Web Conferencing: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Zoom led the Web Conferencing AI Market Discovery Index in August 2026 with a 63.3% valid recommendation coverage rate, down from 69.9% in July 2026. Google Meet held second place at 60.0% in August 2026, down from 68.2% in July 2026. The gap between the two brands widened rather than narrowed between the two months.

The largest coverage decline in August 2026 belonged to RingCentral, which fell 15.0 percentage points to 23.5% from 38.5% in July 2026. The next-largest declines were Google Meet, down 8.2 percentage points to 60.0% from 68.2%; Cisco Webex, down 7.7 percentage points to 53.8% from 61.5%; and Zoom, down 6.6 percentage points to 63.3% from 69.9%.

This was a month of notable movement for the vertical. Five brands registered declines beyond normal variation in August 2026: Cisco Webex, Dialpad Meetings, Google Meet, RingCentral, and Zoom. No brand posted a significant increase in August 2026.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 493 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the number of canonical AI/search surface families, out of six possible (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode), with at least one qualified observation in the month. Both July 2026 and August 2026 registered all six families.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Web Conferencing

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how the qualified observations were derived.

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

Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist.
• Top-three rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the first three recommended positions.
• Rank-one rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: Positive mentions minus negative mentions, divided by total mentions, expressed on a scale from negative to positive.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

All brand moves from July 2026 to August 2026 were the same as the baseline-to-current moves, since July 2026 is the baseline month.

Largest Decline: RingCentral

RingCentral's valid recommendation coverage fell 15.0 percentage points in August 2026 to 23.5% from 38.5% in July 2026. Raw presence also fell, down 9.2 percentage points to 41.0% from 50.2% in July 2026. RingCentral's rank-one rate rose 1.5 points to 3.6% in August 2026 from 2.1% in July 2026, a move within normal variation.

Largest Decline: Google Meet

Google Meet's valid recommendation coverage fell 8.2 percentage points in August 2026 to 60.0% from 68.2% in July 2026. The top-three rate declined 4.4 points to 51.3% from 55.7%, and raw presence fell 3.8 points to 87.8% from 91.6%, though this move was within normal variation.

Largest Decline: Cisco Webex

Cisco Webex's valid recommendation coverage fell 7.7 percentage points in August 2026 to 53.8% from 61.5% in July 2026. Raw presence was effectively unchanged, rising 0.2 points to 81.1% from 80.9%, meaning the coverage change was not accompanied by a change in how often the brand was mentioned.

Largest Decline: Zoom

Zoom's valid recommendation coverage fell 6.6 percentage points in August 2026 to 63.3% from 69.9% in July 2026. The top-three rate fell 6.4 points to 57.2% from 63.6%. Raw presence was flat at 98.4% in August 2026.

Category Leader: Zoom

Zoom remained the coverage leader in August 2026 at 63.3%, ahead of Google Meet at 60.0%. Zoom also held the highest rank-one rate at 48.1%, far ahead of every other brand.

Stable Brands

ClickMeeting, GoTo Meeting, Microsoft SharePoint, Whereby, and Zoho Inventory moved within normal month-to-month variation in August 2026. Whereby and Zoho Inventory were effectively flat, with moves of 0.1 points or less. ClickMeeting and GoTo Meeting declined between 4.2 and 4.4 points, each within normal variation.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The leading brands show distinct placement profiles.

Zoom and Google Meet both appear in a majority of top-three positions, but Zoom is the first recommendation 48.1% of the time while Google Meet leads the first position at only 3.6%. Similar coverage can still hide very different first-position rates.

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

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

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 or sales attribution.
• Every possible AI response or surface not included in the six canonical families.
• Organic-search ranking performance.
• Social media mention volume.
• Private or sponsored channels.
• Causality from a metric movement alone.

The current dataset cannot answer pricing, value, or head-to-head comparison questions.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how AI and search surfaces present brands in category-level discovery. It measures presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment across six canonical AI/search surface families.

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

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