Sber has sharply intensified the promotion of GigaChat on federal TV. In the first half of 2026, the volume of advertising for the AI assistant increased by approximately 4 times compared to last year. At certain periods, it accounted for up to 14% of all the bank's television advertising.
Yandex acts noticeably calmer: its AI products accounted for about 5.5% of the company's TV promotion. They primarily focus on online, using television selectively.
The reason may be the difference in reach. According to the latest Mediascope data, "Alice AI" was used by 14.3% of Russians over 12 years old, while GigaChat was used by 4%. DeepSeek was in between with 9.4%.
Experts believe that Yandex has already established itself as a leader and can now focus more on user engagement. Sber needs to quickly close the gap, so mass advertising on TV becomes one of the ways to bring GigaChat to a wider audience.
However, the battle is no longer just for brand recognition. In 2025, Yandex invested 55 billion rubles in search and AI, and experimental monetization formats for "Alice AI" generated about 2 billion rubles in revenue.