MIAMI, July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — 5W, the AI Communications Firm, today released The Non-Alcoholic Drinks AI Visibility Index 2026 — ranking the 25 brands by estimated AI citation share across more than 60 consumer prompts on ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
Athletic Brewing leads with an estimated 14% AI citation share on the back of its estimated ~52% share of the U.S. non-alcoholic craft beer segment. Heineken 0.0 ranks second at an estimated ~11%. The global non-alcoholic beer market is estimated at ~$24 billion in 2025, and searches for non-alcoholic drinks rose an estimated ~3x in January 2025 vs January 2024.
Why it matters: Non-alcoholic is one of the few consumer categories with a true breakout brand — and outside of beer, the rest of the category is still up for grabs. Brands that claim a sub-segment now win a defensible AI surface for years.
Three findings:
The category splits by sub-type. Spirits route to Seedlip or Lyre’s. Aperitifs route to Ghia or De Soi. Wine routes to Leitz. Almost none of the sub-segment leaders overlap.
0.0 line extensions win mass. Big alcohol’s NA extensions — Heineken 0.0, Guinness 0.0 — own the broad consumer query because the parent name is already cached.
Independents own the “interesting drink” surface. The lifestyle press wrote about Ghia, De Soi, Curious Elixirs, and Kin Euphorics — and the engines retrieve that coverage.
“Athletic owns beer outright — that is what category ownership looks like. But beer is one aisle. Spirits, wine, aperitifs each route to a different name, and most of those names are one good campaign away from being replaced. This is the moment to claim a sub-category, not the whole shelf.” — Ronn Torossian, Founder & Chairman, 5W
Full ranking: https://www.5wpr.com/ai-visibility-index/non-alcoholic-drinks-ai-visibility-index-2026/
Methodology: The 5W AI Visibility Index measures estimated brand citation share across structured prompts on the five major AI engines. Findings are directional estimates — not a live query audit or consumer survey.
About 5W
5W is the AI Communications Firm, building brand authority inside ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews — alongside earned media, digital, and influencer channels. Founded 2003. Top U.S. PR Agency by O’Dwyer’s. Agency of the Year, American Business Awards®. 2026 Top Place to Work in Communications, Ragan. Digiday WorkLife Employer of the Year. 5wpr.com.
Media Contact:
press@5wpr.com
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/athletic-owns-ais-dry-bar-one-brand-wins-na-beer-outright-the-rest-of-the-bar-fragments-by-sub-type-302779898.html
SOURCE 5W Public Relations
