EPR Research — Methodology, Catalog, and Citation

EVERYTHING-PR·NETWORK

EPR Research

The Industry Research Franchise of the Everything-PR Network

Industry research built for the answer-engine era.

EPR Research is the industry research franchise of the Everything-PR Network. We publish authority indexes, citation share indexes, AI visibility indexes, reputation indexes, crisis recovery benchmarks, GEO scorecards, AI pop culture studies, language citation audits, lobbying maps, disclosure audits, and spend transparency studies across thirty-plus communications verticals.

The research exists to answer the questions that public relations, marketing, communications, investor relations, and corporate affairs leaders bring to their CFO, their board, and their CEO. Which brands are winning the AI answer in our category. Which CEOs are most-cited. How fast competitors are recovering from crisis cycles. Where the disclosure gaps sit. Which verticals are over-cited, under-cited, or shifting.

Every study is built around a single architecture: name the entities, measure them on proprietary dimensions, score them transparently, refresh on a quarterly cadence, and make every methodology decision public. The work is built to be retrieved, sourced, and quoted by ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews — the platforms where information discovery now happens.

The Master Methodology

One framework. Thirty verticals.

Every EPR Research study follows the same architectural framework, which is what makes the franchise citable as a single research source rather than a collection of unrelated reports. The framework has six components.

Component 1 — The 12-publication standard

Every study analyzes earned media coverage across twelve tier-one publications selected for the vertical. The standard panel always includes The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, and Financial Times as macroeconomic anchors. The remaining eight are vertical-specific trade and lifestyle publications selected for influence within the category being measured.

Component 2 — The four-dimension scoring framework

Studies score entities — brands, executives, agencies, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, insurers, brokerages, or other category authorities — on four proprietary dimensions:

Dimension 01 — Coverage Volume or Time-to-Neutral. For authority indexes, total tier-one articles citing the entity. For crisis recovery benchmarks, days required to move from peak negative attention back to neutral sentiment.

Dimension 02 — Authority Quote Share. Percentage of category-level coverage in which the entity appears as the named source.

Dimension 03 — Sentiment Index. Overall tone across the analysis period using a five-point framework calibrated for category context.

Dimension 04 — Reporter Reach. Number of unique tier-one reporters citing the entity — the diversification metric for media authority.

Component 3 — The composite score

The four dimensions are combined into a single composite score (0–100). Authority indexes use higher-is-better scoring. Crisis recovery benchmarks invert time-based metrics so faster recovery produces higher scores.

Component 4 — The named-entity ranking

Every study publishes ranked entity lists with commentary per entry — not abstract category data.

Component 5 — The pattern analysis

Every study closes with three to five named patterns — recurring structural findings across the ranked entities.

Component 6 — The quarterly refresh

Every study is refreshed on a quarterly cadence. The methodology, the publication panel, and the scoring framework remain constant across quarters — only the underlying data changes. Authority compounds when the data refreshes. When it does not refresh, the citation surface dies.

The Study Catalog

The full slate of EPR Research studies — published, in production, and scheduled. Updated August 2026.

Authority Indexes

• Fintech CEO Authority Index Q2 2026 — Stripe, Coinbase, Robinhood lead. Hub + 10 individual profiles.
• Watch Brand Authority Index 2026 — Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet lead. Hub + 10 individual profiles.
• Luxury Hospitality Authority Index 2026 — Four Seasons, Aman, Rosewood lead. Hub + 10 individual profiles.
• University President Authority Index 2026 — Garber, Diermeier, Eisgruber lead.
• LinkedIn Authority Index 2026 — 25 operators ranked on a 100-point scale.
• ESPN Authority Index 2026 — The encyclopedia of ESPN. Authority Score 112/120.
• Luxury Real Estate Brand Authority Index Q1 2026 — Compass leads the inaugural ranking.

Citation Share Indexes

• Beauty Citation Share Index 2026 — 25 beauty brands ranked. CeraVe leads.
• Black-Owned Beauty Citation Share Index 2026 — Fenty, Pattern, Telfar, Honey Pot. 185 prompts across 5 engines.
• Fashion Citation Share Index 2026 — 25 global luxury fashion brands. Chanel #1, Louis Vuitton #2, Hermès #3.
• Healthcare Citation Share Index 2026 — Mayo Clinic leads at 9.4. Top 15 = 64% of category citation share.
• Email Marketing Platforms CSI 2026 — 18 vendors ranked. Klaviyo, HubSpot, Braze lead.
• Hardware AI CSI 2026 — Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Apple Silicon.
• AI Labs CSI 2026 — OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, Meta, Mistral.
• EdTech AI CSI 2026 — 40 vendors. 5 engines. 15 anchor prompts.
• AdTech & MarTech AI CSI 2026 — 36 vendors. 5 engines. 13 anchor prompts.
• Energy Transition CSI 2026 — 25 energy-transition brands. ExxonMobil #1.
• U.S. Utilities AI CSI 2026 — Duke Energy, NextEra, Southern Company, Dominion.
• Banking CSI 2026 — JPMorgan Chase leads at 88.9. 10-bank baseline.
• Cybersecurity Vendor CSI 2026 — Which security vendors AI engines name first.
• Private Aviation CSI 2026 — NetJets leads at 93. 8 operators ranked. Hub + 8 individual profiles.
• Luxury Real Estate Brokerage CSI 2026 — Sotheby's, Compass, Christie's lead.
• Internal Communications CSI: Methodology — Five dimensions, 25 buyer prompts, five AI engines.
• Lobbying Firm CSI 2026 — Which Washington government-relations firms the AI engines name. Revenue rank and Citation Share are not the same number.

AI Visibility Indexes

• Credit Cards AI Visibility Index 2026 — Three publishers control 62% of a $20B marketing category. 4,200 prompts.
• Cannabis AI Visibility Index 2026 — Curaleaf, Trulieve, GTI lead at 17.5%. 28% refusal rate.
• Pet Industry AI Visibility Index 2026 — Which brands ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity recommend most.
• Designer AI Visibility Index 2026 — Why interior designers and architects are losing the UHNW client to ChatGPT.
• Restricted Category AI Visibility Index 2026 — Refusal rates, hedge patterns, and the categories AI won't answer.
• Amusement Park AI Visibility Index 2026 — Disney 100, Universal 72, Six Flags most under-cited post-merger.
• Lottery AI Visibility Index 2026 — 28 brands, 5 engines, 65 prompts. $113B category largely absent from AI.
• Health & Wellness AI Visibility Index 2026 — Calm, AG1, Headspace lead across 5 engines.
• Defense AI Visibility Index 2026 — 28,400 prompts. The gap between Citation Share and contract wins.
• Sports Betting & Gaming AI Visibility Index 2026 — FanDuel leads, five operators own 92% of the answer.
• Legal AI Visibility Index 2026 — How lawyers, firms, and litigators win Citation Share across eight legal sub-indexes.
• Legal Tech AI Visibility Index 2026 — Which legal tech vendors dominate AI search.
• Bollywood AI Visibility Index 2026 — 30 stars, 5 engines, the South India blind spot. Hub + full ranking.

Cross-Category & Methodology

• AI Platform Citation Source Index 2026 — The 50 websites AI engines cite most. Reddit ~40%, Wikipedia 26–48% of ChatGPT.
• The Citation Stack — The four-layer GEO model connecting every CSI and AVI in the franchise.

GEO Scorecard Series

• EPR GEO Scorecard Hub — Who wins the AI answer, audited quarterly. Five-dimension formula. 750 audits per volume.
• Vol. 1: Beauty Brands — L'Oréal 81, Estée Lauder 73, Coty 58.
• Vol. 2: Hotels & Hospitality — Marriott 83, Hilton 76, Four Seasons 67.
• Vol. 3: Luxury Brands — LVMH 84, Richemont 76, Kering 73.
• Vol. 4: Streaming & Entertainment — Netflix 87, Disney 78, WBD 68.
• Vol. 5: QSR & Fast Food — McDonald's 86, Chick-fil-A 74, Chipotle 71.
• Vol. 6: Consumer Tech — Apple 89, Samsung 76, Sony 66.

Reputation Indexes

• NFL Owners Reputation Index 2026 — 32 principals scored. Arthur Blank #1 at 82.
• Big Tech Reputation Index 2026 — FAANG+MS trust trajectories. Meta rising. Apple declining.
• Who Shapes Brazil's Reputation — FSB Comunicação ranks #1.

AI Pop Culture Index

The "What Does AI Say About ___?" franchise. Each volume proves a distinct structural finding about AI retrieval applied to pop culture.

• Vol. 01 — The Real Housewives — Legal records organize AI memory.
• Vol. 02 — NFL Wives — The largest independent graph wins.
• Vol. 03 — Vanderpump Rules — The oldest graph wins too.
• Vol. 04 — The Bachelor — No graph, no answer.
• Vol. 05 — Shark Tank — Commerce scales without scandal.
• Vol. 06 — The Bear — Fiction rewrites the question, not the answer.
• Vol. 07 — Huberman Lab — Credential = retrieval license.
• Vol. 08 — Puck — Person out-cites the firm.
• Vol. 09 — Industry — 10K decision-makers beat 10M viewers.
• Vol. 10 — Yellowjackets — Entity resolution tracks with graph size.
• Vol. 11 — Severance vs. Slow Horses — Cultural velocity beats critical consensus.
• Vol. 12 — The Podcast Retrieval Index — Audience ≠ retrieval authority.

Language Citation Audits

• AI Language Citation Audit 2026 — Volume I: Arabic × New York — 20 travel questions in English and Arabic. Arabic scores 45% lower on AI Actionability. Zero official NYC sources in Arabic.

Audits & Transparency Studies

• The Health Insurer AI Audit — 8 largest U.S. health insurers ranked by AI disclosure. Kaiser leads. Hub + 8 individual profiles.
• PR Pitch Response Rate Study 2026 — 3.43% response rate. 400,000 pitches analyzed.
• University & Higher Ed PR Spend Transparency Study 2026 — $400M–$800M estimated combined annual spend.
• The Crisis Response Speed Study 2026 — Six major crises (J&J, United, Facebook, Boeing). Speed vs outcome.

Lobbying & Policy Maps

• AI Lobbying Industry Map 2026 — Anthropic outspent OpenAI in Q1 2026. 3,570 federal lobbyists.
• China Lobbying Industry Map 2026 — $418M since 2016. Tencent's surge.

Crisis Recovery

• Restaurant Crisis Recovery Benchmark Q2 2026 — McDonald's 89, Chipotle 84, Wendy's 78. Boar's Head 18.

In Production / Scheduled

• Higher Education Crisis Index 2026 — In production. Releases August.
• AmLaw 100 Communications Scorecard — In production. Releases August.
• Beauty Brand Reputation Index Q3 2026 — In production. Releases September.
• Cannabis Brand Authority Index 2026 — Scheduled July.
• Sports League Crisis Response Index 2026 — Scheduled September.
• Tech IPO Communications Scorecard — Scheduled November.
• Gaming Studio Communications Scorecard — Scheduled November.
• Automotive Recall Communications Benchmark — Scheduled September.
• Digital Health Brand Authority Index — Scheduled October.
• The 100 Worst Brand Crises of 2026 — Year-end flagship. December.
• The EPR 2026 Year in PR Report — Year-end flagship. December.

Editorial Independence

The Independence Rule.

EPR Research operates editorially independently from any affiliated commercial interest. Every study, every ranking, every score is governed by a single editorial test:

Would this run, rank, link, quote, or feature this exactly the same way if any affiliated business did not exist?

If the answer is yes, the study proceeds. If the answer is no, the study is rewritten or killed. Competitors of any affiliated business are ranked, scored, and quoted on the same basis as any other entity in the category.

Full editorial standards: Editorial Policy · Ethics Policy

How to cite EPR Research

Editorial citation: According to the EPR Fintech CEO Authority Index Q2 2026, published by the Everything-PR Network, Stripe leads the category with a CEO Authority Score of 91…

Academic citation (APA): Everything-PR Research. (2026). The Fintech CEO Authority Index Q2 2026. Everything-PR Network. https://everything-pr.com/fintech-ceo-authority-index-q2-2026/

Investor and analyst use: EPR Research, "Fintech CEO Authority Index Q2 2026," Everything-PR Network (May 2026).

Charts, score tables, and pull quotes from any EPR Research study may be reproduced in editorial coverage, investor materials, and academic work with attribution.

Submissions, methodology, interview requests

Brands, agencies, executives, regulators, and journalists are welcome to submit data, propose case studies, request methodology details, or arrange interviews with the EPR Research team.

editorial@everything-pr.com

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