--- title: "ChatGPT News Citations: OpenAI Partners Cited 2.2x as Often" url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-cites-news-partners description: "ChatGPT news citations favor OpenAI's partners: publishers with content deals get 24.3%, 2.2 times their 11.2% share of Google News. Read the study." lang: en --- Share Share on X: https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fchatgpt-cites-news-partners&text=ChatGPT%20Cites%20OpenAI%27s%20News%20Partners%202.2x%20as%20Often%20as%20Google%20News%20Does Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fchatgpt-cites-news-partners Share on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fchatgpt-cites-news-partners Share on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fchatgpt-cites-news-partners&title=ChatGPT%20Cites%20OpenAI%27s%20News%20Partners%202.2x%20as%20Often%20as%20Google%20News%20Does Publishers with announced OpenAI content deals receive **24.3%** of ChatGPT's citations when it answers news questions, 2.2 times their 11.2% share of Google News results for the same questions. Analysis of 1,556 ChatGPT news answers and 2,000 Google News result pages · ChatGPT answers and Google News results, September 2026 ## Key Findings 1. 1. Publishers with OpenAI content deals receive **24.3%** of ChatGPT's news citations, 2.2 times their 11.2% share of Google News results. Copy stat 2. 2. OpenAI's news partners make up **11.2%** of Google News results for news questions, about one in nine, but almost one in four of ChatGPT's news citations. Copy stat 3. 3. AP News is the OpenAI partner ChatGPT cites most, in **165** news answers, followed by the Guardian (87) and People (50). Copy stat 4. 4. Reuters, which is not on the list of announced OpenAI partners, is ChatGPT's most-cited news outlet, in **250** news answers. Copy stat 5. 5. Some OpenAI partners are cited far less often: the Washington Post appears in **25** ChatGPT news answers, the Wall Street Journal in 17 and Axios in 16. Copy stat ## Summary Ask ChatGPT what happened in the news today and the answer comes with a short list of sources. Look closely and a pattern appears: AP News, the Guardian, People, the Washington Post. These are publishers that have announced content deals with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and they turn up far more often than their weight in ordinary news results would suggest. For publishers, a citation in an AI answer is a link in front of a reader who may never open a news site directly. For PR and communications teams, the outlets ChatGPT cites decide which coverage reaches the people asking it about a company or an event. Knowing where its citations go tells both groups where coverage travels furthest. The gap is large. OpenAI's partners hold **24.3%** of ChatGPT's news citations, against 11.2% of Google News results, 2.2 times their share. The data shows where the citations go, not why: the single most-cited outlet, Reuters, has no announced deal. ## What we measured On September 23, 2026 we asked ChatGPT 1,000 news questions, twice each and six hours apart, giving 1,556 answers. We ran the same questions through Google News, collecting 2,000 result pages, to measure how often each publisher appears in ordinary news results. A news citation is a source link in a ChatGPT answer that points to a news outlet, meaning a publisher that appears in those Google News results. A partner is an outlet owned by a publisher with an announced OpenAI content deal. The Google News share is the baseline: if partners get 11.2% of Google News results and 24.3% of ChatGPT's news citations, ChatGPT cites them 2.2 times as often as the news itself would predict. ## ChatGPT gives OpenAI's partners more than twice their Google News share 24.3% of ChatGPT's news citations go to publishers with OpenAI content deals. Partner outlets make up 11.2% of Google News results, about one in nine. In ChatGPT's news answers they make up almost one in four citations, 2.2 times as many. For a reader, that means a ChatGPT news answer is far more likely to send them to a partner publisher than a Google News page on the same question. Share of news citations going to OpenAI partners by source ChatGPT 24.3% Google News results 11.2% Source: Suff Digital analysis of 1,556 ChatGPT news answers and 2,000 Google News result pages · ChatGPT answers and Google News results, September 2026 ## AP News leads the OpenAI partners in ChatGPT AP News is the partner ChatGPT cites most, in 165 news answers, followed by the Guardian (87), People (50) and Entertainment Weekly (33). The Washington Post (25), the Wall Street Journal (17) and Axios (16) come next. ChatGPT news answers by partner outlet apnews.com 165 theguardian.com 87 people.com 50 ew.com 33 washingtonpost.com 25 wsj.com 17 axios.com 16 businessinsider.com 7 ft.com 5 time.com 5 The partner list is uneven. AP News appears in almost as many answers as the Guardian, People and Entertainment Weekly combined, while Business Insider, the Financial Times and Time turn up in a handful of answers each. A content deal puts a publisher on the list; it does not put every partner at the top. ## Reuters has no announced deal and leads ChatGPT anyway 250 ChatGPT news answers cite Reuters, more than any other news outlet. A deal is not the only route into ChatGPT's answers. Reuters, which is not on the list of announced OpenAI partners, is ChatGPT's most-cited news outlet overall, in 250 answers, well ahead of AP News at 165. For a publicist, a Reuters story can reach ChatGPT users as readily as coverage in any partner outlet. ## What this means for publishers and communications teams If you pitch news, treat the outlets ChatGPT cites most as a priority list: AP News, Reuters, the Guardian and CBS News all appear often. A story placed there is more likely to reach the people who ask ChatGPT about your company, product or sector than the same story in an outlet it rarely cites. Check each AI engine separately, because each keeps its own list of favorite outlets, and a campaign aimed at several engines needs a spread of outlets. Publishers weighing a content deal should note how far partner citations sit above the Google News baseline. Our media relations services (https://www.suffdigital.com/services/digital-pr/media-outreach) start from the outlets each AI engine cites for your topic, so your PR effort goes where the citations are. ## Embed this research Paste this on your site to embed the charts. 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Source: ChatGPT Cites OpenAI's News Partners 2.2x as Often as Google News Does - Suff Digital

## Cite this study APA Suff Digital. (2026). ChatGPT Cites OpenAI's News Partners 2.2x as Often as Google News Does. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-cites-news-partners Plain link ChatGPT Cites OpenAI's News Partners 2.2x as Often as Google News Does - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-cites-news-partners ## Frequently asked questions ### Does ChatGPT favor OpenAI's news partners? ### Which OpenAI news partner does ChatGPT cite most? ### Which news outlet does ChatGPT cite most overall? ### Which other OpenAI partners does ChatGPT cite? ## Related studies - AI SEO Reuters Is AI's Most-Cited News Source, in 328 AI News Answers: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/most-cited-news-outlets-ai - AI SEO Paywalls in AI: Paywalled Outlets Are Cited in 16.7% of AI News Answers: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/paywalled-outlets-ai-news-answers - AI SEO 47% of Top News Sites Block ChatGPT's Training Crawler vs 17.6% of All News Sites: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/news-sites-block-gptbot - AI SEO YouTube Tops AI Citations: Google's AI Cites It 6,894 Times vs 5 for ChatGPT: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/top-cited-websites-in-ai ## Structured data ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization", "name": "Suff Digital", "alternateName": "Suff Digital Marketing", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "contentUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "caption": "Suff Digital" }, "image": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo" }, "description": "Suff Digital is a full-stack digital marketing agency that turns websites into predictable revenue engines, SEO, paid media, content, CRO, and web design built around revenue, not vanity metrics.", "slogan": "Digital 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Reuters is not on the list of announced OpenAI content partners." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which other OpenAI partners does ChatGPT cite?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "After AP News, the Guardian and People, ChatGPT cites Entertainment Weekly in 33 news answers, the Washington Post in 25, the Wall Street Journal in 17 and Axios in 16." } } ] } ] } ] ```