Bernstein Says Meta May Overtake Google Search in Ad Revenue by End of 2026

AnalystIndustry

โดย Yahoo Finance·

Summary · why it matters

Bernstein analysts said in an August 31 note that Meta Platforms may surpass Alphabet's Google Search in advertising revenue by the end of 2026, and that on an apples-to-apples basis Meta may have already matched Google Search revenue once other Google ad streams such as Maps and Gmail are excluded. In the second quarter of 2026, Meta captured about half of every additional dollar of new digital advertising spending in the industry. Meta's Advantage+ automated ad-buying software was generating more than $75 billion in annualized revenue, with campaigns returning an average of $4.52 for every dollar spent, 22% more than manually structured campaigns, and Meta estimates $130 billion to $145 billion in capital spending for 2026, nearly double the $72 billion spent the year before. Barclays believes new inventory in WhatsApp's Updates tab could add up to $6 billion in incremental ad revenue for WhatsApp in 2026 and up to $19 billion from Threads in 2027, while WhatsApp's paid business messaging service had already surpassed a $2 billion annualized revenue run rate by the fourth quarter of 2025. Google's Search & Other ad revenue still grew 17% in the second quarter of 2026, with overall ad revenue expanding at roughly 14% a year, and hedge fund ownership of Meta fell to 254 funds in the second quarter from 262 in the first, while Alphabet rose to 275 funds from 265.