Google’s grip on Search slips as TikTok, AI startup mount challenge, WSJ says

Google’s grip on the nearly $300B search advertising business is loosening, The Wall Street Journal’s Suzanne Vranica and Miles Kruppa report. For years, the tech giant has seemed invincible in this corner of the ad market, which is the foundation of its business. Now, rivals are beginning to eat into its lead, and new offerings threaten to reshape the landscape. 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.