Character AI has run the same App Store ad for a full year, 365 days, and it is still live. The creative is one English line, "Make Your Own Chatbot on c.ai", and it runs untranslated across 10 EU countries, from Bulgaria to Sweden, none of them English-first. One message, one language, held for twelve months in ten markets.
We pulled every App Store ad these apps ran across EU storefronts from Apple's public Ad Repository, the transparency dataset the EU Digital Services Act requires. Here is the survivor board, sorted by how long each app's longest still-running creative has stayed live. Data window ends 11 July 2026.
The survivor board
| App | Distinct creatives | Longest still-running creative | Total ad records tracked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Character AI | 4 | 365 days ("Make Your Own Chatbot on c.ai", 10 countries, still live) | 232 |
| Replika | 7 | 248 days ("Talk with AI companion", en-GB, plus two 365-day veterans) | 226 |
| PolyBuzz | 2 | 97 days ("Chatten mit KI Chatbot", Germany only, still live) | 26 |
A few readings of this table:
- Character AI runs on discipline. Four distinct creatives in the whole year, 232 records, and its top ad has held the full 365 days. It barely tests. The same English headline carries all 10 markets with no local translation, and two of its four creatives are near-identical versions of that one line. When something pays, Character AI leaves it running and stops touching it.
- Replika keeps a stable of long-runners and localizes. Seven creatives, five of them past 200 days, and unlike Character AI it translates: "Always here to listen and talk" runs in German (de-DE) and Spanish (es-ES) across Austria and Spain, alongside English-language runners in Estonia, Finland, and Croatia. Two creatives cleared the full 365 days. Replika also opened a fresh angle, "Someone you'll love to talk to", first seen 22 June 2026, while the proven ads keep running underneath it.
- PolyBuzz is the rising challenger, and it stays narrow. First ad in April 2026, 26 records total, two creatives carrying one German line. It picked exactly one market, Germany, and one message, and has held it 97 days and counting. A small footprint held steady, not a launch sprayed across every country at once.
The two established anchors, Character AI and Replika, reach longevity by different routes. One holds a single English line everywhere. The other translates and keeps a bench of winners. PolyBuzz, the newcomer, is proving one message in one market before it spreads.
Where these apps buy
Every ad on this board ran in App Store search results, the slot you see after typing a query. That holds for all three advertisers, and it holds category-wide: 100% of AI companion App Store ads in this data buy search placement. None of them pays for the browse or Today surfaces.
That fits demand people already feel. Someone searching "AI chatbot" or "AI companion" has the intent formed before they type. These apps meet that intent at the results screen and skip the discovery surfaces entirely.
What the winning copy says
The angle that keeps paying here is a flat statement of what the app does. Character AI's year-long survivor names the action: "Make Your Own Chatbot on c.ai". Replika's runners describe the relationship in plain words, "Always here to listen and talk" and "Talk with AI companion". PolyBuzz says the same thing in German, "Chatten mit KI Chatbot" (chat with AI chatbot). No mood lines, no brand poetry. Each ad states the thing the app is for.
The one real split is translation. Character AI, the longevity leader, does not translate at all and still holds 10 markets for a year. Replika, the app with the deepest bench, does translate into German and Spanish. Both approaches produce 365-day creatives, so the data does not force you either way. If you have one strong English line, it can carry non-English markets. If you have the appetite to localize, Replika shows it holds too.
How to read this for your own category
Longevity is the cheapest performance signal you can get for free. Nobody keeps funding an ad that loses money, so a creative still live after months is one that converts. Pull your own category the same way: list your three closest rivals, sort their ads by how long each has run, and write your first creatives against the survivors. Watch how narrow the winners are too. Character AI holds one line, PolyBuzz holds one market, and both are ahead on longevity. Then check monthly, because a new long-runner appearing is a rival finding a new winner.
See any advertiser's ads yourself
You can pull any advertiser at recao.app, free, no account, in about a minute. Type an app, get its live ads ranked by how long each has stayed up.
Method note: figures are computed from Apple's public Ad Repository (DSA Article 39), across EU storefronts, data window ending 11 July 2026. "Days running" is the span from a creative's first to last recorded impression across those markets. Longevity is a proxy for performance, not a measured conversion rate. We invented no numbers. Refreshed monthly.