Final Expense Insurance: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Ethos led valid recommendation coverage in August 2026 at 29.9%, followed closely by AARP Life Insurance from New York Life at 29.4%, a gap of 0.5 points. The largest coverage decline was Colonial Penn, which fell from 35.2% in July 2026 to 26.3% in August 2026, a decline of 8.9 points that moved beyond normal month-to-month variation. The next largest decline was Gerber Life, dropping from 26.5% in July 2026 to 19.2% in August 2026, down 7.3 points, also beyond normal variation. No tracked brand posted a significant coverage increase this month.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 452 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation. The six families tracked are ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Final Expense Insurance

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. AI Market Discovery Methodology

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand was mentioned at all. Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where the brand appeared in a recommendation that could be clearly attributed. Top-three rate is the share of observations where the brand appeared in the first three recommendation slots. Rank-one rate is the share where the brand was the single top recommendation. Net sentiment reflects the balance of positive minus negative mentions among observations where the brand appeared.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Decline: Colonial Penn

Colonial Penn posted the largest decline in valid recommendation coverage, falling 8.9 points from 35.2% in July 2026 to 26.3% in August 2026. This decline moved beyond normal month-to-month variation. Presence also fell from 48.9% to 40.5% in the same period. Colonial Penn maintained its position in the upper tier of the field despite the drop.

Largest Decline: Gerber Life

Gerber Life declined 7.3 points from 26.5% in July 2026 to 19.2% in August 2026, also beyond normal variation. Rank-one rate fell from 3.9% to 1.6% in the same period. The brand's presence rate declined from 34.5% to 29.4%.

Category Leader: Ethos

Ethos held the highest valid recommendation coverage in August 2026 at 29.9%. Its presence rate of 56.4% was the highest in the benchmark, and its net sentiment of 0.6 was positive. Top-three rate rose slightly from 17.6% to 18.4%.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Among the leading brands, AARP Life Insurance from New York Life posted a higher top-three rate and rank-one rate than Ethos despite slightly lower coverage.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. AARP Life Insurance from New York Life held a 7.3% rank-one rate versus Ethos at 6.0% in August 2026.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

The current public series measures brand recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing and value or multi-brand comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often brands appear in AI-generated answers across major AI and search surfaces. It uses a consistent, audited methodology to produce comparable month-over-month measurements.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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