YouTube was the most-cited platform across eight AI platforms in August, according to data from Meltwater, marking a shift in where AI search products send users for information.

The eight platforms Meltwater measured were Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok. YouTube topped all of them as a citation source. The video platform now surpasses Reddit, which previously held the lead after Google struck a deal with Reddit to make its content available for AI products.

The finding signals a change in YouTube's function. The platform has long served as the destination people visit to learn how to do things. AI systems are increasingly sending users there too, according to the Digiday analysis that documented the citation patterns.

No single model is driving YouTube's growing role in AI search. The citations are spread across all eight platforms Meltwater tracked, which points to a structural pattern rather than a quirk of one provider's ranking system.

The shift carries weight for marketers. YouTube is becoming more than a video destination, per the analysis, and is increasingly part of the information layer that AI systems use and direct users toward. For brands investing in video content, that means YouTube assets now carry a second distribution channel: AI-generated answers that cite the platform when users ask questions.

The displacement of Reddit is notable. Reddit's prior lead stemmed from Google's content-licensing deal with the platform, an arrangement that made Reddit material available to AI products. Meltwater's August data shows YouTube has overtaken that position without an equivalent deal being cited as the driver.

The pattern also raises questions about discoverability in an AI-mediated search environment. If AI systems favor YouTube as a citation source, brands and publishers that maintain a presence on the platform stand to gain visibility in AI answers, while those absent from it risk losing referral traffic they once received from traditional search.

For marketers, the takeaway is grounded in the data: YouTube content now performs a function in AI search that text-based platforms like Reddit once dominated. As AI search products continue to shape how users find information, the platforms they cite will determine where visibility — and traffic — flows next.