AI Ads in France 2026: the complete state of play — AI Search, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, ChatGPT

Introduction: search is being rewritten in real time

One statistic is enough to set the scene: when a Google AI Overview appears on a query, the organic CTR for position 1 drops by 61% — falling from 1.76% to 0.61%. And the CTR of Google Ads on those same queries collapses even harder: -68%. This is not a gentle trend. It is a structural break in how visibility works on the internet.[^1]

We are in June 2026, and the search engine as it has functioned for 25 years — a list of blue links, text ads at the top of the page, a user who clicks — is transforming. AI-powered conversational search is taking its place: AI engines that answer directly, synthesise sources, and in which advertising slots are beginning to open.

For a French advertiser, the question is no longer "will AI change advertising?" It is already here. The real question is: where exactly do we stand in France, platform by platform — and what will happen over the next 12 months?

This article offers a factual, analytical state of play, platform by platform: Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Perplexity, ChatGPT Search and ChatGPT Ads. With a concrete framework for marketing and commercial teams.

The French and AI search: rapid adoption, but persistent dual usage

Before talking about advertising in AI, we need to understand the real state of adoption in France.

According to an OpinionWay study for SEO.fr published in May 2026, 98% of French people still use classic search engines — and simultaneously, 59% have adopted generative AI for their searches. ChatGPT dominates with 54% declared usage, followed by Gemini at 33%. Among the under-35s, the rate rises to 79%.[^2]

Médiamétrie figures confirm the trend: 38.1% of French people used a conversational AI in September 2025, and 24.5 million monthly active users are measured on these platforms in 2026. Among 15-24 year-olds, the usage rate reaches 73.4%, and a quarter of them query these assistants daily.[^3]

In practice, we are in a phase of dual usage: French people have not abandoned Google, but they are adding an AI layer to their information journey. The break is not yet total — but it is accelerating. And what is essential for advertisers: advertising will have to follow these uses wherever they migrate.

Market share of conversational AI platforms in France (2026):

Source: AI Labs Audit — French company AI visibility study 2026[^3]

1. Google AI Overviews in France: a unique situation in Europe

The only major European market still blocked

Here is the most surprising fact about the French situation: Google AI Overviews are officially still not deployed in France. France is, in May 2026, the only major European market not to have them — Germany, Spain and Italy were gradually opened in 2025.[^4][^5]

The reason is regulatory. Negotiations between Google and French press publishers over neighbouring rights (the compensation of publishers for the use of their content in AI responses) are not finalised. Nick Fox, VP of Google Search, confirmed it publicly in October 2025: "We love France and want to offer our AI features there, but we don't know yet when that will be possible."[^5]

Result: some French users report sporadic access to AI Overviews since late 2025, but without official deployment. The full switch is expected for the second half of 2026.[^6][^7]

What is happening in markets where they are deployed

To understand what awaits France, let us look at data from open markets (USA, UK, Germany, Spain…):

• AI Overviews appear on 48% of searches in 2026 in the most advanced markets.[^8][^1]
• On French informational queries where they are sporadically active, coverage is estimated between 35 and 50% of informational queries, 20 to 30% of commercial queries, and 10 to 15% of transactional queries.[^9]
• Sites cited in an AI Overview record a CTR 22% higher than the former position 1. Being in the AI block is more profitable than being at the top of classic results.[^10]
• Sites that are not there, but were in position 1, lose an average of -34.5% CTR.[^7][^1]

AI Mode: the next step, and the new Google AI Ads

At Google Marketing Live 2026 (May 2026), Google announced the integration of advertising into AI Mode — the conversational version of Google Search.[^11][^12][^13]

Two new advertising formats were presented:

1. Conversational Discovery Ads: ads generated by Gemini, contextualised around the ongoing conversation. Example: a user writes "I want to fill my home with scents like a spa or a forest", Gemini generates a response and integrates into it an ad for a connected diffuser, with text written by AI and adapted to context.[^12][^11]

2. Highlighted Answers: when a user wants to learn a skill (e.g. speaking Italian), Gemini generates a list of apps. This list contains ads clearly labelled "Sponsored" but visually integrated into the conversational response.[^11][^12]

These formats are being tested in the United States. European deployment typically follows 6 to 12 months later. For France, which must first go through standard AI Overviews deployment, the delay could be longer — but the direction is clear: advertising will integrate into Google's AI responses, not alongside them.[^13]

Google is also working on a "Business Agent for Leads": a system allowing advertisers to integrate a Gemini-powered Q&A feature directly into their ads, to qualify prospects without leaving the search interface.[^11]

What this means for French advertisers now

France has a precious action window: AI Overviews are not yet there, which leaves time to structure its GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) strategy and prepare content to be cited in Google AI responses when deployment arrives. Advertisers who wait will be caught off guard. Those who prepare now will be cited from day one.[^9][^10][^7]

2. Perplexity: the "open citations" answer engine betting on trust

What Perplexity is

Perplexity is a conversational AI search engine founded in 2022, explicitly positioned as an answer engine: it answers complex questions, always cites its sources, and allows users to go deeper with in-depth research sessions (Deep Research).[^14][^15]

What sets it apart: 98.6% of its responses contain visible citations, a rate significantly higher than ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. The UX is designed for editorial trust and transparency — two values to which professional and academic users are sensitive.[^16][^15][^17]

Perplexity's key figures in 2026

• More than 100 million monthly active users across all products.[^18]
• 155 to 240 million monthly visits to perplexity.ai.[^18]
• 60 to 70 million queries per day processed.[^14]
• Annualised revenue: $500 million in April 2026, growing 335% year-on-year.[^18]
• France represents 4% of Perplexity's global traffic, around 6 to 9 million monthly visits — still a minority but growing strongly.[^19][^18]

Perplexity's audience is young (25-34 year-olds are the largest segment, the first two age groups representing 53% of total traffic), 60% male, and highly engaged (bounce rate of 29%, average time of 4 minutes 45 seconds on the site).[^18]

Perplexity and advertising: the choice of trust

In February 2026, Perplexity made a decision that caused waves: pausing all advertising plans to preserve its users' trust.[^20][^21][^22]

The official reason, expressed to the Financial Times: "The problem with ads is that a user would start to question everything… which is why we don't think it's wise to focus on that for the time being."[^21][^20]

This positioning is strategic: at the very moment OpenAI was integrating advertising into ChatGPT, Perplexity, Anthropic (Claude) and Microsoft all communicated in the opposite direction — differentiating themselves as "ad-free" environments to attract sceptical users.[^22][^21]

That said, the door is not definitively closed: Perplexity had experimented with ads in 2024, with a CPM model above $50 and "Sponsored Follow-Up Questions" below responses. Advertising monetisation remains a future option.[^23][^21]

What Perplexity represents for French advertisers today

Today, Perplexity is not an advertising channel for French advertisers. But it is a critical organic visibility channel for GEO. If your brand, content, case studies or product pages are cited in Perplexity responses, you get exposure to a qualified audience, without paying — and potentially ahead of a future advertising space.[^17][^14]

For B2B, technology, SaaS, export and professional services sectors, Perplexity is already a significant discovery channel. Being structurally present in its responses requires the same effort as for ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews: sourced, structured content with strong thematic authority.[^15][^17]

3. ChatGPT Search & ChatGPT Ads: the channel coming to France

ChatGPT Search: 18.3 million French users already

ChatGPT is, by far, the dominant AI platform in France. With 18.3 million declared French users in 2026 and 21.6 million monthly unique visitors, ChatGPT captures 84.47% of clicks to AI platforms in France.[^24][^3]

The ChatGPT Search feature (web search integrated into the ChatGPT interface, with source citations) transforms the chatbot into an answer engine: users ask questions as on Google, but get synthesised, sourced responses, without classic results pages.[^25][^26]

This is the environment in which ChatGPT Ads will operate when they arrive in France.

ChatGPT Ads: state of play in June 2026

• 9 February 2026: official launch of advertising in ChatGPT, in closed beta in the United States.[^27][^28]
• 5 May 2026: opening of the self-serve Ads Manager (ads.openai.com) — any US-based company can now create and manage campaigns.[^29]
• Pricing model: CPM (~$25-60 depending on the phase) and CPC ($3-5 per click).[^30][^29]
• Format: sponsored cards displayed at the bottom of ChatGPT responses, clearly labelled "Sponsored", without influencing the response content.[^31][^29]
• Targeting: exclusively contextual (semantic analysis of the ongoing conversation) — no cookies, no behavioural tracking, no demographic targeting.[^32][^33]
• Initial result: ChatGPT Ads crossed $100 million in annualised revenue within weeks.[^34]

ChatGPT Ads in France: when and how?

In June 2026, French advertisers cannot buy ChatGPT Ads. The self-serve is reserved for US-based companies.[^35][^29]

Several constraints explain this European delay:

• GDPR: any processing of European users' data in a conversational advertising context requires a precise DPA framework and strict compliance.[^36]
• Digital Markets Act (DMA): enhanced transparency obligations for platforms designated as gatekeepers.
• European AI Act: in force since 2025, it imposes transparency and explicability requirements for AI systems interacting with users.[^37][^38]

Estimated timeline: Q4 2026 – Q1 2027 for an opening to major advertisers and agencies (Publicis, Dentsu, Omnicom are already US-side partners). Self-serve access for French SMEs should follow within an additional 3 to 6 months.[^39][^40]

What this means: France has a window of roughly 6 to 9 months to prepare — with no immediate competitive pressure on this channel.

4. The AI Ads "already here" in France: Google, Meta, Amazon

Before concluding on the channels to come, it is worth recalling that operational AI Ads already exist massively in France, integrated into classic advertising platforms.

Google Ads and AI

• Smart Bidding (Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions): bids automatically optimised by Google's ML models, analysing hundreds of signals in real time.[^41]
• Performance Max: a "full AI" campaign that simultaneously manages all Google channels (Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps) and autonomously optimises creatives, targeting and budgets.[^41][^12]
• AI Max for Search campaigns (announced at Google Marketing Live 2026): AI improvement of keyword matching and headlines, to cover a broader range of queries.[^12][^13]
• AI creative generation: Google offers automatic generation of title, description and image ad variations.[^41]

Meta Ads and AI (Advantage+)

• Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns and Advantage+ Audience: Meta lets its AI define targets, creatives and placements autonomously.[^42]
• Creative variation generation: AI backgrounds, alternative texts, massive A/B tests — Meta can test dozens of variations simultaneously without human intervention.[^43][^42]
• AI retargeting: Meta's algorithms automatically identify audiences most likely to convert, including "AI lookalikes" without manual configuration.[^42]

Amazon Ads and AI (available in France)

• In 2024, Amazon Ads made its AI advertising image creation available in France: automatic generation of product visuals adapted to Amazon formats (A+ Content, Sponsored Brand).[^44]
• This type of tool allows sellers to create studio-quality visuals without a photography budget — a major productivity gain for SMEs.

5. What all this changes for advertisers: analysis and position

AI search does not replace advertising — it reinvents it

The temptation is great, faced with these figures (CTR -61% with AI Overviews, ChatGPT Ads arriving…), to catastrophise. That would be an analytical error.

What is happening is a shift in advertising inventory: classic formats are losing relevance in favour of formats integrated into AI responses — more contextual, more conversational, potentially more effective because intent is stronger.[^12][^11]

The advertisers who perform tomorrow will be those who understand that the battle is fought on two simultaneous fronts:

1. Organic visibility in AI (GEO/AEO): being cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews without paying — which requires structured, sourced content with strong authority.[^45][^10][^17] 2. Paid in AI environments (AI Ads): Google AI Mode Ads now (US market, Europe soon), ChatGPT Ads (France soon) — with conversational formats that require a radically different approach from classic Google Ads.[^39][^11][^12]

France has a head start — and an action window

The absence of AI Overviews in France (neighbouring rights) and the absence of ChatGPT Ads for French advertisers (GDPR/DMA) create a paradox: French advertisers cannot yet activate the most advanced channels, but they can prepare without competitive pressure on those channels.

Concretely, the next 6 months are a strategic window to:

• Structure content for GEO: answer the questions your clients ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and (tomorrow) Google AI Overviews.[^10][^7][^45]
• Test the "classic" AI Ads available now (Performance Max, Advantage+, Amazon AI) in a pipeline logic.[^42][^41]
• Create an account on ads.openai.com as soon as geographic opening occurs and launch a first campaign before the competitive rush.[^29][^39]

Perplexity, the wildcard

Perplexity does not sell advertising today, but already represents 4% of global traffic and an audience of highly qualified professionals. For B2B and SaaS players, Perplexity is an organic AI visibility channel to work on now: being cited in its responses on your key topics, before advertising monetisation opens.[^17][^14][^18]

Conclusion: three scenarios for French advertisers in 2026-2027

Scenario 1 — The wait-and-see: does not invest in GEO, does not adapt Google/Meta campaigns to AI, waits for ChatGPT Ads to open in France. Likely result: progressive loss of organic traffic when AI Overviews arrive, late positioning on ChatGPT Ads, competition absorbed from day one.

Scenario 2 — The adapter: optimises existing campaigns with available AI Ads (Performance Max, Advantage+), starts working on GEO in a structured way, prepares an OpenAI Ads account. Result: continues to perform, ready to activate new channels on opening.

Scenario 3 — The AI first-mover: builds now an integrated GEO + AI Ads + AI marketing pipeline strategy (AI-ready site, qualification agents, connected CRM, structured data). Result: active in organic AI responses from Perplexity, ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews from their France deployment, and first to test ChatGPT Ads and Google AI Mode Ads at European opening — with 6 to 12 months of learning ahead of the competition.

The search engine you learned to dominate over 20 years is being rewritten. The question is whether you write the next chapter with it — or read it in your competitors' AI responses.

Sources

[^1]: 30+ AI & SEO stats 2026: AI Overviews, chatbots... — AI Overviews on 48% of queries, organic CTR -61%, Google Ads CTR -68%

[^2]: AI study France: 59% of French use ChatGPT — OpinionWay study for SEO.fr on the evolution of AI search usage in 2026

[^3]: Study: AI visibility of French companies in 2026 — Analysis of French brand presence on conversational AIs, Médiamétrie data

[^4]: Google AI Overviews France: decoding a regulatory war — France, the last major European market without AI Overviews

[^5]: AI Overviews France 2026: prepare now — Google AI Overviews still not deployed in France as of 21 May 2026

[^6]: What Google is preparing for 2026: AI Mode... — Google's ecosystem and its major transformations in 2026

[^7]: How to Adapt Your SEO and GEO to Stay Visible in 2026 — Google AI Mode drives CTR down 34.5% — SEO/GEO strategies

[^8]: Google AI Overviews: search rankings and visibility in 2026 — AI Overviews affect 48% of searches in 2026

[^9]: AI Overviews France: deployment and SEO impact 2026 — Timeline, CTR impact, query types affected

[^10]: Google AI Overviews: keeping organic traffic in 2026 — Strategies to appear in AI Overviews and preserve traffic

[^11]: Google officially announces ads in AI-powered search — Google Marketing Live 2026: ads in AI Mode, official details

[^12]: Google Just Changed How Ads Work in AI Search — Conversational Discovery Ads and Highlighted Answers in Google AI Mode

[^13]: New Ad Formats from Google Marketing Live 2026 — Google's new ad formats for AI Mode

[^14]: Perplexity — Complete guide 2026 — Complete Perplexity guide 2026: updates, performance, trends

[^15]: Perplexity AI vs Google AI Overviews — The 2026 Verdict — Citation quality comparison, answer accuracy, depth of research

[^16]: Perplexity AI in France in 2025: key data, analysis and trends — Usage data and Perplexity trends in France

[^17]: Which sources do ChatGPT, Google and Perplexity AIs cite? — Perplexity, the most transparent and editorial platform

[^18]: Perplexity AI Stats May 2026: Uses, Users, Market Share — 100M+ users, $500M ARR, 335% growth year-on-year

[^19]: perplexity.ai Website Traffic, Ranking, Analytics — Semrush — perplexity.ai analytics: global traffic and geographic breakdown

[^20]: Perplexity reverses course on advertising — Perplexity officially stops advertising to preserve user trust

[^21]: Perplexity also drops ads (for now) — OpenAI integrates ads, its competitors go the other way

[^22]: Perplexity drops advertising to preserve trust against OpenAI — Perplexity's differentiation strategy against ChatGPT Ads

[^23]: Perplexity AI plans to introduce ads in Q4 — Perplexity AI plans to launch ads for its search application

[^24]: ChatGPT stats 2026: all the key figures — 18.3M French users, ChatGPT market data 2026

[^25]: Perplexity vs Google: who wins search in 2026 — Detailed Perplexity vs Google AI Mode comparison, new era of search

[^26]: ChatGPT vs Perplexity vs Google AI Overviews — 2026 analysis of citation rates between AI platforms

[^27]: Advertising comes to ChatGPT: what will change — OpenAI officially introduces advertising in ChatGPT

[^28]: ChatGPT Ads: everything you need to know about AI advertising — ChatGPT ads launch on 9 February 2026, format and pricing

[^29]: OpenAI unveils Ads Manager, ad management for ChatGPT — Self-serve ads.openai.com opens on 5 May 2026

[^30]: ChatGPT Ads lead gen: which Google Ads campaigns are affected? — ChatGPT Ads competes with Google Ads on B2B comparative queries

[^31]: Advertising tests in ChatGPT — OpenAI — Official OpenAI page on advertising tests in ChatGPT

[^32]: ChatGPT advertising, GEO and AEO: complete guide 2026 — Formats, CPM pricing, contextual targeting and GEO/AEO strategy

[^33]: ChatGPT Ads: OpenAI's New Advertising Platform Guide — OpenAI ads at $60 CPM, contextual targeting, complete guide

[^34]: ChatGPT Ads: everything you need to know — $100M annualised revenue within weeks, pilot results

[^35]: ChatGPT Ads: what French companies need to know — ChatGPT Ads in 2026, CPM, formats, strategy for French companies

[^36]: New GDPR obligations 2026 for conversational AI — New GDPR obligations for conversational AI in 2026

[^37]: Advertising and artificial intelligence: practical guide — Tools tested, real 2026 pricing, examples of successful AI campaigns

[^38]: 8 AI trends to watch in 2026 — The European AI Act: transparency, traceability and obligations for AI systems

[^39]: ChatGPT Ads in France: opening timeline and entry strategy — When will ChatGPT Ads open to French advertisers? Timeline and opportunity window

[^40]: ChatGPT Ads Agency #1 in France — AI Paid Search & conversational PPC — Conversational paid search and AI PPC experts in France

[^41]: Artificial intelligence: Google Ads reveals its 2026 priorities — Vidhya Srinivasan's annual letter, Google Ads AI priorities

[^42]: AI in Advertising 2026 — Practical Guide for Media Buyers — Mastering AI in advertising in 2026: creative generation, targeting, optimisation

[^43]: AI in ads and marketing campaigns: 8 trends — AI tools generate images, text and voice for marketing campaigns

[^44]: Amazon Ads makes its AI advertising image creation available in France — Automatic product visual generation available in France since 2024

[^45]: AI search engines, complete GEO guide — March 2026 — Developing your visibility on AI search engines in 2026