What is the most popular AI chatbot?
Of the five ‘big players’ in the generative AI market, data published by Datos in December 2024 shows the extent to which ChatGPT has stolen a march on its competition.
Between January and November 2024, none of Perplexity, Claude, Copilot, or Gemini crossed the 5% threshold in a measure of the percentage of users visiting these services.
ChatGPT, in contrast, saw pretty steady growth throughout the year and in Q4, crossed above 20% penetration (for the sample audience Datos used).
How does it compare with Google?
New data published by Datos have looked at how ChatGPT usage compares with Google.
The new data cover the period between November 2024 and January 2025 and show that Google remains untroubled at the top of the pile.
Does this mean AI isn’t changing search?
Not necessarily; there are a few things we need to consider when it comes to the relationship between search and generative AI.
Gemini’s invisible reach
First is that although Gemini’s direct share of users is far behind that of ChatGPT, this doesn’t tell the whole story.
Gemini actually powers a number of tools and features within the Google ecosystem, one being Google Search’s AI Overviews feature.
This means that, whilst Datos’s report shows that direct access to Gemini is limited, access to it via Google is likely much higher.
Copilot’s invisible reach
The same is likely true for Copilot; Microsoft’s AI solution. There are no data to hand here, however considering Copilot’s integration into the Windows ecosystem, it’s fair to assume that audience exposure to Copilot is likely more significant than the Datos report suggests.
Why ChatGPT may be on course to eat share from Google
Google is ubiquitous in search because it is ‘sticky’… ChatGPT appears to be following a similar trajectory, albeit in its very early stages.
To date, there’s nothing to suggest that (A) Google is losing significant search market share, and (B) that ChatGPT is stealing any.
Despite that, I think the Datos report does highlight one very interesting finding; stickiness.
ChatGPT is ‘sticky’, and it is getting stickier.
Measuring a ratio of Daily Active Users (DAU) to Monthly Active Users (MAU), stickiness, in Datos’s own words “measures user engagement and retention by evaluating how frequently users return to a tool.”
The stickier a tool, the more often the audience returns to it. A sticky tool is something that an audience relies upon over time.
ChatGPT’s audience growth combined with a growing ‘stickiness factor’ is significant. It suggests that, whilst it isn’t ubiquitous yet, it’s certainly on the correct path.
Google is ubiquitous in search because it is ‘sticky’. Google isn’t the market leader just because a high percentage of people use it. It’s the market leader because a high percentage of people use it regularly.
So far, ChatGPT appears to be following a similar trajectory, albeit in its very early stages.
Where does ChatGPT send people?
The Datos report also sheds some light on where ChatGPT sends its audience when they follow a referral from the tool.
30% of ChatGPT’s referrals go to one of five websites: Amazon, Wikipedia, YouTube, GitHub, and Springer(.com).
Over 50% of ChatGPT’s referrals end up on a website that fits into one of three categories: news, academic, or e-commerce.
The top news-category referral destination is reuters.com, accounting for 2.75% of referral traffic.
The referral data available suggest that as things stand, ChatGPT is used as a research and reference tool.
The top Amazon category referred to is ‘electronics’. Electronics are typically expensive, occasional purchases that require careful consideration. This requires research.
WIkipedia, YouTube, and Springer.com (a publisher of journals) are (this is just a guess!) likely to be frequented by students who carry out research.
GitHub is a popular reference tool for programmers and developers.
None of these findings are particularly surprising, but they do validate some of the assumptions about ChatGPT, and generative AI at large; that these tools are used for research and reference purposes.
What does this mean for brands?
ChatGPT, despite any hype, hasn’t replaced Google yet. It is, however, a growing and (crucially) sticky tool.
ChatGPT, despite any hype, hasn’t replaced Google yet. It is however a growing and (crucially) sticky tool.
ChatGPT’s rivals are not to be dismissed as also-rans. Gemini is accessed far more often than is obvious because of Google’s growing use of AI Overviews.
ChatGPT (et al) do refer traffic to other sites, but the data so far suggest these referrals go to places where the audience can either:
- Fulfil a purchase
- Access more/the full information on a topic of interest
This is significant for a finance brand because it means that AI tools are likely to become an important way for your audience to access the data and research you publish.
Stepping back to classic search and SEO, we usually think of audience searches (keywords) in terms of categories:
- Commercial
- Informational
- Navigational
There’s nothing to suggest that ChatGPT is challenging Google for navigational searches, such as ‘How do I log into my XYZ pension account?’, however, informational searches are fair game.
Also, given the volume of referrals going to Amazon, commercial search is also up for grabs.
It’s early days, but what the data suggest to me is that if it requires a bit of research, AI is getting increasingly more likely to play at least some part in your audience's journey.
