A forecast has emerged that Google could lose the No. 1 position in digital advertising, a spot it has held for more than 20 years, to Meta. It is a sign that Meta’s ad model, which keeps users engaged through feeds and short-form videos, is beginning to overpower search advertising. Naver and Kakao are also shifting their advertising strategies in the same direction.
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Market research firm eMarketer forecast that Meta’s global advertising revenue will reach $243.46 billion in 2026, surpassing Google’s $239.54 billion. It also projected that Meta’s share of the global digital advertising market will edge above Google’s, at 26.8% versus 26.4%.
Google has long maintained its top position in digital advertising on the strength of its dominance in search and the reach of YouTube. If Meta overtakes Google in market share, it would mark the first time Meta has claimed the top spot. eMarketer cited automated advertising tools, AI-based creative production, and short-form services as key drivers of Meta’s growth. The firm said better ad targeting accuracy and higher exposure frequency were behind the gains.
Search advertising only works when users actively enter a query. By contrast, social media platforms such as Instagram focus on short-form, recommendation-driven content. Because ads can continue to be shown while users scroll, these platforms offer more ad inventory than search and are seen as having greater room to deliver results. The same trend is emerging on Korean platforms.
Naver is continuing to run search advertising, as Google does, while expanding ad inventory outside the search box. On April 15, it added ads to the shopping feature “AI Recommendation More.” It is also using local store information and map-based user movement paths for advertising. Its short-form service Clip began carrying image-format ads on April 6. In other words, Naver is broadening its ad business toward making users encounter products and content even without searching for them.
Kakao is adopting a Meta-style advertising model more directly. Within KakaoTalk, it has introduced screens designed to keep users swiping, such as the Friends tab’s “Updates” section and the Now tab’s “Short-form” section. As a result, messenger users are being exposed to more ads outside of conversations. Kakao is seen as choosing a strategy aimed at breaking out of the limited ad space available within a messaging app by leveraging feeds and short-form content.
Lee Jang-seok, a professor in the Department of Media and Communication at Gachon University, said, “Even if Google’s search-centered advertising is the more familiar model, search ultimately requires users themselves to decide what to prioritize, evaluate value, and sort things into categories. With discovery-based ads like Meta’s, however, people can come across ad elements by chance while mindlessly scrolling and sometimes find them interesting, which seems to create a new kind of value judgment.”
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