OpenAI's sudden shutdown of its Sora app and YouTube's sweeping purge of mass-produced AI channels signal a major turning point in video marketing. For small business owners, publishing raw, unvetted AI videos now poses a direct threat to brand credibility and AI search visibility.

According to new research from Similarweb, ChatGPT includes web citations in an average of just 6.8% of U.S. desktop answers, though link frequencies vary dramatically by industry. Travel and retail lead all categories with citation rates of 22.6% and 13.5%, respectively. Understanding these vertical attribution benchmarks is vital for local business owners building a competitive AI search visibility strategy.