When B2B technology buyers ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity to help them choose a supplier, about three quarters of the media the assistants cite are trade and specialist publications. TechTarget, CIO, ITPro and Computer Weekly come up most often, and sector titles such as FinTech Global and Supply Chain Digital follow close behind. We found this by analysing over 1.3 million citations in AI answers about 116 B2B technology brands for our report Earned media in the age of AI answers.
At a glance
- Media is a small share of what AI cites, at about one citation in every 25, and company websites make up most of the rest.
- Within that share, trade and specialist titles take 48% of citations, while national and business press take 31% and tech news the remaining 20%.
- On buying questions, three in four media citations go to trade and specialist titles, against about one in eight for the national press.
- More than 750 of the 900-plus media titles in the answers are trade or specialist publications.
- A trade article is typically about nine months old by the time an assistant cites it.
Why do trade publications count for so much in AI search?
We began this research expecting the big national titles to lead. Most PR plans put them at the top of the list, and we assumed the assistants would read the media in the same way. On most buying questions, the trade and specialist titles supplied the bulk of the media the assistants cited instead.
When a buyer asks an assistant which platforms to shortlist or how two products compare, it looks for pages that explain the category in detail. A national paper might mention a vendor once a year, whereas a trade title covers the category every week through product comparisons and buyer's guides, along with interviews and supplier rankings. That is the material an assistant needs to tell one product from another, and it is the material the assistant ends up citing.
Trade coverage also stays in use for longer than any other kind of media. Tech news tends to be cited within a few weeks of publication and national press within a couple of months. The typical trade article, by comparison, was about nine months old when an assistant cited it, and plenty were more than a year old.
Which trade publications does AI cite most for B2B tech?
These are the ten trade and specialist titles cited most often across every assistant and question in our data. The ten most-cited media titles of all kinds take only about a quarter of media citations between them, which means the long tail of smaller titles carries a great deal of weight.
- TechTarget runs a network of topic sites that publishes explainers and buyer's guides for enterprise IT teams, covering everything from security to storage.
- CIO covers strategy and technology news for IT leaders, with a strong focus on leadership.
- ITPro is a UK-based title that publishes news and analysis for IT decision-makers, along with product reviews.
- Computer Weekly, the long-running UK enterprise IT title, is strong on news analysis and buyer's guides.
- FinTech Global publishes news and research on fintech and its neighbouring markets, including regtech and insurtech.
- AI Magazine covers enterprise AI through news and executive interviews, and it publishes regular top 10 lists.
- Supply Chain Digital covers supply chain and procurement technology, with plenty of interviews and rankings.
- CRN publishes news and analysis for resellers and managed service providers across the IT channel.
- Sustainability Magazine covers corporate sustainability and ESG, including the software companies use to manage them.
- Automation Today reports on automation and robotics across industry and business.
The list reflects the markets we track, which lean towards enterprise software and fintech, as well as security and AI. We have left out two sector titles that ranked highly only because of that mix, and the most useful list for your own programme will come from the questions your buyers ask.
The full research, free
Our report shows which media AI cites for each kind of buyer question and how the assistants differ, as well as how long coverage keeps being cited. Download the free report, with no form to fill in.
Which trade titles does AI cite in each sector?
Below the top ten, the assistants draw on a long list of specialist titles. The lists that follow show the ones that came up most often in each area we track. They are a sensible starting point if you sell into one of these markets.
Enterprise IT and software
TechTarget, CIO, ITPro, Computer Weekly, CRN, Technology Magazine, CIO Dive, InfoWorld, Network World, eWeek and Datamation.
Cybersecurity
CSO Online, The Hacker News, SC World, Security Brief, Cyber Magazine, Help Net Security, SecurityWeek, BankInfoSecurity and Dark Reading.
Fintech and financial services
FinTech Global, FinTech Futures, Financial IT, FF News, PYMNTS, Funds Europe, Waters Technology, InvestmentNews and WealthManagement.com.
Data centres and cloud infrastructure
Data Centre Magazine, DatacenterDynamics, Data Centre Review, Data Center Knowledge, Fierce Network, DevOps.com and Cloud Native Now.
Supply chain and procurement
Supply Chain Digital, Procurement Magazine, DC Velocity and Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
Sustainability and ESG
Sustainability Magazine, ESG Today and ESG News.
AI and automation
AI Magazine, AI Business and Automation Today.
If you're looking for UK tech publications in particular, Computer Weekly, ITPro, Security Brief, Data Centre Review and FF News all feature alongside the big US titles.
What about tech news and the national press?
Both still play a part in AI answers. The most-cited tech news sites were TechCrunch, TechRadar, VentureBeat, SiliconANGLE and The Register, and the most-cited national and business titles were TIME, Forbes, Axios, Business Insider and The Guardian.
The national press comes into its own when the question is about the company itself. When someone asks about a company's leaders or its reputation, the national and business press supplies about two in three of the media citations. Those answers also draw on a much shorter list, in which a handful of big names do most of the work. For a B2B technology company, that makes national coverage most useful for reputation and leadership stories.
Do ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity read the same publications?
They differ more than we expected, and ChatGPT stands apart from the other two. It draws mostly on national and tech press, with 45% of its media citations going to national and business titles. Trade and specialist titles account for 58% of Gemini's media citations and 57% of Perplexity's.
ChatGPT and Gemini have only six titles in common among the 20 that each of them cites most, while ChatGPT and Perplexity share eight. If your buyers use more than one assistant, a plan built around one kind of coverage is likely to reach them on some assistants and miss them on others.
How should you use trade media in a PR plan for AI search?
Our reading of the data is that most B2B technology programmes should give trade titles a larger share of their time and budget than they do now. These are the changes we would make first.
- Build the media list from real questions by putting your buyers' questions to the assistants and building your target list from the titles they cite. The list will usually be longer and more specialist than a traditional tier-one list.
- Brief trade editors regularly, offering bylined articles and customer stories they can use, and stay in touch between announcements as well as around them.
- Give journalists the detail, because assistants tend to cite articles that explain how products compare and which systems they work with. Editors can only write those pieces if you give them specific evidence and numbers.
- Use the nationals for reputation, since questions about the company and its leaders are where national coverage appears most in AI answers. Aim those stories at the titles the assistants cite for reputation.
- Check what gets cited by tracking, alongside reach and readership, whether your coverage appears in AI answers and on which assistants it appears.
Media coverage is only part of what the assistants read. Our companion report on what AI reads before it recommends covers the company pages they cite, and what AI gets wrong about B2B tech brands looks at the mistakes they make. If you would like help with the media side, our B2B tech PR team runs programmes built around AI visibility.
Which titles does AI read for your category?
We'll put your buyers' questions to the main AI assistants and send you a short snapshot of the publications they cite, including whether your company appears in them. Get your free snapshot.
Questions people ask about trade publications and AI
What are trade publications?
Trade publications are magazines and websites written for people who work in a particular industry or role, such as IT leaders or procurement managers. They cover the products and suppliers in that field, and the issues that affect it, in far more depth than general news does.
Which trade publications does AI cite most for B2B tech?
In our analysis of over 1.3 million AI citations, the most-cited trade and specialist titles were TechTarget, CIO, ITPro and Computer Weekly, followed by FinTech Global, AI Magazine, Supply Chain Digital, CRN, Sustainability Magazine and Automation Today.
Does trade press coverage help you show up in ChatGPT?
It helps, because about three quarters of the media AI cites on buying questions are trade and specialist titles, and trade articles keep being cited for months. ChatGPT leans more on national and tech press than Gemini or Perplexity do, so a mix of coverage works best across the assistants.
Are national newspapers still worth pitching for B2B tech?
They are worth pitching for reputation, since the national and business press supplies about two in three of the media citations when someone asks an assistant about a company's leaders. Trade titles do most of the work on questions about which product to buy.
How do I find the trade titles AI reads for my category?
Put your buyers' questions to the main assistants and note the publications they cite, then repeat the exercise every month because the answers change. Tools such as Agentcy, the platform behind our research, run these checks at scale.
Source: Resonance, Earned media in the age of AI answers (2026). Over 1.3 million citations from almost 190,000 AI answers to buyer-style questions about 116 B2B technology brands, October 2025 to September 2026, collected with Agentcy, our AI visibility platform, and all figures are rounded.
