Google’s grip on the nearly $300B search advertising business is loosening, The Wall Street Journal’s Suzanne Vranica and Miles Kruppa report. TikTok has recently started allowing brands to target ads based on users’ search queries-a direct challenge to Google’s core business, the authors note. Perplexity, an AI search startup backed by Jeff Bezos, plans to introduce ads later this month under its AI-generated answers. Until now, it has made revenue mostly from a $20-a-month subscription offering that grants access to more-powerful AI technology. The new initiatives add to the pressure on Google from the rise of Amazon.com, which has taken a chunk of search ad spending, the publication adds.

Source: Wall Street Journal October 07, 2024 05:14 UTC