Google Display Network averages $0.83 CPC and $3.85 CPM. TikTok Ads is bought on CPM only, averaging $9.90. Analysis for France in 2026.
France is the second-largest digital ad market in continental Europe, with strong programmatic adoption and a more permissive consent culture than Germany — opt-in rates trend closer to the UK. The CNIL (France's data authority) is, however, among Europe's most active enforcers and has issued some of the largest GDPR fines on record against Google, Amazon, and others. CPMs trend roughly 10% above US baselines. France's audiovisual landscape is unusual: TF1, M6, and France Télévisions retain meaningful share via their digital platforms, and French-language creative is effectively mandatory — direct English translations consistently underperform. Retail media (Carrefour Links, Auchan) is growing fast.
Display advertising across Google's network of partner sites
Short-form video advertising on TikTok
The auction, the creative, the budget floor — the three things you actually need to know before picking a platform.
GDN buys impressions across 2M+ publisher sites via a real-time auction. You can bid CPC or CPM depending on the campaign goal. CPCs are 4–7x lower than search, but conversion rates are also lower — it's a top-of-funnel channel, not a decision-point channel.
Responsive Display Ads: 15 images (1200×628 landscape, 1200×1200 square, 1200×1500 portrait), 5 logos, 5 short headlines (30ch), 5 long headlines (90ch), 5 descriptions (90ch). Google auto-assembles.
$30–75/day gets a display campaign to statistical signal, though retargeting audiences reach signal faster and are the recommended entry point for smaller budgets.
TikTok Ads runs on CPM ($8–12 typical, higher for premium placements like TopView). CPC is available but the platform's optimization heavily favors CPM-bid campaigns. Auction density is lower than Meta but growing quickly; creative quality dominates.
9:16 vertical video (1080×1920), 9-60s (best performance 15-30s), native-feeling — polished ads underperform UGC-style creative here by 2-3x. Sound-on is standard. Captions optional but boost completion.
$500/day ($15K/month) is the practical floor for the Traffic and Conversion objectives to exit learning phase in a reasonable window. Smaller budgets work for Awareness and Video View goals.