If your goal is to appear in AI answers, you may be pitching the wrong media. It turns out that the reporters we think are important is very different to the reporters AI is actually citing.
Humans prioritise prestige
The general public and public relations professionals have traditionally valued and prioritised prestige over expertise. We chased coverage in well-known mastheads, in trusted public broadcasters, or by widely-followed commentators.
Experienced media managers spent months and even years cultivating relationships with contacts at prized media outlets to increase the chances of favorable coverage.
That may be effort well spent if coverage in those outlets is the goal, but if your goal is to increase your authority in AI agents and have your content appearing in AI answers, you might be prioritising the wrong reporters.
That’s because AI prioritises expertise, not prestige.
AI prioritises expertise
A recent article in Fast Company covered the growing body of research on AI visibility and authority of different news sources.
Perhaps the most striking finding is that AI favours topical authority and expertise over general authority. That is, it favours expert coverage in an industry outlet over the generalist reporter in a prestigious outlet. Even if the former isn’t very well-known and the later is a household name.
AI prioritises expertise over prestige.
The difference is significant. A Muck Rack study compared the reporters most pitched to with those most cited by AI engines and found an average overlap of just 2%.
To underline the importance of that gap, consider that 82% of AI citations come from earned media. That’s most of the 94% of citations that come from non-paid sources.
In other words, most AI citations come from earned media, but not the media that most people are pitching to.
What this means for you
There may still be a point to chasing coverage by reporters in prestige media, especially if you’re trying to influence the audience following it. But if you’re chasing coverage to improve your authority and visibility in AI answers, you should be focusing on coverage by experts in industry outlets more frequently cited by AI.
Getting covered in a national news source might keep your CEO and board happy, but it’s not helping your visibility in AI answers to questions your audience is asking.
Before your next round of pitching ask an AI assistant about your organisation and what it does, the way a funder, member, or customer might. Note which sources it names, and which ones it ignores. Then compare that list with the one you’ve been working from and close the gaps.
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