Weight Loss and Metabolic Health: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

WeightWatchers is the current category leader, with valid recommendation coverage of 50.5% in August 2026, a reading the benchmark classifies as stable against its July 2026 baseline of 41.2%. Noom follows closely at 48.4% in August 2026 (also stable against a 41.8% July baseline), putting the current gap between the two leaders at 2.1 percentage points in WeightWatchers' favor.

Found was the month's only significant mover, with valid recommendation coverage rising to 33.7% in August 2026 from 22.9% in July 2026, a gain of 10.8 percentage points that exceeds normal month-to-month variation. No brand recorded a significant decline this month; Hims's coverage slipped to 8.9% in August 2026 from 13.5% in July 2026, a change that remained within normal variation. The remainder of the category held steady within expected ranges.

The current public benchmark reflects 190 qualified observations in August 2026, up from 170 in July 2026.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth is the number of canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation, out of six families: 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 Weight Loss and Metabolic Health

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. Per the AI Market Discovery Methodology, the funnel is intentionally conservative, and the public index reflects only the qualified subset.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: The share of qualified observations in which the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: The share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in a valid recommendation shortlist.
• Top-three rate: The share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in the first three recommendation positions.
• Rank-one rate: The share of qualified observations in which the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: The balance of positive over negative mentions, from -1 (all negative) to +1 (all positive).

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Increase: Found

Found posted the month's only significant move, with valid recommendation coverage rising to 33.7% in August 2026 from 22.9% in July 2026, a gain of 10.8 percentage points. The rise in recommendation coverage was accompanied by a presence-rate increase to 42.1% in August 2026 from 31.8% in July 2026. Found gained ground in 64 valid recommendation observations in August 2026, compared with 39 in July 2026.

Category Leader: WeightWatchers

WeightWatchers remains the category leader, with valid recommendation coverage of 50.5% in August 2026 compared with 41.2% in July 2026, a reading the benchmark classifies as stable rather than a significant move. The brand's top-three rate stands at 35.3% in August 2026, up from 32.4% in July 2026, and its rank-one rate is 14.7% in August 2026, up from 10.6% in July 2026. In the July 2026 baseline, Noom had briefly led on valid recommendation coverage at 41.8% against WeightWatchers' 41.2%; the two brands are now separated by 2.1 percentage points, with WeightWatchers ahead at 50.5% against Noom's 48.4%.

The remaining brands moved within normal month-to-month variation, with no other significant shifts recorded.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Among the leading brands, placement patterns differ notably.

Noom holds a higher first-position rate than WeightWatchers despite slightly lower overall coverage, while Found's rank-one rate remains minimal even as its coverage grew. Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All 190 qualified observations in August 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation class, as did all 170 in July 2026.

The current public series measures the Brand Recommendation class of discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

Evidence and Source Layer

This 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, or private and sponsored channels. A metric movement alone does not establish causality.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is a neutral, repeatable monthly measurement of how AI search surfaces represent brands in response to real consumer-style queries. The benchmark tracks presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment across six canonical AI surface families.

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

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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper. The public percentage cannot identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing the result.

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