The Google logo is pictured in this illustration from May 13.REUTERS/YONHAP
Google has surpassed Naver in monthly active users (MAUs) on mobile apps in Korea for the first time, and expectations are rising that the combination of generative AI and search could reshape the country’s long-established search and portal market.
Google recorded 47.02 million MAUs in Korea last month, according to Mobile Index, a mobile data analytics service operated by IGA Works that, in earlier reports, calculated "users" by devices. Naver's MAU came in at 46.85 million, 177,837 fewer than Google.
It was the first time Google had overtaken Naver since Mobile Index began compiling the figures in 2021. In December that year, Google had 33.93 million MAUs, about 8 million fewer than Naver’s 41.92 million.
The information technology industry points to Google’s expansion of AI-powered searching and services as a key factor behind the increase. The company has extensively revamped its search function using its generative AI model Gemini. It now offers AI Overviews to summarize search results and has expanded features that let users ask questions through images and voice.
ChatGPT, a rival generative AI, has also continued to gain users. Its MAUs stood at around 5 million as recently as March last year but reached 16.46 million last month — about 2.6 times the 6.31 million MAUs recorded by the domestic portal Daum.
The OpenAI logo is reflected on the screen of a smartphone with the ChatGPT website displayed.YONHAP
MAU figures, however, do not reflect qualitative measures of app use such as time spent or the number of searches. They simply represent the number of people who use an app at least once in a given month, and do not include access through PC web browsers, meaning that it may be too early to conclude that the balance of power in Korea’s search and portal market has shifted.
“Many indicators based on daily active users which measure how people use apps in their everyday lives still show Naver ahead of Google,” an industry source said. “Rankings can differ depending on how they are measured.”
BY SEO JI-WON [kim.hayoon1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
