Naver Corp. website on screen in Gimpo, South Korea, September 9, 2021.
Cho Sung Joon | Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
While artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT threaten the search advertising market, South Korean internet giant Naver sees the rise of AI as an opportunity for the company.
Naver is the most used search engine in South Korea. According to Statista, which has a 61.2% market share in terms of monthly active users. In contrast, the ever ubiquitous Google has his 28.55% market share in the country.
AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT pose a threat to search engines by answering user questions directly, rather than presenting a list of web pages that users must browse to find an answer. increase.
This can speed up the user’s search process, assuming all the information displayed is correct.
Fewer people using search engines often leads to a decline in search advertising revenue, which is often the largest source of revenue for operators. In 2022, Alphabet generated over 57% of its revenue, or $162 billion, from Google searches alone.
Like Google, Naver also primarily operates a search engine, but it also has other business units such as content platform Naver Webtoon, multimedia mobile application Snow, fintech arm Naver Pay and Naver Shopping e-commerce platform. I have.
talk to CNBC Cherry Kang In South Korea, Kim says AI will be a “huge opportunity” for businesses. [results]whether it [an] Whether it’s fintech, webtoon recommendations, or webtoon illustration tools, it enhances your shopping experience. ”
He believes AI will only enhance Naver’s offerings, noting that “AI is not new to us, but it is very important to each of our businesses.”
As for user experience, Kim said that AI-powered Naver means an enhanced search experience, shopping experience, and travel recommendations to users.
He believes Naver is the largest site when it comes to finding travel dates. “So to the extent AI can actually improve that experience, I think it’s a game changer for users.”
In the first quarter financial results announcement, Naver has revealed that the company plans to launch a “hyperscale AI” product this summer named HyperCLOVA X. to companies,” he said.
Sales in the first quarter were 2.28 trillion won (1.72 billion won), up 23.6% year-on-year, but net profit was 43.7 billion won, down 71.2% year-on-year. Operating profit was 330.5 billion won, up 9.5% year-on-year.
Naver’s shares traded 1.93% higher on Tuesday and rose 5.56% on Monday after the company released its results in the morning.
