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Demandbase has released new data showing that AI assistants are becoming an increasingly important source of referral traffic and inbound leads for B2B companies, with ChatGPT driving the overwhelming majority of AI-generated referrals.
According to Labs by Demandbase, monthly website visits referred by ChatGPT increased from approximately 645,000 in June 2025 to 2.6 million in June 2026, representing a 303% increase in one year.
The sharpest acceleration occurred in May 2026, when ChatGPT referral volume more than doubled compared with previous months.
ChatGPT Leads AI Referral Growth
While AI-generated referrals are increasing, the growth is not evenly distributed across platforms.
ChatGPT is responsible for the vast majority of AI-referred B2B traffic measured by Demandbase. Meanwhile, referrals from Perplexity declined, while traffic from Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude remained relatively flat.
The trend highlights the growing role of generative AI in how B2B buyers discover and evaluate companies before visiting their websites.
“AI assistants are becoming an increasingly important way B2B buyers discover and evaluate companies,” said Rachel Truair, Chief Marketing Officer at Demandbase. “That makes it more important than ever for marketers to reinforce their brand across the channels they control—from advertising and content to sales engagement.”
AI Is Changing the B2B Buyer Journey
AI-assisted discovery can influence a buyer’s decision before they ever interact directly with a company’s website.
As a result, marketers are increasingly focused on maintaining consistent brand messaging across channels they can directly influence, including advertising, content and sales engagement.
Demandbase’s advertising data indicates that brands are already expanding their media strategies.
Between June 2025 and June 2026:
- CTV advertising spend increased 112%
- Display advertising spend increased 55%
- CTV’s share of total advertising investment increased from 1.53% to 2.08%
The findings are based on more than $123 million in media expenditures across 75,645 campaigns measured by Demandbase.
CTV and Display Gain Importance
The increase in CTV investment suggests that B2B marketers are placing greater emphasis on channels capable of building brand familiarity beyond traditional digital advertising.
As AI assistants increasingly influence discovery, marketers have less visibility into the conversations and recommendations happening inside those platforms. Maintaining a strong presence across advertising, content and sales channels can therefore help companies reinforce their positioning before and during the buying process.
Demandbase expects AI-generated referral traffic to become an increasingly important signal of buyer intent as AI-assisted purchasing continues to develop.
Research Based on 11 Billion Website Visits
The Labs by Demandbase analysis covers data collected between June 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026.
The research analyzed:
- More than 11 billion website visits
- 75,645 advertising campaigns
- More than $123 million in media expenditures
- Data from 1,584 Demandbase instances
Demandbase defines referral traffic as website visits arriving through links from external sources. In this analysis, AI referral traffic specifically refers to visits generated when users click links provided by AI assistants.
The findings reinforce a broader shift in B2B marketing: AI is becoming part of the discovery journey itself, making brand visibility, consistent messaging and diversified media strategies increasingly important for companies seeking to generate pipeline.
