Reworld Media: capturing 80% of search queries for automotive affiliate marketing

Catherine Leval, Sales Director for Performance, Retail Media, and Content-to-Commerce, Reworld Media

Catherine Leval is the Sales Director for Performance, Retail Media, and Content-to-Commerce at Reworld Media. The group publishes several benchmark automotive media brands, including Auto Plus and Le Journal de l’Auto, capturing 80% of automotive-related search queries from French internet users.

In this interview, she breaks down her automotive affiliate marketing strategy, the integration of ai in content production, and the key challenges shaping the market in 2026.

What role does artificial intelligence (AI) play in your content, seo optimization, or monetisation strategies?

Our content is produced through a hybrid editorial workflow, blending human expertise with ai tools. The editorial teams remain central at every stage: defining search intent, choosing angles and structures, verifying information and sources, and conducting final reviews.

Ai tools intervene as support mechanisms, acting as drafting or analysis assistants, but editorial responsibility remains entirely human. Every piece of content is crafted by an editor, verified by a team, and published according to the editorial standards of our automotive media brands.

Have you already adapted your visibility strategies to the era of conversational engines (llms, sge, ChatGPT, Perplexity…)?

We have built the very first geo media offering (generative engine optimization), which is already recognized for its strong authoritative power, as shown in this analysis via Brand Radar. To learn more about our approach and our offering, you can visit genai.reworldmediaconnect.com.

What does the automotive sector represent for Reworld Media?

Thanks to our leading automotive media outlets, particularly Auto Plus and Le Journal de l’Auto, our websites cover 80% of automotive search queries from French internet users (source: IMPLICIT, December 2025).

Which levers or best practices seem most effective today to maximize the roi of affiliate campaigns in the automotive and motorcycle sector?

Social channels are essential to reach high-intent audiences. To achieve this, we leverage our proprietary first-party data, which encompasses 40 million unique ids.

Additionally, our automotive emulator platform, mafuturevoiture.fr, currently allows us to generate over 2,000 leads per month for our partner manufacturers. When synchronized with a dedicated content strategy across our media brands, it significantly strengthens our automotive affiliate marketing strategy and boosts overall campaign performance.

What mistakes or misconceptions do you still see from brands? What advice would you give to avoid them?

Expecting overly high performance right from the initial testing phase. We estimate this learning window to last about one month on average. We strictly need this period to gather actionable insights, establish dos and don’ts, implement optimizations, run a/b tests on media copy and creatives, and allow algorithms to learn before rolling out a truly high-performing campaign.

What emerging trends do you observe for 2026 in the automotive, motorcycle, and mobility sectors?

The industry is heavily challenged by the arrival of emerging manufacturers that are disrupting established market balances. Electric mobility is also causing a major shift in users’ daily routines, bringing forward new products and new requirements that completely reshape driving habits.

In your opinion, what are the main benefits of collaborating with a platform like Affilae?

Performance tracking alongside simplified dashboards, smooth and easy exchanges with dedicated account managers, and a truly collaborative partnership.

What will be your main retail highlights or major projects over the next 12 months?

Our next major editorial highlight will be the 24 Heures du Mans, followed closely by the Paris Motor Show (Mondial de l’Auto) in November.