A screenshot of Naver's artificial intelligence (AI) Tab / Courtesy of Naver
As generative artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the search engine landscape, Google and Naver are accelerating efforts to integrate advertising into their AI services in a bid to offset soaring infrastructure costs and shore up their legacy ad businesses, with context-driven ads emerging as their preferred solution.
Google has recently opened the door to introduce ads directly into its AI chatbot Gemini, softening its earlier stance that it had no such plans.
During the company’s first-quarter earnings call on April 30, Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler emphasized the longstanding role of advertising in scaling digital platforms.
“Ads have always been a big part of scaling products to reach billions of people,” he said. “And if done well, ads can be really valuable and really helpful commercial information.”
However, he struck a cautious tone, adding, “At the right moment, we'll share any plans as we have said, but we're not rushing anything here."
Google has continued to test paid placements inside the AI Overview feature at the top of its search results, suggesting that extending ad formats into Gemini would be a natural progression.
A screen displays Gemini branding during the company's IPO at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City, N.Y., Sept 12, 2025. Reuters-Yonhap
Naver, which recently reported record first-quarter revenue, is already stepping into the execution phase, announcing plans to begin testing ads within its AI-powered search feature AI Briefing in the second quarter.
The company’s revenue climbed 16.3 percent year-over-year to 3.24 trillion won ($2.22 billion), with its core segment — spanning search, display and commerce ads — up 14.7 percent to 1.84 trillion won.
Source: Korea Times News
