Summary of our market study
French online advertising market estimated at between €4.5 and €5 billion
Digital advertising represents over 50% of the global advertising market, a significant increase, and is worth more than $210 billion.
In France, the market has more than doubled in just a few years, and is dominated by Google and Facebook, who control 80% of the market.
Programmatic advertising has become increasingly widespread, and holds 62% of the digital display advertising market.
Mobile advertising accounts for 67% of the display market, andrevenues from social display exceed one billion euros.
In just a few years, video advertising has grown from 67 million euros to 847 million.
11% of French Internet users use ad-blocking software.
Investment in search engines is between 2 and 2.5 billion euros.
Affiliate marketing, comparison shopping and emailing collectively generate sales of around 700 to 800 million euros.
Online advertising via cell phones is a major trend in the European market.
The pioneers and forerunners of online advertising.
- Alphabet-Google
- Amazon
- Yahoo! and Microsoft Advertising
- SoLocal: formerly "Les pages Jaunes" (Yellow Pages)
- Ad Tech companies: The Moneytizer, Adverline, Tradelab, Adot, Smart Ad Server, Criteo
to understand this market
Detailed content of our market study
Inforamtion
- Number of pages : ~ 40 pages
- Format : Digital and PDF versions
- Last update :
Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Market overview and definition
Online advertising, or digital advertising, or online advertising, covers all advertising communications carried out on the internet.
Globally, the market has seen very strong growth between 2015 and 2020 (+182%). This growth is being driven, among other things, by increased use of social media, developments in 5G and the Internet of Things, and massive investment in online advertising by multiple sectors. Growth in online advertising is set to continue in the coming years, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.1% until 2026.
The global market is largely dominated by the United States, which accounts for almost half of all online advertising spending. As for the French national market, online advertising is also growing in line with the general trend,with nearly 50% growth in 2023 compared to 2019.
The online advertising market can be divided into 4 segments with different weights and growth dynamics: Search, Social, Display and Affiliation, emailing and comparators.
The French online advertising market is characterized by the strong dominance of the digital giants, with 5 companies accounting for more than half of revenues, and by higher spending than for so-called "traditional" advertising. At a time when more and more French people are making purchases on the Internet and being influenced by online advertising, growing consumer concerns about data collected on the Internet, as well as increasingly restrictive regulations, are having a negative impact on the sector.
1.2 Global market growth
The following graph shows the evolution of online advertising market size between **** and ****, as well as forecasts for the years **** to ****. We can see that the global market experienced very strong growth between **** and ****, with an increase of ***% over the period. The increase in **** compared to **** is **.*%. What's more, this strong growth is set to continue over the next few years, reaching sales of nearly US$*** billion in ****, an increase of **% over this period.
Global online advertising market size World, **** - ****, in billions of USD Source: ****
This past and future growth is the result of rising internet and ecommerce penetration rates and smartphones, increasing use of social media, developments in *G and the Internet of Things, and massive investment in online advertising by multiple sectors. conversely, factors that may limit this growth include the use of ad-blockers (***), the lack of qualified personnel in this field, increasingly restrictive regulations and growing concerns about data privacy[***]
The USA has the largest share of the online advertising market, accounting for **% of online advertising spending in ****. However, it is Africa and the Middle East that will drive growth until ****, with average annual growth rates (***) of **.*% and **.*% respectively. Next come South America and Eastern Europe, with ...
1.3 The booming French market
The French digital advertising market has been growing steadily for almost a decade. Between **** and ****, the sector's sales rose by ***%, from *.* billion euros to *.* billion euros. Particularly in recent years, it has grown by **% between **** and **** to reach its current size of *.* billion euros.
National online advertising market size France, **** - ****, in billions of euros Source: ****
For the following years, Olivier Wyman forecasts relatively cautious growth of *% from **** to ****, compared to the **% CAGR from **** to ****.
The online advertising market can be divided into * segments, with the following definitions taken from the[***] website:
Search: all the techniques used to position commercial offers, websites, mobile applications or other content (***) favorably on search engine response pages. Social: all advertising techniques used on social media (***) Display: graphic advertising (***) Affiliation, Emailing & Comparators: Affiliation is a pay-for-performance marketing technique whereby a merchant or commercial site offers a network of sites or individuals (***) by the merchant sites to which they link.
These * segments account for different proportions of total online advertising revenues. The Search segment is the largest, accounting for **% of market share in ****. It is followed by Social (***). The Affiliation, Emailing & Comparateurs segment is the least important, accounting for **% of the sector's sales[***].
Weight of different segments ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 Online shopping, a major determinant of demand
A total of **% of French Internet users made online purchases in ****, of whom **% occasionally (***). Only *% of French people almost never make an online purchase.
Frequency of online purchases by the French France, ****, in Source: ****
The French consider online shopping to be relatively safe. Indeed, compared to ****, concern about online scams has decreased, with only **% of the population believing that scams are becoming more frequent, compared to **% in ****. The number of people claiming to have been a victim has also fallen by * points to **% in **** [***].
More than half of French people prefer Google and Amazon for research when shopping online. **% prefer the social networks Facebook and Instagram, and **% have other preferences. it's worth noting that those who prefer Google and Amazon for their purchases are over ** on average, while those who prefer Facebook and Instagram are under ** on average.
Online shopping habits France, ****, in Source: ****
The two main search engines for shopping inspiration are Amazon (***) are the source of purchasing inspiration for **% of buyers, making social networks real levers for e-commerce. They are also multiplying the number of functionalities they offer to make the shopping experience more fluid. [***]
Similarly, most online shoppers are loyal to one or more websites, as shown in ...
2.2 Consumers and online advertising
**% of Internet users click most often on Google Ads (***).
What's more, it's interesting to note that it's mainly the under-**s who click on organic ads (***).
Consumers and Google search engine optimization France, ****, in Source: ****
The Azerion study, the results of which are published on Comarketing-news, shows that of the *,*** French volunteers questioned about their preferences in terms of digital advertising **% said they were most receptive to advertising on TV, **% on social networks and **% on audio.
Media on which the French are most receptive to digital advertising France, ****, in Comarketing-news
Focus on the perception of advertising on social networks The majority of social network users are not bothered by digital advertising. For example, in ****, **% of Instagram users do not feel bothered by ads when watching videos on the social network. What's more, on social networks, **% of the French population say they will be receptive to sponsored content through influencers in **** [***]. This result must be qualified, however, as only **% believe that this same content is trustworthy. In ****, social media was the *rd most important source of product discovery, since according to the media company Wearesocial, **.*% of working-age Internet users said they had discovered brands through paid placements on digital platforms.
The chart ...
2.3 Focus on social network users
Social networks are a major vector for online advertising. That's why it's interesting to take a look at social network users.
Differences by age
Logically, the **-** age group are the most active users of social networks, reaching the highest percentages of users of the social networks we have selected. Facebook is the only platform that retains a significant usage rate among seniors, with **% of users among the **+ age group.
Use of main social networks by age France, ****, % of users within an age group Source: ****
Generally speaking, the **-** age group logically has the highest proportion of social network users. Although significantly lower than younger age groups, the proportion of older people using social networks tends to increase over time. Use of the Internet to evaluate a purchased product France, ****, % of total population Source: ****
A very large proportion of the **-** age group uses social networks to evaluate a product, a prime target for advertisers, as shown in the graph above, with **% of the population surveyed for the **** Digital Barometer
YouTube usage by age group France, ****, % (***) Source: ****
Although the dominance of young people is unchallenged (***), in recent years we have seen the consolidation of the senior user segment: in ****, **% of Youtube ...
2.4 Consumer concerns about data collected on the Internet
Online advertising and digital marketing in general use targeting to improve campaign performance and profitability. This targeting, which enables personalized advertising, relies in particular on the collection of personal data[***], accelerated in part by scandals such as Canbridge Analytica. this concern is holding back the growth of online advertising.
Overall, according to the Kantar barometer carried out for Data Privacy Day ****, **% of French people are aware that they disclose their private information online, and **% of French people say they are concerned about the use of this information on the Internet[***]
This heightened concern is closely linked to the perception of data security on the internet. In France, there is indeed a prevailing feeling that personal data communicated over the Internet is poorly protected. In ****, a large majority of French people say they are worried about potential cyber-attacks on their personal data stored online. More than **% of individuals say they are worried about the main risks to private data on the Internet. Nearly a third are even very apprehensive.
The French and the retention of personal data on the Internet France, ****, in Source: ****
While the level of concern is high, it is interesting to note a slight drop in these figures compared ...
2.5 B2B demand: digital advertising leads advertisers' spending
Advertiser spending on digital advertising has overtaken traditional advertising spending since ****. Other media (***) still account for the bulk of advertising spend, with **% of total expenditure.
Breakdown of advertising spend: traditional vs. digital France, ****, in Source: ****
*Here, the * media refer to press, television, radio, outdoor advertising and cinema.
However, the share of "other media" is declining over the ****-**** period, falling from **% to **%, to the benefit of digital media, which have recorded an *% increase, raising their share of spending from **% to **% in * years.
The following chart shows the breakdown and evolution of advertising revenues by media. It can be seen that digital largely dominates the other advertising media, accounting for **% of total advertising revenues. In terms of growth, it is also the most dynamic sector, with **.*% growth in advertising investment between **** and ****. Cinema, directories and radio are the smallest sources of advertising revenue, recording negative growth (***).
Advertising expenditure by medium
France, ****, in millions of euros Source: ****
The following chart shows the breakdown of online advertising revenues. Search is the main source of advertiser spending (***), comprising emailing, affiliations...
Breakdown of companies' digital advertising spend France, ****, in Source: ****
3 Market structure
3.1 Sector organization
Below is a simplified diagram of the online advertising sector:
Source: ****
Digital advertising campaigns are commissioned by an advertiser, who is then the client of a digital advertising medium, segmented here into four categories: Search Engines, Social Media, Display and Affiliate/E-mailing/comparators. Advertising media are the communication channels used to deliver advertising campaigns. Advertisers regularly use an intermediary, a media agency (***) which can advise advertisers on communication strategies, act as an agent in advertising space purchasing procedures, or influence the content of campaigns. In this case, the advertiser is the media agency's client. However, these intermediaries are not indispensable, and some companies choose to internalize all or part of this function, where the advertiser takes direct charge of creating and buying advertising space from the media.
The following table lists the players in each of the components of the industry presented in the previous diagram (***).
Source: ****
While digital advertising media are concentrated in the hands of a small number of players, in particular a few digital giants (***), there is a multitude of intermediaries who may be generalists or specialized in one or two advertising media. These intermediaries vary in size, from a few employees to a thousand[***].
Programmatic buying
Advertisers ...
3.2 The digital advertising market dominated by the digital giants
A handful of digital giants dominate the digital advertising market in France. Indeed, in ****, * groups (***).
Digital advertising market share breakdown France, ****, in Source: ****
What's more, the market shares of these digital giants are on the rise. Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon and Twitch accounted for **% of the market in ****, rising to **% in ****, and **% in ****. An increase which, albeit slight, shows the dynamic of these players on the market and the progression of their domination. We're talking about concentration in the online advertising market, since just * groups (***) have more than half the market share, and this figure is only increasing.
Digital advertising market share trends France, **** - ****, in millions of euros (***) Source: ****
What's more, these digital giants contributed **% of the sector's total growth between **** and ****, and **% between **** and ****.
3.3 Different types of online ad delivery
There are a multitude of ways to distribute online advertising. The main ones are described below:
Search
Search is the set of techniques used to position commercial offers, websites, mobile applications or other content (***) favorably on search engine response pages.
We can distinguish between two types of search distribution:
Classic search: broadcast on search engines that reference web pages (***) Search retail: a sponsored presence in the results proposed by the internal search engines of merchant sites and other e-commerce applications. The development of search retail is being accelerated by the increasing growth of marketplaces.
Social
Social is the set of advertising techniques used on social media, with several types of format depending on the social network.
Sponsored content in the news feed, which is highly integrated because it resembles non-advertising content in the news feed (***). Videos (***) Banners (***) Sponsored messages: personalized advertising messages directly in the chat/messaging service of social networks Ads in stories.
Videos
Two types of video advertising can be identified:
Instream: advertising video within streaming video content. Three types can be distinguished: pre-roll (***) formats. Outstream : refers to video ads that are not inserted into video content hosted on a video platform (***). This can take the form of "in-banner" ...
4 Offer analysis
4.1 Offer typology
Compensation models for digital advertising :[***]
CPM (***): this is the price per *,*** displays in an advertising space. The advertiser pays a set amount each time the ad is seen by *,*** visitors accessing the site where the ad is hosted.
CPC (***): with this remuneration method, the advertiser pays the ad host for each click made on the ad. Remuneration is therefore proportional to the number of clicks made.
CPA (***): a method of remuneration for the purchase of the product/service offered by the advertiser. It's a performance-based model similar to CPL, with the difference that the advertiser's remuneration is no longer per lead, but per purchase.
CPL (***).
CPV (***): a remuneration method based on the number of videos viewed over a given period.
CPI (***): remuneration method defined by the number of installations of an application.
Digital advertising prices :
Social networks:
The cost of advertising on social networks can vary according to objectives, targeting, the quality of visual and audiovisual creations, the time of year, etc. The chart below details average ad prices with CPC and CPM remuneration methods for different social networks in ****:
Average price of an ad on social networks France, ****, in Source: ****
The graph above shows the wide disparity in prices between ...
4.2 Supply trends
Segmented TV
Segmented TV refers to advertising targeting, technically made possible by the digitization of television broadcasting (***). This data can be used to personalize advertising messages by segmenting the audience. This practice was prohibited in France until the decree of August *, ****.
In ****, *.* million households were eligible for segmented TV, today there are *.* million (***), up *% on **** according to the SNPTV and Af*m.
The growth drivers of this new digital advertising offer are therefore the increase in the number of eligible boxes, the expansion of time slots (***), the possibility of inserting more than one spot per screen, the level of targeting sophistication, and massive technological investments by the various operators. [***]
Retail Media
Retail Media refers to the purchase of advertising space by advertisers on e-commerce sites. In this case, advertisers are sellers of advertising space. Between **** and ****, Retail Media revenues are set to rise by **%, from *** million euros to *.** billion euros in ****.
Two types of Retail Media can be distinguished:
Display revenues (***) of retail media revenues. Search revenues, which are driving growth in retail media and accounted for over **% of revenues in ****[***].
Live shopping :
Lives shopping are sales programs broadcast live over the Internet in the form of "live streaming video". It's ...
5 Regulations
5. Regulations
Personal data security:
Initially, it was the French Data Protection Act of January *, **** that provided a legal framework for the protection of personal data in France. In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (***). On April *, **** the CNIL published a new version of its RGPD guide. The main changes relate in particular to user authentication, traceability of operations and incident management, supervision of IT developments, securing exchanges with other organizations and hashing, encryption and electronic signatures.
Article * of the General Data Protection Regulation (***) states that "any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person is personal data."[***]
Online advertising must also respect article * of the French Civil Code, which protects the right to privacy. However, the notion of privacy is not defined by law, but has been clarified by case law and can be considered to include state of health, sentimental life, image, religious practice, family relationships and intimacy.[***]
Regulations specific to digital advertising:
Decree no. ****-*** of February *, **** on digital advertising services, which came into force on January *, ****, clarifies article ** of the Sapin law (***), which states that "the seller of advertising space in the capacity of a the advertiser directly within one month of the broadcast of the ...
6 Positioning the players
6.1 Segmentation
Source: ****
- Meta (anciennement Facebook)
- Solocal
- Adverline
- Tradelab Jellyfish (Fimalac Groupe)
- Criteo
- Local Media (Admoove)
- Spotify
- Deezer
- Youtube
- Carrefour Groupe
- Kwanko
- Rakuten
- Microsoft
- The Moneytizer
- Smart Ad Server
- Adot
- Mistral Media
- Andrea Media
All our studies are available online in PDF format
Take a look at an example of our research on another market!
Choosing this study means :
Access to more than 35 hours of work
Our studies are the result of over 35 hours of research and analysis. Using our studies allows you to devote more time and added value to your projects.
Benefit from 6 years' experience and over 1,500 industry reports already produced
Our expertise enables us to produce comprehensive studies in all sectors, including niche and emerging markets.
Our know-how and methodology enable us to produce reports that offer unique value for money.
Access to several thousand articles and paid-for data
Businesscoot has access to all the paid economic press as well as exclusive databases to carry out its market research (over 30,000 articles and private sources).
To enhance our research, our analysts also use web indicators (semrush, trends, etc.) to identify market trends and company strategies. (Consult our paying sources)
Guaranteed support after your purchase
A team dedicated to after-sales service, to guarantee you a high level of satisfaction. +44 238 097 0676
A digital format designed for our users
Not only do you have access to a PDF, but also to a digital version designed for our customers. This version gives you access to sources, data in Excel format and graphics. The content of the study can therefore be easily retrieved and adapted for your specific needs.
Our offers :
The Online Advertising | France
- What are the figures on the size and growth of the market?
- What is driving the growth of the market and its evolution?
- What is the positioning of companies in the value chain?
- Data from several dozen databases
Pack 5 études (-25%) France
- 5 études au prix de 74 €HT par étude à choisir parmi nos 1200 titres sur le catalogue
- Conservez -25% sur les études supplémentaires achetées
- Choisissez le remboursement des crédits non consommés au terme des 12 mois (durée du pack)
Consultez notre catalogue d’études sectorielles