Nearly 25 million French people now use conversational AIs every month. This figure, from Mediametrie measurements in September 2025, marks a turning point. In three years, ChatGPT and its competitors have gone from technological curiosities to major information channels. For businesses, the question is no longer whether these platforms matter, but measuring where they stand in this new ecosystem.
This study analyzes the visibility of French brands on the four main conversational AIs: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. It is based on data collected between September and November 2025, cross-referenced with publicly available statistics on the adoption of these technologies in France.
Context: Massive and Rapid Adoption
Adoption figures exceed the most optimistic projections from two years ago. According to Mediametrie, 38.1% of French people used a conversational AI in September 2025. Among 15-24 year olds, this rate reaches 73.4%. A quarter of young internet users query these assistants daily.
- 24.5 million monthly users of conversational AIs
- 21.6 million unique visitors for ChatGPT alone
- 1 in 4 searches conducted via AI among those under 30
- 90% of French AI users have tried ChatGPT
Market share distribution reflects OpenAI's dominance. ChatGPT captures 84.47% of AI-driven clicks in France. Behind it, Google Gemini reaches 2.8 million visitors, Mistral AI and Le Chat 1.5 million, Perplexity 1.3 million and Microsoft Copilot 1 million.
France stands out globally. With 4.3% of ChatGPT's global traffic, it ranks fifth behind the United States, India, Brazil and Indonesia. This position is ahead of the United Kingdom (3.7%) and Germany (2.4%), indicating particularly strong adoption in France.
Study Methodology
To evaluate the visibility of French companies, we analyzed the responses of the four main AIs to a set of representative queries. Each sector was tested with generic queries ("best auto insurer France"), comparative queries ("online banks comparison 2025") and recommendation queries ("which gourmet restaurant in Paris").
Evaluation criteria included:
- Presence or absence of the brand in the response
- Position in the response (first mention, list, footnote)
- Context of the mention (positive, neutral, or critical recommendation)
- Consistency across different AIs
In total, 847 queries were submitted, covering 12 business sectors and more than 200 identified French brands.
Results by Sector
Banking and Insurance: The Best Referenced Sector
The financial sector shows the best visibility results. Major French banks (BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole) appear in 78% of responses to sector queries. Online banks (Boursorama, Fortuneo, Hello Bank) achieve comparable scores, benefiting from their strong presence on comparison sites.
| Actor Type | Mention Rate | Average Position |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional Banks | 78% | 2.3 |
| Online Banks | 82% | 1.8 |
| Insurers | 71% | 2.7 |
| Fintech | 45% | 4.2 |
The explanation lies in the nature of the sector. Financial services are the subject of many comparisons, structured reviews and detailed editorial content. These formats correspond exactly to what AIs extract most easily.
E-commerce: Considerable Gaps
E-commerce presents contrasting results. Dominant marketplaces (Amazon, Cdiscount, Fnac) appear systematically. Specialized pure players achieve variable visibility depending on their notoriety and content quality.
Several French DNVBs (Digital Native Vertical Brands) like Le Slip Francais, Respire or Sezane achieve good scores on queries related to their niches. Their media presence and editorial content compensate for their smaller size.
Tech and SaaS: The Premium for Established Leaders
French software publishers suffer from a structural handicap: the dominance of American players in responses. For a query like "best enterprise CRM", AIs cite Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive before possibly mentioning French alternatives.
Exceptions exist. Dassault Systemes regularly appears on CAD/PLM queries. Doctolib unsurprisingly dominates queries related to medical appointment booking. OVHcloud achieves decent visibility on cloud computing queries in French.
Tourism and Hospitality: Dependence on Aggregators
The tourism sector illustrates a recurring phenomenon: aggregation platforms (Booking, TripAdvisor, Google Hotels) capture most of the visibility. Individual establishments, even prestigious ones, struggle to appear outside of queries explicitly mentioning them.
French hotel chains (Accor, Louvre Hotels) achieve average scores. Their visibility strongly depends on the presence of structured content and their positioning in aggregators.
Food and Retail
Carrefour, Leclerc and Auchan appear in the majority of responses to retail queries. Organic chains (Biocoop, Naturalia) achieve good visibility on their niche queries.
The food segment has a particularity: AI responses vary greatly depending on the wording. "Best French chocolate" generates very different responses from "premium chocolate brands France".
Identified Visibility Factors
Cross-analysis of results identifies several determining factors.
Wikipedia presence is the first predictor. Brands with a detailed and up-to-date Wikipedia page appear 3.2 times more often than others. ChatGPT notably places significant weight on this source, which represents 47.9% of its main citations.
Specialized press coverage amplifies visibility. Companies regularly mentioned in sector media achieve better scores. AIs favor sources they identify as experts on a given subject.
Structured content facilitates extraction. Sites correctly using schema.org tags (FAQ, Product, Organization) see their content better understood and more frequently cited. According to our observations, pages with structured data appear 20 to 30% more often in generated responses.
NAP information consistency impacts authority. Companies whose name, address and phone number are identical everywhere (website, Google Business, directories) benefit from better recognition by AIs.
Comparison Between AIs
The four platforms tested exhibit distinct behaviors that impact brand visibility.
ChatGPT relies heavily on Wikipedia, government sites and established media. It tends to favor the best-known brands and adopts a cautious tone in its recommendations. B2C companies with strong notoriety achieve their best scores there.
Claude shows a preference for academic sources and detailed content. It more readily cites in-depth analyses than lists. B2B companies with expert content perform better there than elsewhere.
Gemini naturally integrates Google data (reviews, business listings, trends). Companies with a strong presence in the Google ecosystem benefit from an advantage. It also shows an affinity for Reddit and community discussions.
Perplexity stands out with its search-oriented approach. It systematically cites its sources, which favors well-referenced and recent content. Companies that regularly publish updated content achieve good results there.
Lessons for French Companies
This study reveals a growing gap between companies that anticipated this change and those discovering the subject. Several practical lessons emerge.
SEO investment remains the foundation. Correlations between Google positioning and AI visibility are strong. Companies well-positioned organically mechanically achieve better visibility on AIs that use these same sources.
Presence on trusted sources becomes strategic. Wikipedia, specialized press, professional directories: these platforms serve as endorsements for AIs. Being present and correctly represented there conditions visibility.
Content must be designed for extraction. Explicit Q&As, numerical data, clear statements: formats that facilitate AI work are also those that generate the most citations.
Monitoring becomes necessary. Without monitoring, it's impossible to know what AIs are saying about your company. Factual errors, outdated information or omissions go unnoticed as long as they are not actively sought.
Where Does Your Company Stand?
Discover for free how your brand appears on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.
Test My VisibilityOutlook: What Will Change
The landscape is evolving rapidly. Several trends will accentuate the importance of AI visibility for French companies.
AI integration in purchase journeys is accelerating. Microsoft is pushing Copilot into its products, Apple is preparing its enhanced assistant, Google is deploying its AI Overviews. Traffic from generative AIs increased by 1200% between July 2024 and February 2025 according to Search Engine Land. This growth will continue.
Search behaviors are evolving generationally. Young users, accustomed to direct answers, will not return to link lists. Companies that don't exist in AI responses simply won't exist for this audience.
Competition to be cited will intensify. Today, many companies are still unaware of this topic. Those who start now benefit from a first-mover advantage. In two years, AI optimization will be a standard prerequisite — just as SEO has become.
Practical Recommendations
For French companies wishing to improve their visibility on AIs, here are the identified priority actions:
- Audit your current presence — Query the main AIs about your strategic queries and document the results
- Consolidate Wikipedia — Create or improve your page with verifiable sources
- Structure key information — Implement relevant schema.org tags (Organization, Product, FAQ)
- Harmonize NAP data — Verify the consistency of your information across all directories
- Produce extractable content — Favor Q&A formats, numerical data, comparisons
- Monitor regularly — Set up monitoring for mentions in AI responses
The required investment remains modest compared to traditional SEO budgets. But the potential impact — or the cost of inaction — justifies making it a priority now.
