Labs by Demandbase data shows generative AI is emerging as one of the fastest-growing sources of B2B referrals — raising the stakes for companies to control their message across a diversified media mix.
Demandbase, the pipeline engine for AI GTM, released new Labs by Demandbase (Labs) data showing that AI assistants have become a fast-growing source of referral traffic and inbound leads to B2B websites — driven overwhelmingly by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Referral visits from ChatGPT to the B2B web properties Demandbase measures grew nearly fourfold over the past year.
According to Demandbase’s customer platform data, monthly ChatGPT-referred visits rose from roughly 645,000 in June 2025 to 2.6 million in June 2026 — a 303% increase — with a sharp inflection in May 2026, when volume more than doubled versus prior months. But the growth is far from evenly distributed across AI platforms. ChatGPT is the clear driver, accounting for the overwhelming majority of AI-referred traffic, while referrals from Perplexity declined and Gemini and Claude remained flat.
Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Mark Listes, CEO @ Pendulum Intelligence
“AI assistants are becoming an increasingly important way B2B buyers discover and evaluate companies, but much of that activity happens before a buyer ever reaches a brand’s website,” 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—to build trust and deliver a consistent buyer experience.”
As AI-driven discovery creates a blind spot in the buyer’s journey, marketers are placing greater emphasis on the channels they can control to reinforce their message and build brand familiarity. Drawing on more than $123 million in media expenditures across 75,645 campaigns, Labs’ advertising data reflects this shift toward a more diversified media strategy. Between June 2025 and June 2026, CTV advertising spend on the Demandbase platform more than doubled (112%), while display advertising grew 55% over the same period. CTV’s share of overall advertising investment also increased from 1.53% to 2.08%, underscoring continued investment in channels that help brands reinforce their messaging and engage buyers across the customer journey.
Marketing Technology News: How MarTech Is Enabling Autonomous Brand Engagement Across Channels?
As AI-assisted buying continues to evolve, Demandbase expects AI-generated referral traffic to become an increasingly important indicator of buyer intent. Success will depend not only on measuring this emerging source of demand, but also on integrating AI-driven discovery into coordinated advertising, marketing and sales strategies that build brand familiarity and accelerate pipeline.
 data showing that AI assistants have become a fast-growing source of referral traffic and inbound leads to B2B websites — driven overwhelmingly by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.){kind=link}