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🇰🇷 South Korea /Economy & Trade

Google's monthly active users surpass Naver, but has South Korea's search market really shifted?

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Context piece
  • Google apps recorded 47.68 million monthly active users in South Korea last month, 423,842 more than Naver, after also leading in July.
  • Industry analysts caution that the figures do not prove Google has taken control of the search market because the services and measurement methods differ.
  • Naver still led Google by a wide margin in average monthly usage time and daily active users, while Google's total includes data from services such as Google Assistant, Gemini and Circle to Search.

Google apps have overtaken Naver in monthly active users in South Korea for a second consecutive month, but the figures alone do not show that the search market has changed hands.

According to Mobile Index data from AI technology company Igaworks, Google apps recorded 47,677,456 monthly active users last month, compared with 47,253,614 for Naver. Google led by 423,842 users. In July, Google also held a lead, with 47,022,854 users against Naver's 46,845,017.

It was the first time Google had surpassed Naver since Mobile Index began compiling the figures in March 2021. But Mobile Index calculates the numbers using estimated sales data from the three app stores, Google Play, Apple's App Store and One Store, so the results may differ from actual usage.

It appears that Google's broader range of entry points into its services through Samsung's mobile ecosystem has contributed to the increase in monthly active users.

· Naver officialThe official discussed why Google's measured user base may have grown.

Industry observers say Google usage is clearly rising, but Naver remains ahead in how people use the services. Naver's average monthly usage time per person last month was 396.8 minutes, roughly 5.9 times Google's 66.9 minutes. In July, Naver also had 26.75 million daily active users on average, about 9.43 million more than Google's 17.32 million.

Advertising industry analysts point to another difference in the measurements. Google's monthly active user figure includes not only search but also Google Assistant, which comes preinstalled on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, and the Gemini app. Naver's figure is based on its search app alone. Analysts also say Circle to Search, available on some Galaxy S models, has helped increase Google's figure. The feature can show search results when users circle an object or scene on their screen, but it may also be activated accidentally with a simple touch. A Naver official said the company's own strategy is to create more ways for users to access its AI tab and other services.

Naver is also considering ways to diversify access points so users can reach services such as the AI tab more easily.

· Naver officialThe official described Naver's response.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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