Google’s AI Overviews leaned on YouTube nearly 30 percent of the time, which actually made it the top domain overall, above text-heavy authorities like Mayo Clinic or Investopedia. Google’s AI Mode had YouTube at about 16 percent, again more than any other site. Even Perplexity and ChatGPT, which don’t have ties to Google, still pulled from YouTube far more than anywhere else. ChatGPT’s share looks tiny, about 0.2 percent, but it doubled week over week in the study period, so it’s starting to climb.
The contrast with rivals is stark. Vimeo and TikTok barely showed up, around a tenth of a percent each. Twitch and Dailymotion didn’t register at all. On average, YouTube held a 20 percent share, which gave it a 200-to-1 advantage over its nearest competitor.
BrightEdge also looked at what kind of questions trigger YouTube results. Tutorials, medical “how-to” guides, product demos, reviews, and deal hunting were common. Things like career advice or abstract financial concepts rarely brought up video links. That suggests engines are using video as supporting material rather than as the main source of information.
For brands, the message is blunt. If you don’t have content on YouTube, you’ll probably be missing in AI search results. The study tracked patterns across Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, and ChatGPT between May 2024 and September 2025, and YouTube was present in all of them. Other platforms weren’t.
Notes: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools.
Read next: Deleting Sora Could Mean Losing ChatGPT: Users Alarmed at OpenAI’s Policy[2]
References
- ^ BrightEdge (videos.brightedge.com)
- ^ Deleting Sora Could Mean Losing ChatGPT: Users Alarmed at OpenAI’s Policy (www.digitalinformationworld.com)