Pitot Index · Soft Drinks · Week 46 · 2026

Soft DrinksNEW

How the machines currently read soft drinks.

Every week, 10 soft drinks brands are put to the major AI systems and the answers are scored on the same instrument. This is the sector's standing reading — 67.0, band A — and what it means.

See the board All nineteen sectors
PeriodWeek 46 · 2026
Brands tracked10
BandA
Spread4.5 pts
Series6 weeks
InstrumentARES-C 2.3
Soft Drinks · category average · ARES-C composite 67.0 A −0.3 Week 46 · 2026 · 10 brands · =17th of 19

6 weeks · 2026-W41 → 2026-W46

Soft Drinks · top 10Week 46 · 2026
  1. 1st Coca-Cola 74.9 AA
  2. 2nd Gatorade 71.3 AA
  3. 3rd Red Bull 70.1 AA
  4. =4th Sprite 68.6 A
  5. =4th Schweppes 68.6 A
  6. 6th Pepsi 67.7 A
  7. 7th Dr Pepper 65.0 A
  8. 8th Fanta 63.4 A
  9. 9th Monster Energy 61.5 A
  10. 10th Mountain Dew 59.3 A
The reading

What 67.0 means for soft drinks

A score is a position. The shape around it is the information.

A sector average tells you what the machines have settled on. The spread tells you whether anyone inside it is winning.

Band A · 55+
Typically recognised and described broadly correctly, with gaps in how it is distinguished from its competitive set. That places the sector =17th of 19 sectors tracked, 5.3 points below the index average of 72.3.
Movement
The reading is down 0.3 of a point on the week, which is inside the range this instrument treats as noise rather than signal. The series behind this page runs to 6 weekly readings, beginning 2026-W41 — long enough that a trend can be separated from a week.
Trial window note
These weeks were measured before this sector was published, as a pre-publication trial window. The brand-name groupings used from the first public week have been applied to them.
Dispersion
A spread of 4.5 points across the tracked cohort is moderate. There is visible separation between the top and the middle of soft drinks, but no brand is running away with the category.
The sector

Why soft drinks reads this way

The instrument produces the figure. A person writes the reading.

Sector leader · Week 46 · 2026
Coca-Cola leads soft drinks at 74.9, band AA — 7.9 points clear of the category average. The full ranked board sits above; the nineteen-sector view is on the Pitot Index.
How this is measured
Readings are produced by ARES-C, a composite instrument that puts a standardised prompt set to nine pinned AI models each week and scores the answers automatically across five dimensions — authority, reputation, expertise visibility, signal consistency and context. We check model versions every cycle and log any change we find, with the date we found it.
  • Same prompts, same cohort, same scoring, every week
  • Nine systems across three spheres, so no single model's opinion carries the reading
  • Every sweep recorded and retained, so a figure can be traced back
See the methodology
What this page does not claim

The honest limits, stated first.

  • This is perception, not performance. The figure describes how AI systems currently represent soft drinks. It is not a measure of revenue, quality, or standing with customers, and should never be read as one.
  • The cohort is defined, not exhaustive. 10 brands are tracked in this sector. A brand's absence from the cohort is a scoping decision, not a judgement.
  • A week is not a direction. Model providers update continuously and answers move for reasons that have nothing to do with a brand. Read the series; treat any single week with suspicion.
  • Aggregates conceal. A category average can hold steady while individual brands move sharply in opposite directions. The sector figure is the beginning of the question, not the answer.

An instrument that admits what it cannot see is the only kind whose readings can be relied on where it can.

Instrument ARES-C 2.3 · Soft Drinks · Week 46 · 2026 · 10 brands
Soft Drinks

A sector reading tells you where the category stands. It does not tell you where you stand in it.

The Index ranks the category unprompted. To examine one brand by name, Pulse gives a quick health check. Delivered by email within 48 hours, excluding weekends and UK bank holidays. It may arrive sooner. A Signal Audit takes it through the instrument at depth — every dimension, every model, with the evidence attached and the interpretation written by someone who has sat on your side of the table. Brand pages and full history for soft drinks are on pitotindex.com.

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