Final Expense Insurance: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

AARP Life Insurance from New York Life led valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 at 27.7%, followed closely by Ethos at 27.0%, a gap of 0.7 points. The largest coverage decline was Colonial Penn, which fell 8.7 points from 35.2% in July 2026 to 26.5% in September 2026, moving beyond normal month-to-month variation. The next largest decline was Ethos, dropping 7.9 points from 34.9% in July 2026 to 27.0% in September 2026, also beyond normal variation. No tracked brand posted a significant coverage increase this month; the one notable riser was Gerber Life, up 6.3 points from August 2026 to September 2026, but its movement since July 2026 was a decline of 1.0 point, within normal variation.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 423 qualified observations in September 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.

In August 2026, the leader was Ethos at 29.9%, with AARP Life Insurance from New York Life at 29.4%.

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

Six brands declined beyond normal variation from July 2026 to September 2026: AARP Life Insurance from New York Life, Aflac, Choice Mutual, Colonial Penn, Ethos, and Globe Life. Between August 2026 and September 2026, Choice Mutual fell 3.7 points (from 4.4% to 0.7%) and Gerber Life rose 6.3 points (from 19.2% to 25.5%), both beyond normal variation.

Largest Decline: Colonial Penn

Colonial Penn posted the largest decline in valid recommendation coverage, falling 8.7 points from 35.2% in July 2026 to 26.5% in September 2026. This decline moved beyond normal month-to-month variation. The largest single-month move came earlier, when Colonial Penn dropped 8.9 points from July 2026 to August 2026. Presence also fell from 48.9% to 40.0% in the same period. Colonial Penn declined in each of the first two months and held steady from August to September.

Category Leader: AARP Life Insurance from New York Life

AARP Life Insurance from New York Life held the highest valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 at 27.7%, down from 34.9% in July 2026. The brand's presence rate fell from 38.8% to 32.9%, top-three rate fell from 27.2% to 17.7%, and rank-one rate fell from 9.4% to 4.5%. Net sentiment remained high at 0.9 in both months. Despite leading the field, the brand declined in each of the two months since July 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

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

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. AARP Life Insurance from New York Life held a higher top-three rate at 17.7% versus Ethos at 13.0% in September 2026, yet Ethos led the rank-one rate at 5.0% versus 4.5%.

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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