting left behind.
Note: The % values represent the share of referral traffic each company receives from the respective AI platform. These are naturally lower for Perplexity and DeepSeek compared to ChatGPT, due to their significantly smaller user bases. For context, ChatGPT had ~555M unique users in May 2025—approximately 20x more than Perplexity.
ChatGPT Traffic Is Booming—But Unevenly Distributed
Despite a slight dip in April, ChatGPT still attracted 4.5 billion visits and over 555 million unique users globally—marking a +4.5% increase in pages per visit and an average session duration of 14 minutes and 53 seconds. That’s not search behavior. That’s user commitment.
Top countries by traffic:
And 77% of usage happens on desktop—proving that AI queries still feel more like work than play.
The AI Visibility Divide: Traffic ≠ Discoverability
Being a household name doesn’t mean you’re referenced by AI. The biggest websites are not the most visible in AI. Based on May 2025 data:
Amazon, Microsoft, and Spotify dominate in raw traffic.
But that’s where the correlation ends.
But that’s where the correlation ends.
Surprising standouts in ChatGPT referral share:
- Oracle.com gets 9.44% of its total traffic from ChatGPT.
- Nvidia, Hitachi, IBM, and SAP also perform well.
Compare that to Google:
101.76 billion total visits, approximately 214 million from ChatGPT. That’s 0.21% visibility—low for Google, but far higher than many assumed.
For Amazon: 10M visits from ChatGPT sounds like a win—until you realize that’s just 0.33% of Amazon’s traffic. ChatGPT doesn’t favor aggregators. It prefers brand sites. That’s a wake-up call for ecommerce.
When it comes to total traffic received from ChatGPT:
101.76 billion total visits, approximately 214 million from ChatGPT. That’s 0.21% visibility—low for Google, but far higher than many assumed.
For Amazon: 10M visits from ChatGPT sounds like a win—until you realize that’s just 0.33% of Amazon’s traffic. ChatGPT doesn’t favor aggregators. It prefers brand sites. That’s a wake-up call for ecommerce.
When it comes to total traffic received from ChatGPT:
- Microsoft leads by far
- Amazon, Apple, Adobe, and Spotify follow
- Even NVIDIA and Shopify trail far behind
Perplexity Picks Differently
Not all AI is built the same. Perplexity, the growing LLM search assistant, leans toward structured data and technical domains. Its traffic patterns reflect that.
DeepSeek Favors Similarly
- Chinese Tencent gets an unsurprisingly high 1.6% of its traffic from DeepSeek
- IBM and Analog are in the top 5 in DeepSeek selection, too.
Traffic Journey: Google Feeds ChatGPT, But Gets Less Back
OpenAI’s traffic patterns show a subtle power shift:
- ChatGPT sends 5.5% of its outgoing traffic to Google.
- Google.com sends 4.5% back—down 33% month-over-month.
Google is evolving too—recently rolling out AI Mode in the U.S., a new experience where generative summaries replace traditional links for certain queries. While it marks a major shift in interface, early signs suggest it won’t replace traditional search entirely. Users still turn to classic results for direct answers and known destinations, pointing toward a more hybrid future.
Meanwhile, generative platforms like ChatGPT are still using Google’s data—but users aren’t looping back as often. They’re staying in the AI interface.
Meanwhile, generative platforms like ChatGPT are still using Google’s data—but users aren’t looping back as often. They’re staying in the AI interface.
ChatGPT Visits Over Time: Still Rising
Despite seasonal shifts, total visits have climbed steadily from 3.2B in November 2024 to 4.5B in April 2025. LLM search isn’t a trend. It’s a takeover.
What You Can Do — Semrush AI Optimization
Semrush now provides Semrush Enterprise AIO and AI SEO Toolkit for SMBs to help brands stay visible across LLM-powered discovery platforms:
- Review your AI brand visibility: Understand your brand's share in AI conversations and identify top priorities for improvement.
- Beat your competition in LLMs: Track how AI platforms present you vs. rivals and get tips to strengthen your position.
- Build a stronger business strategy: Understand how your customers feel and optimize your product and marketing strategy
Whether you're building awareness or driving conversions, your future users may never visit a traditional search engine. If you're not visible in AI, you're invisible.
