# AI is lifting Meta’s ad business and squeezing Google Search, and the two are now almost the same size

URL: https://ai-pulse.aglaganova.com/blog/ai-is-lifting-metas-ad-business-and-squeezing-google-search-and-the-two-are-now-almost-the-same-size
Published: 2026-11-04
Author: Roman Aglaganov, Full-stack developer
Category: Industry
Region: Global
Tags: search, work

> Meta’s ad revenue grew 26% last quarter, against 12% for Google Search. Both are spending record sums on AI, and both share prices have fallen.

![Illustration: two grey columns of stacked blocks side by side, nearly the same height, one with a black arrow climbing past the other and a red tip](https://ai-pulse.aglaganova.com/api/media/file/meta-google-ads-1.png)

Google Search has long been the larger of the two advertising giants. After the third quarter of 2026, CNBC says, the two are roughly equal in size. Meta’s advertising revenue grew 26% to $63.1 billion, while revenue from Google Search and other grew 12% to $63.4 billion. The gap in growth rates is Meta’s widest since 2021.

## Why AI helps Meta

Meta has put AI into its advertising tools, with a business assistant that helps advertisers set up campaigns and recommends changes. Meta’s finance chief, Susan Li, said advertisers who adopted its recommendations saw almost 5% more conversions and increased their spending 9% compared with similar advertisers who did not, and that nearly 10 million advertisers used at least one of its AI tools in the quarter. These are Meta’s own figures.

## Why it is harder for Google

Google is also using its Gemini models across its ad systems, and searches hit a record. But chatbots such as ChatGPT and Claude are becoming an alternative to search, and Google’s own AI Overviews and AI Mode answer more questions directly, so people click fewer links. Nate Elliott, an analyst at Emarketer, told CNBC that if people find AI tools they prefer, a shift in search habits could be “potentially catastrophic for Google’s ad business.”

## What investors think

Both companies are spending heavily: Google expects capital spending of up to $205 billion this year and Meta up to $145 billion. CNBC reports that Alphabet’s shares fell more than 12% after its results, its worst day on record, and Meta’s fell 14% in October. Google is less exposed, with ads now less than two-thirds of its revenue and its cloud business growing fast, while Meta still gets about 98% of its sales from ads. The race is no longer only about building AI, but about which business models it strengthens and which it erodes.

## Sources

- [CNBC: Why AI is boosting Meta’s ad business while hurting Google search](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/01/ai-meta-ads-google-search.html)