"AI Replaces Search Bars"... Google Surpasses Naver in Domestic User Numbers for the First Time
Google Records 47.02 Million MAU in July, Naver Follows with 46.85 Million
ChatGPT Hits 16.46 Million... 2.6 Times That of Daum
The proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the dynamics of the domestic mobile search and portal market, which had long been centered on Naver and Daum. For the first time since statistics began to be tracked, Google's monthly active users in South Korea have surpassed those of Naver, while OpenAI's ChatGPT has secured more than twice as many users as Daum.
According to Mobile Index, a service provided by AI tech company IGAWorks, the Google App reached 47,022,854 monthly active users (MAU) last month, ranking first in the productivity app category.
This figure is 177,837 more than Naver App, which ranked second with 46,845,017 users. In June, Google had narrowed the gap with Naver to 245,836 users, and just one month later, succeeded in reversing the rankings.
This is the first time since March 2021, when Mobile Index-related statistics began to be collected, that Google has overtaken Naver in monthly user numbers.
The number of Google App users exceeded 40 million for the first time in May 2023 and surpassed 46 million in May this year. Naver's monthly active users have remained between 43 million and 46 million from January 2023 until last month. In the productivity app user ranking, Google Chrome placed third with 42,457,506 users.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT recorded 16,456,151 monthly users last month, ranking seventh among productivity apps. This is 2.6 times higher than the Daum App's 6,307,395 users. ChatGPT saw its user base surge in April last year, surpassing 10 million for the first time and overtaking Daum, and has continued to widen the gap since then.
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Industry watchers believe the increase in Google App users could be attributed to several factors: the spread of AI model services like Gemini, the growing adoption of ChatGPT, and a rise in usage of search and conversational AI services.
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