A new analysis by 5W finds that 5W Public Relations is the PR firm AI engines name most often. In October 2026, 5W appeared in 30.3% of brand-naming AI answers across six platforms, ahead of Edelman at 21.2% and Weber Shandwick at 10.6%. The analysis used Profound's tools across 396 unbranded prompts and 140,195 executions.
What did the analysis find?
The analysis found that 5W leads on visibility, share of voice and most PR topics, and it offers a useful snapshot of how AI engines see the PR industry.
- 30.3% visibility for 5W, with the highest share of voice (4.9%) of any firm.
- #1 on five of six platforms. Edelman edges 5W on Microsoft Copilot, 28.1% to 27.9%.
- #1 in 27 of 31 PR topics, with Edelman the closest competitor in 24 of them.
- No prompt named a firm, so AI engines recommended firms unprompted.
The result arrives as PR teams everywhere ask how to show up in AI answers.
What did the analysis measure?
It measured how often AI engines name a PR firm when a buyer asks a PR question. Data came from Profound's Answer Engine Insights for October 1 to 30, 2026 (ET), and 5W analyzed it using Profound's tools.
| Detail | Value |
|---|
| Prompts | 396 visibility prompts across all PR topics, none naming a firm |
| Executions | 140,195 in the window |
| Platforms | ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity |
| Entities detected | 30,815. AI assistants, search engines, social and media sites, and software were removed from firm rankings. |
| Excluded prompts | 155 sentiment and accuracy prompts, including 98 that name 5W |
Table 1: Study design. Source: 5W analysis using Profound's tools, October 1 to 30, 2026.
Three metrics are used. Visibility score is the share of brand-naming answers that name the firm, averaged per platform with equal weight. Share of voice is the firm's mentions divided by all brand mentions detected, also averaged per platform. Average position is the mean best mention rank when a firm is named, where lower is better. Answers that name no brand are not counted in the visibility denominator.
Which PR firms do AI engines name most often?
5W ranks first among the 15 firms measured, with a visibility score 1.4 times Edelman's.
| Rank | Firm | Visibility | Share of voice | Avg. position |
|---|
| 1 | 5W Public Relations | 30.3% | 4.9% | 3.29 |
| 2 | Edelman | 21.2% | 3.3% | 3.30 |
| 3 | Weber Shandwick | 10.6% | 1.7% | 3.80 |
| 4 | FINN Partners | 6.5% | 1.0% | 4.38 |
| 5 | Crackle PR | 4.9% | 0.8% | 3.88 |
| 6 | Real Chemistry | 4.9% | 0.8% | 3.31 |
| 7 | Ruder Finn | 4.7% | 0.7% | 4.75 |
| 8 | Channel V Media | 4.5% | 0.7% | 4.56 |
| 9 | FleishmanHillard | 4.3% | 0.7% | 4.57 |
| 10 | Walker Sands | 4.3% | 0.7% | 4.00 |
| 11 | Highwire | 4.2% | 0.7% | 5.04 |
| 12 | Avenue Z | 3.6% | 0.6% | 4.16 |
| 13 | Bolt PR | 3.5% | 0.5% | 4.68 |
| 14 | Bospar | 3.0% | 0.5% | 4.99 |
| 15 | Ketchum | 2.8% | 0.4% | 4.97 |
Table 2: Top 15 PR firms by AI visibility, October 2026. Source: 5W analysis using Profound's tools.
5W and Edelman are effectively tied on average position (3.29 and 3.30), so 5W's lead is in how often it is named. The data detected "FINN Partners" (6.5%) and "Finn Partners" (4.5%) as separate entities. Their combined visibility lies between 6.5% and the 11.0% sum, since answers may overlap, which would not change the top two.
The engines do not agree on which firm to name, and the gaps are large.
| Platform | 5W | Edelman | Weber Shandwick | Leader |
|---|
| Google AI Overviews | 37.7% | 19.1% | 7.1% | 5W |
| Perplexity | 35.9% | 20.0% | 12.4% | 5W |
| ChatGPT | 29.0% | 21.9% | 10.5% | 5W |
| Microsoft Copilot | 27.9% | 28.1% | 17.6% | Edelman |
| Google Gemini | 27.4% | 19.0% | 8.7% | 5W |
| Google AI Mode | 23.9% | 19.1% | 7.6% | 5W |
Table 3: Visibility by AI platform for the top three firms. Source: 5W analysis using Profound's tools, October 2026.
Edelman scores 28.1% on Copilot but 19.0% on Gemini, and Weber Shandwick ranges from 7.1% on AI Overviews to 17.6% on Copilot. For communications teams, that is a reminder to measure every engine.
In which PR topics does each firm lead?
5W ranks first in 27 of 31 topics. Edelman is the closest competitor in 24 of those, and Crackle PR in three (media relations, technology PR and AI search).
| Topic | 5W visibility | 5W rank | Closest firm (leader where 5W is not #1) |
|---|
| Consumer PR | 52.2% | 1 | Edelman 41.8% |
| Public relations agency | 47.2% | 1 | Edelman 17.6% |
| Media relations | 43.7% | 1 | Crackle PR 19.8% |
| PR / media relations | 41.3% | 1 | Edelman 28.3% |
| Brand reputation management | 39.0% | 1 | Edelman 23.7% |
| Digital marketing agency | 38.6% | 1 | Edelman 31.5% |
| Technology PR | 38.3% | 1 | Crackle PR 23.4% |
| Award-winning PR agency | 38.3% | 1 | Edelman 31.5% |
| Digital PR agency | 37.5% | 1 | Edelman 19.1% |
| Crisis communications | 36.7% | 1 | Edelman 31.8% |
| NYC PR agency | 36.6% | 1 | Edelman 20.6% |
| Launch / product launch | 35.1% | 1 | Edelman 14.9% |
| Beauty and fashion PR | 33.4% | 1 | Edelman 9.2% |
| Food and beverage PR | 32.9% | 1 | Edelman 20.1% |
| B2B public relations | 30.3% | 1 | Edelman 22.7% |
| Crisis / reputation | 29.5% | 1 | Edelman 24.6% |
| Events / activations | 28.4% | 1 | Edelman 10.3% |
| Social media strategy | 27.1% | 1 | Edelman 18.0% |
| Content creation | 26.4% | 1 | Edelman 14.6% |
| Influencer marketing | 26.3% | 1 | Edelman 23.1% |
| Executive / founder thought leadership | 25.5% | 1 | Edelman 20.1% |
| Integrated marketing communications | 23.6% | 1 | Edelman 21.1% |
| Healthcare PR | 22.8% | 3 | Real Chemistry 52.1% |
| Corporate communications | 22.4% | 2 | Edelman 32.9% |
| Brand awareness / positioning | 19.1% | 2 | Edelman 26.4% |
| Influencer / creator / celebrity | 15.8% | 1 | Edelman 8.5% |
| Commerce / retail / Amazon / affiliate | 12.2% | 1 | Edelman 1.7% |
| Awards | 10.7% | 5 | Edelman 29.5% |
| Digital: organic social, paid media, performance, creative | 10.0% | 1 | Edelman 8.1% |
| Press releases | 5.7% | 1 | Edelman 4.4% |
| AI search / GEO | 3.7% | 1 | Crackle PR 3.7% |
Table 4: Visibility and rank by PR topic, October 2026. Source: 5W analysis using Profound's tools.
What does the data say about the PR industry?
The data shows three patterns that matter beyond any single firm.
- Size does not decide visibility. Crackle PR (4.9%), Real Chemistry (4.9%) and Channel V Media (4.5%) each outrank FleishmanHillard (4.3%) and Ketchum (2.8%).
- Leadership varies by discipline. Real Chemistry leads healthcare PR at 52.1%, and Edelman leads awards (29.5%), corporate communications (32.9%) and brand awareness (26.4%).
- Engines weigh firms differently. The same firm can look strong on one engine and weak on another, which makes cross-platform measurement the practical starting point for any brand.
What does 5W say about getting into the chatbox?
"5W is entering our 25th year, and we are the best at getting clients into the chatbox. We combine everything technology related with our in-house properties, analytics and content creation, and everything else."
5W says it does media, content, site building, creative, video, social and Reddit work in house, and uses proprietary technology it calls the 5W Brain. Everything-PR is reporting 5W's description and has not evaluated client results, which 5W says are confidential.
What are the limits of this analysis?
- The analysis is 5W's. Everything-PR is reporting its results and has not independently replicated them.
- Prompt design. Prompts were written around 5W's practice areas, so 5W's standing is an upper bound for an industry ranking.
- Scope. The analysis ranks PR firms. It does not rank specialist GEO or SEO agencies.
- No confidence intervals. The data returns no response-level denominators, so execution totals show scale only.
- Position data. Average position is volatile, and small gaps should not be over-read.
- Entities. FINN Partners and Finn Partners were detected separately, and only "5W Public Relations" and "5W Communications" were detected as 5W entities.
- Classification. Entity exclusions were made manually.
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