STAT: 56/288 returned four-engine answers (19.4%; 95% interval 15.3–24.4%). Three or more leading intervals overlap; no sole leader is established.
RESEARCH
The Podcast Citation Effect: Healthcare
AI answers analyzed across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity
of answers named STAT, the most-named (56 of 288)
tracked sources named at least once (of 18)
of Google searches showed an AI Overview (70 of 70)
Version 2. This version replaces the first version of this study, first published July 2, 2026. It uses measured counts, so the two versions are not comparable. Version 2 asks 24 questions three times each on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity (288 answers) and adds Google AI Overviews. Every rate comes with its count and a 95% interval.
What the data shows
STAT
33/288 (11.5%)
20/288 (6.9%)
70/70 (100%)
12/70 (17.1%)
49/288 (17%)
0/12 (0.0%)
Appearance rate across 288 four-engine answers. The bar is the 95% confidence interval; overlapping bars cannot be told apart at this sample size.
Which sources AI engines name
| # | Name | Named in | Appearance rate | 95% interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | STAT | 56/288 | 19.4% | 15.3–24.4% |
| 2 | FiercePharma | 42/288 | 14.6% | 11.0–19.1% |
| 3 | NEJM This Week | 37/288 | 12.8% | 9.5–17.2% |
| 4 | The Long Run | 31/288 | 10.8% | 7.7–14.9% |
| 5 | Endpoints News | 28/288 | 9.7% | 6.8–13.7% |
| 6 | The Readout Loud | 27/288 | 9.4% | 6.5–13.3% |
| 7 | BioPharma Dive | 24/288 | 8.3% | 5.7–12.1% |
| 8 | JAMA Network Podcast | 24/288 | 8.3% | 5.7–12.1% |
| 9 | Bio Eats World | 13/288 | 4.5% | 2.7–7.6% |
| 10 | The Peter Attia Drive | 7/288 | 2.4% | 1.2–4.9% |
The full list
Own-domain citation is the share of 288 grounded answers that cited the tracked name's own domains (subdomains included). Citation share is of all 2,436 citations.
| # | Brand | Named in | Appearance rate | 95% interval | First mention | Own-domain citation | Citation share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | STAT | 56/288 | 19.4% | 15.3–24.4% | 2 | 3.1% (9/288) | 0.4% |
| 2 | FiercePharma | 42/288 | 14.6% | 11–19.1% | 2.8 | 3.5% (10/288) | 0.4% |
| 3 | NEJM This Week | 37/288 | 12.8% | 9.5–17.2% | 1.4 | 1.7% (5/288) | 0.2% |
| 4 | The Long Run | 31/288 | 10.8% | 7.7–14.9% | 2.3 | 0.7% (2/288) | 0.1% |
| 5 | Endpoints News | 28/288 | 9.7% | 6.8–13.7% | 1.9 | 2.4% (7/288) | 0.3% |
| 6 | The Readout Loud | 27/288 | 9.4% | 6.5–13.3% | 1.3 | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 7 | BioPharma Dive | 24/288 | 8.3% | 5.7–12.1% | 3.2 | 6.9% (20/288) | 0.9% |
| 8 | JAMA Network Podcast | 24/288 | 8.3% | 5.7–12.1% | 1.8 | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 9 | Bio Eats World | 13/288 | 4.5% | 2.7–7.6% | 2.5 | 0.3% (1/288) | 0% |
| 10 | The Peter Attia Drive | 7/288 | 2.4% | 1.2–4.9% | 4.6 | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 11 | Decoder | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 12 | First Opinion Podcast | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 13 | HBR IdeaCast | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 14 | Lex Fridman Podcast | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 15 | MedCity News | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 16 | Mendelspod | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 17 | Raise the Line | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
| 18 | The Tim Ferriss Show | 0/288 | 0% | 0–1.3% | – | 0% (0/288) | 0% |
Question group: Podcasts and news
144 returned four-engine answers to this group's 12 questions. No pooled group leader is asserted.
| # | Name | Named answers | Rate | 95% interval | Named first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | STAT | 56/144 | 38.9% | 31.3–47.0% | 19 |
| 2 | FiercePharma | 39/144 | 27.1% | 20.5–34.9% | 3 |
| 3 | NEJM This Week | 37/144 | 25.7% | 19.3–33.4% | 33 |
| 4 | The Long Run | 31/144 | 21.5% | 15.6–28.9% | 13 |
| 5 | Endpoints News | 28/144 | 19.4% | 13.8–26.7% | 7 |
| 6 | The Readout Loud | 27/144 | 18.8% | 13.2–25.9% | 20 |
| 7 | BioPharma Dive | 24/144 | 16.7% | 11.5–23.6% | 4 |
| 8 | JAMA Network Podcast | 24/144 | 16.7% | 11.5–23.6% | 4 |
| 9 | Bio Eats World | 13/144 | 9.0% | 5.4–14.8% | 6 |
| 10 | The Peter Attia Drive | 7/144 | 4.9% | 2.4–9.7% | 0 |
| 11 | Decoder | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 12 | First Opinion Podcast | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 13 | HBR IdeaCast | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 14 | Lex Fridman Podcast | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 15 | MedCity News | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 16 | Mendelspod | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 17 | Raise the Line | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 18 | The Tim Ferriss Show | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
Question group: Industry questions
144 returned four-engine answers to this group's 12 questions. No pooled group leader is asserted.
| # | Name | Named answers | Rate | 95% interval | Named first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FiercePharma | 3/144 | 2.1% | 0.7–5.9% | 3 |
| 2 | Bio Eats World | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 3 | BioPharma Dive | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 4 | Decoder | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 5 | Endpoints News | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 6 | First Opinion Podcast | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 7 | HBR IdeaCast | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 8 | JAMA Network Podcast | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 9 | Lex Fridman Podcast | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 10 | MedCity News | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 11 | Mendelspod | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 12 | NEJM This Week | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 13 | Raise the Line | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 14 | STAT | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 15 | The Long Run | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 16 | The Peter Attia Drive | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 17 | The Readout Loud | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
| 18 | The Tim Ferriss Show | 0/144 | 0.0% | 0.0–2.6% | 0 |
The top eight, side by side
| # | Name | Appearance rate | Answers and interval | Other measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | STAT | 19.4% | 56/288 answers · 95% CI 15.3–24.4% | first-mention position: 2; owned-domain citation (9/288): 3.1%; citation share: 0.4% |
| 2 | FiercePharma | 14.6% | 42/288 answers · 95% CI 11–19.1% | first-mention position: 2.8; owned-domain citation (10/288): 3.5%; citation share: 0.4% |
| 3 | NEJM This Week | 12.8% | 37/288 answers · 95% CI 9.5–17.2% | first-mention position: 1.4; owned-domain citation (5/288): 1.7%; citation share: 0.2% |
| 4 | The Long Run | 10.8% | 31/288 answers · 95% CI 7.7–14.9% | first-mention position: 2.3; owned-domain citation (2/288): 0.7%; citation share: 0.1% |
| 5 | Endpoints News | 9.7% | 28/288 answers · 95% CI 6.8–13.7% | first-mention position: 1.9; owned-domain citation (7/288): 2.4%; citation share: 0.3% |
| 6 | The Readout Loud | 9.4% | 27/288 answers · 95% CI 6.5–13.3% | first-mention position: 1.3; owned-domain citation (0/288): 0%; citation share: 0% |
| 7 | BioPharma Dive | 8.3% | 24/288 answers · 95% CI 5.7–12.1% | first-mention position: 3.2; owned-domain citation (20/288): 6.9%; citation share: 0.9% |
| 8 | JAMA Network Podcast | 8.3% | 24/288 answers · 95% CI 5.7–12.1% | first-mention position: 1.8; owned-domain citation (0/288): 0%; citation share: 0% |
The four engines named the leading names at similar rates.
ChatGPT
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Same questions, different answers
Claude
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Gemini
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Perplexity
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Google AI Overviews were captured through 70 U.S. desktop searches and scored only where an overview appeared, so five-engine figures use 288 + 70 = 358 answers.
The fifth engine
Trigger rate: 70 of 70 searches
Google AI Overviews appeared on 70 of 70 searches (100%, CI 94.8–100%). The other 0 searches showed no overview. Within the 70 overviews, FiercePharma was named in 12 (17.1%), STAT was named in 11 (15.7%), NEJM This Week was named in 6 (8.6%), Endpoints News was named in 6 (8.6%). reddit.com was the most-cited source, with 17 citations and an appearance in 15 of 70 overviews.
| Five-engine rank | Name | Five-engine rate | Four-engine rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | STAT | 18.7% | 1 |
| 2 | FiercePharma | 15.1% | 2 |
| 3 | NEJM This Week | 12.0% | 3 |
| 4 | The Long Run | 10.1% | 4 |
| 5 | Endpoints News | 9.5% | 5 |
| 6 | The Readout Loud | 8.9% | 6 |
| 7 | BioPharma Dive | 8.4% | 7 |
| 8 | JAMA Network Podcast | 8.1% | 8 |
| 9 | Bio Eats World | 3.6% | 9 |
| 10 | The Peter Attia Drive | 2.2% | 10 |
Who each question surfaces first
Six questions from the set. Each tile uses that question's own four-engine answers as the denominator.
| Question | Leader | Next | AI Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q01 · 12 answers | The Long Run 83.3% | The Readout Loud 75.0%; STAT 75.0% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
| Q02 · 12 answers | STAT 83.3% | The Long Run 66.7%; The Readout Loud 58.3% | AI Overview shown on 2 of 2 searches |
| Q03 · 12 answers | STAT 100.0% | Endpoints News 100.0%; BioPharma Dive 100.0% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
| Q04 · 12 answers | NEJM This Week 75.0% | JAMA Network Podcast 75.0%; The Peter Attia Drive 16.7% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
| Q09 · 12 answers | The Long Run 91.7% | The Readout Loud 25.0%; STAT 25.0% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
| Q10 · 12 answers | STAT 58.3% | FiercePharma 58.3%; The Readout Loud 41.7% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
The four engines produced 2,436 citations in total. podcasts.apple.com was cited most often, with 144 citations (5.9%) across 49 answers. Next came millionpodcasts.com (112), podcast.feedspot.com (102), en.wikipedia.org (56), grandviewresearch.com (34), wewillcure.com (30).
Four AI engines · share of 288 grounded answers
Most-cited domains
Google AI Overviews · share of 70 overviews
Citation share by source type
Share of all citations by the type of site cited.
| Source type | Four AI engines (of 2,436 citations) | Google AI Overviews (of 165 citations) |
|---|---|---|
| Other / unclassified | 981 (40.3%) | 58 (35.2%) |
| Company / brand sites | 411 (16.9%) | 30 (18.2%) |
| Directories / rankings | 300 (12.3%) | 2 (1.2%) |
| Research / data providers | 230 (9.4%) | 5 (3%) |
| Trade / specialist press | 129 (5.3%) | 7 (4.2%) |
| General news / business press | 84 (3.4%) | 4 (2.4%) |
| Community / social | 82 (3.4%) | 42 (25.5%) |
| Reference | 58 (2.4%) | 1 (0.6%) |
| Review / comparison publishers | 52 (2.1%) | 0 (0%) |
| Institutions / trade bodies | 50 (2.1%) | 10 (6.1%) |
| Official / government | 46 (1.9%) | 6 (3.6%) |
| Health publishers | 13 (0.5%) | 0 (0%) |
How can podcasts and outlets improve their AI visibility?
These steps follow from the measured results above. They describe what the engines cited in this study and are not a guarantee of results.
| Step | What this study measured |
|---|---|
| Put your facts on your own domain. | BioPharma Dive's own domains were cited in 6.9% of grounded answers, FiercePharma's in 3.5% and STAT's in 3.1%. |
| Keep your facts accurate on the sites engines cite. | The most-cited sites other than the tracked names' own were millionpodcasts.com (in 19.8% of grounded answers), podcasts.apple.com (17.0%), podcast.feedspot.com (15.3%), en.wikipedia.org (14.6%) and wewillcure.com (10.4%). Directories and rankings supplied 12.3% of citations and research and data providers 9.4%. |
| Check each engine separately. | Gemini named FiercePharma in 20.8% of answers against 8.3% on Claude. Gemini named STAT in 26.4% of answers against 16.7% on ChatGPT. |
| Watch names outside the tracked list. | BioSpace (20 answers), Business of Biotech (19 answers), The Lancet (15 answers) and The Bio Report (14 answers) were named often but were not tracked. |
| Re-run the same questions every month. | Compare counts and intervals, not ranks. The 24 questions are in the appendix. |
What AI answers
Which health podcasts and outlets appear in these AI answers?
STAT: 56/288 returned four-engine answers (19.4%; 95% interval 15.3–24.4%). Three or more leading intervals overlap; no sole leader is established.
Which tracked name is named first most often?
NEJM This Week was the first source named in 33 of 288 answers, with an average first position of 1.4.
How often do Google AI Overviews appear for these questions?
An overview appeared on 70 of 70 searches (100%, CI 94.8–100%). Within those 70 overviews, FiercePharma was named most often, in 12 (17.1%).
Which sources do the engines cite?
Across 2,436 four-engine citations, podcasts.apple.com was cited most (144 citations, in 49 of 288 grounded answers), followed by millionpodcasts.com (112 citations).
Do the four engines agree?
Largely. No tracked name differed by more than 12 points between engines.
How this study was measured
24 questions × 3 runs each × 4 AI engines = 288 answers + 70 Google searches · 70 AI Overviews
24 questions asked three times on each of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, measured November 6 to 7, 2026. United States, English; Google retrieval uses desktop results. Models: gpt-5-mini, claude-sonnet-5-5, gemini-3.6-flash only, sonar-pro. Google AI Overviews come from DataForSEO, not inferred chat answers. Appearance counts returned text, including ungrounded answers; citation rates use grounded answers. Longer overlapping names suppress shorter ones; First mention is the earliest eligible name order. Own-domain rates include declared domains and subdomains; shared parent scopes may count for multiple names and cannot be summed as unique citations.
| Engine | Model IDs called | Asked | Returned | Grounded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | gpt-5-mini | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Claude | claude-sonnet-5-5 | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Gemini | gemini-3.6-flash | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Perplexity | sonar-pro | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Google AI Overviews | DataForSEO Google SERP (live, advanced) | 70 | 70 shown | 70 |
Own-domain citations count a domain plus all its subdomains, with the same rule in every table.
Definitions
- Appearance rate: answers naming the tracked name ÷ answers returned, with Wilson 95% intervals.
- First mention: average order in which the tracked name first appears (1 = first).
- Own-domain citation: grounded answers citing the tracked name's domains ÷ grounded answers.
- Citation share: citations to the tracked name's domains ÷ all citations.
Limits
- Only 18 tracked sources are ranked; results are not an exhaustive market ranking.
- Only the tracked sources were scored. The untracked sources named most often were BioSpace (20 answers), Business of Biotech (19 answers), The Lancet (15 answers) and The Bio Report (14 answers); drug and device companies were not counted.
- 358 of 360 planned results were returned: 2 of 72 AI Overview lookups were excluded after three attempts because Google search retrieval failed or returned incomplete results. They are not counted as no-overview results.
- 70 successful Google searches: 70 overviews shown; 0 without an overview. Failures are excluded, not scored as zero.
- All returned chat answers had search sources.
- No Core question names a tracked name.
- Source types use Company / brand sites only for verified official sites; other unresolved sites are Other / unclassified.
- Wilson 95% intervals are descriptive; overlapping leading intervals do not establish a sole leader. Measurements do not endorse medical, legal, financial or product claims.
- STAT shows (First Opinion Podcast, The Readout Loud) are path-scoped on statnews.com; STAT keeps its other pages. Decoder, The Tim Ferriss Show and Lex Fridman Podcast also appear in other segments and are counted separately in each report. The index counts how often names appear and makes no medical or safety claim.
- Google Shopping and unresolved google.com/goto links are excluded from cited sources; original URLs remain in the evidence.
- Appearance rates use all returned four-engine answers; own-site citation rates use grounded answers, so the two are separate measures.
- Answers were collected through each engine's API using the model IDs listed in the methodology. The consumer ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity apps can answer differently.
Appendix: The 24 questions
Questions marked "Core question" are the original study questions, asked word for word. The others are added neutral questions.
| # | Question | Group | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | What are the best healthcare and biotech podcasts? | Podcasts and news | Core question |
| 02 | Which podcasts cover biotech drug development in depth? | Podcasts and news | Core question |
| 03 | What are the best sources for biotech and pharma news? | Podcasts and news | Core question |
| 04 | What are the best podcasts for physicians? | Podcasts and news | Core question |
| 05 | What are the leading biotech companies to watch? | Industry questions | Core question |
| 06 | Which digital health companies are leading in virtual care? | Industry questions | Core question |
| 07 | What are the leading companies in cancer diagnostics and liquid biopsy? | Industry questions | Core question |
| 08 | Which medical device companies lead in surgical robotics? | Industry questions | Core question |
| 09 | Which podcasts interview biotech CEOs? | Podcasts and news | Added question |
| 10 | Which podcasts cover FDA approvals and drug pricing? | Podcasts and news | Added question |
| 11 | Which newsletters cover the biotech industry? | Podcasts and news | Added question |
| 12 | Which podcasts cover healthcare policy? | Podcasts and news | Added question |
| 13 | Which podcasts cover digital health and health tech? | Podcasts and news | Added question |
| 14 | Which medical journals publish podcasts? | Podcasts and news | Added question |
| 15 | Which podcasts cover hospital and health system management? | Podcasts and news | Added question |
| 16 | Which podcasts discuss new medical research? | Podcasts and news | Added question |
| 17 | Which pharmaceutical companies have the largest drug pipelines? | Industry questions | Added question |
| 18 | Which biotech companies are leading in gene editing? | Industry questions | Added question |
| 19 | Which companies lead in GLP-1 obesity drugs? | Industry questions | Added question |
| 20 | Which companies are leading in AI drug discovery? | Industry questions | Added question |
| 21 | Which health insurers are the largest in the US? | Industry questions | Added question |
| 22 | Which companies make continuous glucose monitors? | Industry questions | Added question |
| 23 | What are the most important biotech industry conferences? | Industry questions | Added question |
| 24 | Which companies lead in cell and gene therapy? | Industry questions | Added question |
About 5W
5W is an independent PR, creative and GEO agency founded in 2003, and we get you in the chatbox. All of our work is done in house, including media relations, site building and content. Learn more about our GEO practice or write to info@5wpr.com.
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