Weekly index · week 3 edition

Reddit in AI search: week 3

How much each AI model cites Reddit in its answers, week by week, and where that presence is changing.

This is the week 3 edition, kept as published. See the current edition →

Week 3 · Published ← Week 2 Week 4 →

In short

In week 3, Perplexity was the model that cited Reddit most, in 48.5% of answers, followed by Grok (41.7%). Significant change from the previous week: Perplexity (+9.6 pp), Grok (−2.5 pp), Google AI Overviews (+2.0 pp), Google AI Mode (+1.9 pp), ChatGPT (−1.2 pp).

In week 3, by model

Share of answers citing Reddit and change from week 2.

Perplexity 48.5% ↑ +9.6 pp vs. W2 Significant
Grok 41.7% ↓ −2.5 pp vs. W2 Significant
ChatGPT 20.3% ↓ −1.2 pp vs. W2 Significant
Google AI Overviews 16.2% ↑ +2.0 pp vs. W2 Significant
Google AI Mode 11.1% ↑ +1.9 pp vs. W2 Significant
Copilot 0.2% ↑ +0.1 pp vs. W2 Within noise
Gemini 0.1% → 0.0 pp vs. W2 Within noise

Timeline

Weekly presence since week 1. Each panel has its own scale; compare the shape of the curves, not heights across panels. Hollow circles mark weeks with a reduced base; blue markers are events, click to see them.

Google AI Overviews16.2%
scale 0–20%
W1W2W3 Google AI Overviews presence: from 12.3% in W1 to 16.2% in W3.
Google AI Mode11.1%
scale 0–15%
W1W2W3 Google AI Mode presence: from 9.4% in W1 to 11.1% in W3.
Grok41.7%
scale 0–50%
W1W2W3 Grok presence: from 41.6% in W1 to 41.7% in W3.
Gemini0.1%
scale 0–5%
W1W2W3 Gemini presence: from 0.1% in W1 to 0.1% in W3.
Perplexity48.5%
scale 0–50%
W1W2W3 Perplexity presence: from 36.8% in W1 to 48.5% in W3.
ChatGPT20.3%
scale 0–25%
W1W2W3 ChatGPT presence: from 21.1% in W1 to 20.3% in W3.
Copilot0.2%
scale 0–5%
W1W2W3 Copilot presence: from 0.0% in W1 to 0.2% in W3.
Reddit presence by model, weeks 1 to 3 of 2026. Source: data observed and catalogued by First Answer.

All weeks

Week 3 ranking

ModelPresenceWeek change4-week avg.Since W1Change
1. Perplexity 48.5% ↑ +9.6 pp 41.4% ↑ +11.6 pp Significant
2. Grok 41.7% ↓ −2.5 pp 42.5% ↑ +0.1 pp Significant
3. ChatGPT 20.3% ↓ −1.2 pp 21.0% ↓ −0.8 pp Significant
4. Google AI Overviews 16.2% ↑ +2.0 pp 14.2% ↑ +3.9 pp Significant
5. Google AI Mode 11.1% ↑ +1.9 pp 9.9% ↑ +1.6 pp Significant
6. Copilot 0.2% ↑ +0.1 pp 0.1% ↑ +0.2 pp Within noise
7. Gemini 0.1% → 0.0 pp 0.1% → 0.0 pp Within noise

Presence: share of the model's answers that cite reddit.com among their sources. Changes in percentage points (pp).

Events

Large changes in the series and what is known about them. We only log explanations with a source; when there is none, we say so.

No events logged up to this week.

Method, in short

Source: data observed and catalogued by First Answer. Each week, we measure by model the share of answers that cite reddit.com among their sources and compare it with the previous week. A change is flagged as significant only when it exceeds the 95% margin and is at least 1 pp. Weeks with a smaller-than-usual base are flagged and left out of the comparison.

Limitations

The index measures what First Answer's base observes, not every search made on the models. We do not disclose volumes, questions, topics, categories, brands or clients; only aggregate measures by model. Claude is not included in this series. Explanations under Events come from external sources and state how confirmed they are.

How to cite

Beckmann, R. (2026). Reddit in AI search: weekly index (week 3, Jan 12–18, 2026). First Answer. https://rodrigobeckmann.com/en/research/indices/reddit-in-ai-search/2026-w03