In the early 2000s, as the internet began to gain traction, Google made a significant impact on the global search market. While Yahoo eventually fell, leading to Google's dominance worldwide, the situation was different in South Korea, where Naver maintained a stronghold.
In response to Google's keyword-based search, Naver developed a rich ecosystem of user-generated content (UGC) and communities through platforms like Knowledge iN, blogs, cafes, and premium content. Their patriotic marketing slogan, "Korean portals answer Korean questions," also contributed to their success. Despite the challenges, Naver managed to hold its ground.
As smartphones became prevalent, Naver faced a second challenge. Google, leveraging the Android operating system, initially monopolized search. Users had to install a separate app or set their homepage in a web browser, which was inconvenient. Nevertheless, Naver remained the 'homepage' for many smartphone users in South Korea.
Moreover, Naver's ecosystem, which integrated various lifestyle services like maps, shopping, webtoons, and blogs into mobile apps, successfully countered Google's challenges, resembling a fortress. For over 20 years, as the internet evolved into the smartphone era, Naver held a dominant position in the South Korean search market.
However, change has arrived in this seemingly unbreakable market due to a fundamental shift in 'search grammar' brought about by artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
According to data from AIGAWORKS' Mobile Index as of July, the Google app recorded 47,022,854 monthly active users (MAU), ranking first in the productivity app category. In contrast, the Naver app had 46,845,017 MAU, falling short by 177,837 users. This marks the first time since the Mobile Index began tracking in March 2021 that Google has surpassed Naver in mobile user numbers.
So, have Naver users switched en masse to Google? Not exactly; rather, more users are turning to the Google app to access the AI service Gemini.
Notably, the rise of generative AI has coincided with a surge in Google's ecosystem. Google Chrome, with 42,457,506 users, ranks third among productivity apps. The deep integration of Google's AI model Gemini and AI search features into the Chrome browser and the Google app has naturally drawn users into the AI search environment. Significant shifts are also occurring in the portal market, with OpenAI's ChatGPT recording 16,456,151 MAU in July, comfortably surpassing Daum, a major portal in South Korea, which had 6,307,395 MAU.
The implications of these figures are clear. While past search competition revolved around connecting as many blogs and internal portal contents as possible, the search landscape in the generative AI era has shifted to accurately understanding user intent and providing immediate, relevant answers and productivity.
Users now prefer AI to summarize conclusions rather than manually clicking through multiple blog links. Google is maximizing this user experience by integrating Gemini across the Chrome browser and the Android OS ecosystem.
However, the game is not over. Naver is also enhancing its AI search technology based on its own large language model (LLM). In this newly initiated AI-driven search era, relying solely on existing content and community strategies will not suffice to retain users. Traditional strategies are no longer effective, and patriotic marketing has lost its impact. The landscape has changed, and the only solution lies in advancing technology.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.