Marketing research you can check
Eight reports for founders and marketing leads: what AI answer engines cite, whether AI agents can buy from startup websites, what companies spend on marketing, how the marketing stack fits together, and how medical device and AI products are bought and priced. Two are studies on AAJ's own data, with the CSV; four are sector reports from public sources; two are reviews of the published surveys. Every figure names its source.
Original research
Studies on AAJ's own data, with every row published. Each study is one dated run with its method, its limits and a CSV of the results, free to reuse with credit under CC BY 4.0.
-
AI Answer Visibility Index
First edition, September 2026. Next edition early 2027.
Topic: AI Search & Agent Readiness
The same 40 founder marketing questions put to Perplexity, Claude and GPT-4.1: how often each engine searches, which sources it cites and whether AAJ appears. Sample: 40 questions to 3 engines, 119 answers. 241 citations across 178 different domains. Data: CSV, one row per engine and question.
-
Agent Readiness Study 2026
Published September 2026. One crawl on one day.
Topic: AI Search & Agent Readiness
Can an AI agent find, compare and buy from a Y Combinator B2B startup? Ten checks run on the raw HTML of 295 company websites, before any JavaScript runs. 27 of 299 companies pass all ten checks. Data: CSV, one row per company.
Sector reports
Medical devices and AI products, read from public sources. Each report uses only federal rules, agency data, company filings, price pages and peer-reviewed studies, and lists what the public record does not show.
-
Clinical Evidence in Medical Device Marketing
Published October 2026. Federal rules and peer-reviewed cost data.
Topic: Industry Playbooks
What FDA and the FTC allow a device company to say about its studies, and what building that evidence costs. About $30.7 million, on average, for a pivotal study of a complex device. 21 days to register an applicable device trial after the first participant.
-
How US Hospitals Buy New Medical Devices
Published October 2026. Public data, with the gaps listed.
Topic: Industry Playbooks
Who buys, through whom, under what financial pressure and on what evidence, and what the public data does not show. 84.1% of US hospitals served by Vizient, HealthTrust or Premier in 2024. 70% of community hospitals sit inside a health system.
-
How Medical Device Companies Charge
Published October 2026. Seven fiscal 2025 filings.
Topic: Pricing & Monetization
Seven public device and clinical technology companies show five ways to charge for a device and what each one needs to work. 59.8% of Intuitive's 2025 revenue came from instruments and accessories. 50.7% of its 2025 system placements were operating leases.
-
AI Product Unit Economics in 2026
Published October 2026. Provider price pages read 22 October 2026.
Topic: Pricing & Monetization
What a query costs at three major model providers, how AI product margins compare and how software companies price AI. $0.011 for a 3,000-in, 500-out query on a mid-tier model at all three providers. 50% batch discount at Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.
Research reviews
The published surveys, read side by side. Each review brings the main surveys together, names the survey, year and sample behind every figure, and marks AAJ's own planning ranges as AAJ's view.
-
Marketing Budget Benchmarks by Stage 2026
Published June 2026, sources checked September 2026
Topic: Analytics, Experiments & Budget
What growth-stage companies spend on marketing, by stage, company type, industry and geography, from Gartner, The CMO Survey, SaaS Capital, Forrester and others. 7.8% of company revenue in 2026, after 7.7% in 2024 and 2025 (Gartner).
-
The 2025–2026 Marketing Technology Stack Landscape
First published 2025, updated September 2026
Topic: Marketing Ops, AI & Team
How the marketing stack is built, what it costs and how it changes by company stage, industry and channel. Martech takes 19.4% of the average marketing budget (Gartner, 2026). Five layers, from data and identity to optimization and governance.
Three rules every report follows
Every figure names its source. Survey figures carry the survey, the year and the sample size. AAJ's own planning ranges are marked as AAJ's view, not survey data.
Own data comes with the file. The studies publish every row as a CSV, so anyone can check the counts or reuse them with credit.
Limits stated up front. Each study closes with what it cannot tell you, such as one crawl on one day or one fixed set of 40 questions.
The AI Answer Visibility Index runs again in early 2027
Same questions and same engines, so any change between editions is a real change. New research arrives in the AAJ monthly brief.
Want these numbers read against your own?
A Growth Audit reads your funnel, positioning and channel mix and names the three fixes to make first.