Google's search dominance in travel faces new challenges

eMarketer predicts that Google's U.S. search ad market share will fall below 50% by 2025, even before OpenAI adds advertising

A few years ago, regulation was widely seen as the biggest threat to Google's travel business. Today, a new and potentially greater challenge has emerged: competition.

Key takeaways

TikTok's growing influence: Many users now turn to TikTok for travel inspiration, bypassing Google for trip planning. Despite a potential U.S. ban, TikTok has introduced ad formats targeting travelers, posing a direct challenge to Google's dominance in travel advertising;

SearchGPT's entry: OpenAI's SearchGPT, a browser-based search engine that provides real-time updates on news, maps, weather and more, recently launched with plans to include advertising;

Impact on Google: According to Thomas Reiner, a partner at Altimeter Capital, the initial impact of SearchGPT will be a gradual shift of travel discovery queries away from Google. "Next year, we'll start to see a tangible impact on the health of Google's travel ad network," Reiner told Skift.

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