Digital advertising in France - statistics & facts

France is known for its long history of advertising innovation. Long before Jean-Claude Decaux pioneered the concept of out-of-home (OOH) advertising in the 1960s, the country’s most famous landmark had temporarily been turned into a giant advertising billboard by car manufacturer Citroën projecting its name on the Eiffel Tower in 1925. Nearly a century after this memorable campaign, France finds itself at the forefront of another fundamental transformation, namely the digitalization of the European advertising industry. Thanks to rising internet penetration rates and the ever-expanding demand for online media content, marketers in France focus their attention and budgets on digital promotion more vividly than ever. In 2021, France ranked among Europe’s largest digital ad markets, just behind the UK and Germany.

France’s digital advertising landscape at a glance

The digital advertising industry in France withstood the severe economic headwinds caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2022, digital advertising spending in France amounted to 8.49 billion euros, managing to sustain an upward trend, that only slightly impeded in 2020 amid the COVID-19 outbreak. On top of that, since 2021 digital has overtaken traditional ad spend and is projected to reach over 60 percent of the total ad spend shares in 2023. Hence, companies are looking to serve relevant advertising messages based on audience behavior and preferences, and seeing how rapidly the pandemic has accelerated the demand for digital content and solutions among consumers, it is safe to say that the internet will be the primary advertising playground of the future.

The power trio: search, social and mobile

Search was the most popular digital advertising format in France in 2022. According to the latest reports, search campaigns drew around 3.7 billion euros in investments. They thereby accounted for roughly 44 percent of total digital ad expenditures that year. Countless online users embark on their customer journeys via Google each day, but even though the platform has become an essential pillar of the digital advertising sphere, French regulators are also cracking down on the search giant’s advertising technology and tracking practices more forcefully than ever. Another format that has been attracting increased attention from digital ad buyers is social media. Platforms such as Instagram or TikTok draw millions of French online users each day, serving as one-stop-shops for brand discovery and product recommendations. In 2022, social media ad spend in France increased by 10 percent and reached over 2.2 billion euros. Lastly, when it comes to devices, mobile advertising has been gaining strong traction and is estimated to reach half of the advertising spend in the country by 2026.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Valentina Dencheva, Apr 17, 2023

Key insights

Digital ad spend worldwide
626.86bn USD
Digital ad spend in Europe
96.9bn EUR
Digital ad spend in France
8.49bn EUR
Get more insights

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Digital advertising spending in France from 2014 to 2022 (in billion euros)

Online Advertising

Digital ad spend in France 2014-2022

Share of digital in advertising spending in France from 2019 to 2023

Online Advertising

Digital share of ad spend in France 2019-2023

Ad spending of the digital advertising industry in France 2017-2027 (in billion dollars)

Online Advertising

Ad spending of the digital advertising industry in France 2017-2027

Related topics

Recommended

5

Recommended statistics

Overview

6

Overview

Overview of the French market

5

Overview of the French market

Search

3

Search

Social

6

Social

Display

5

Display

Programmatic

5

Programmatic

Mobile

3

Mobile

Agencies

3

Agencies

Consumer insights

7

Consumer insights

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Digital advertising worldwide
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Social media advertising and marketing in Europe
Social media advertising and marketing in Europe

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