The presence of advertising in the artificial intelligence answers block of Yandex's search results has noticeably grown. According to data from Digital Budget analysts, as reported by Kommersant, by the end of the second quarter of 2026 the share of the AI answers block in the total volume of impressions for the largest advertisers in the financial sector increased from 17% to 30%. Ads are placed at the bottom of the "Alice AI" AI answers in the main search results and are marked with a "Promo" label. The format has been tested since 2025 and is shown only when it matches the context of the user's query and helps solve their task.

How advertising works in AI answers

At Yandex itself, they emphasize that it is impossible to deliberately target this block: there is no separate product for promotion in the quick answers of "Search" or in the chat with "Alice AI." According to the company, to do this you need to launch search promotion in "Yandex Direct," after which ads in the neuro block appear automatically when they match the context. Thus, the neuro feed remains a "black box" for advertisers for now: guaranteed impressions in the block are not sold, and the company cannot fix the reach volume in advance.

Who dominates the neuro block

The structure of impressions in the AI answers block is extremely concentrated. The main advertiser is "Sber," whose ads accounted for 57% of impressions. Second place is taken by Yandex's own financial services with a share of 27%, third — "T-Bank" with 9%. These three players account for 90% of all impressions in the neuro block. Experts interviewed by Kommersant note that priority in this channel effectively belongs to banks, despite Yandex's official position on the absence of targeted placement.

How new a traffic channel is this

Specialists agree that it is still too early to consider the neuro feed an independent source of traffic, but it is already a growing channel of contact with the consumer. According to expert estimates, the traffic growth for banks from this channel generally ranges from 1% to 5%, and for specialized queries the figure may reach higher values. In practice, access to the test version of the block has been granted to only a small number of companies, which further limits competition and strengthens the positions of those already working in this format.

Contradictory data

The sources contain inconsistencies that should be taken into account. First, in the formulations about traffic growth for specialized queries, the range "up to 5% to 10%" partially overlaps the upper bound of the overall range (1–5%), which looks like an inaccuracy in the source data and requires clarification from the analysts. Second, there is a discrepancy between Yandex's statement that it is impossible to deliberately get into the block and that guaranteed impressions are not sold, and the actual picture in which 90% of impressions are concentrated among three major financial players. This means that in practice priority is still determined by the scale of the advertising budget, not by random context matching.

What will happen next

Experts warn: once the format becomes widely available, it risks repeating the logic of the advertising auction in the classic feed, where maximum visibility remains with participants who have large advertising budgets. For business, this means that Yandex's neuro feed is gradually turning from an experimental channel into a full-fledged element of the media mix, where competition for the user's attention in AI answers will only grow.