Naver's Largest Quarterly Earnings Ever... AI Briefing Expands Mobile Search

Operating Profit Up 38% in Q3 to 525.3 Billion KRW
Record-Breaking Performance Continues from Q2 Thanks to Search and Advertising Businesses

Naver recorded its highest-ever quarterly revenue in Q3, driven by strong performance in its search and advertising businesses. Building on this robust performance, Naver plans to accelerate the enhancement of its search services based on artificial intelligence (AI) and data. The company will also drive growth in its commerce sector by launching 'Naver Plus Store,' an AI-powered personalized shopping recommendation feature, as a separate application.

At the Q3 earnings briefing held on the 8th, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon outlined these management strategies.

The key focus emphasized by Naver in the announced strategy was strengthening its search services. Naver plans to expand the 'AI Briefing' feature, which summarizes search results by understanding user context based on the latest data, to mobile platforms.

CEO Choi said, "Naver is improving search performance by expanding the number of indexed database documents by 50%, focusing on enhancing reliability. Based on a wide range of up-to-date data, we will better understand users' intent and context to easily summarize direct answers through the AI Briefing feature, which will be expanded to integrated mobile search next year."

Regarding the AI search service Cue:, linked with the large language model (LLM) 'HyperCLOVA X,' she stated, "Cue:, a generative AI search, has focused on improving response speed and quality. We have also completed in-house testing of multimodal (simultaneous processing of image, video, audio, and other data) capabilities and will provide an immersive experience next year along with the AI Briefing summary function."

On the advertising sector, which also drove earnings growth alongside search, CEO Choi said, "We are working on enhancing tools that automate ad execution to optimize budget efficiency," adding, "We expect the boundaries between search ads and display ads to gradually blur."

To strengthen the commerce sector, Naver plans to launch Plus Store as a separate app in the first half of next year. Previously, Naver had beta-launched Naver Plus Store, which features an advanced AI-based personalized shopping recommendation function. It provides a hyper-personalized AI shopping experience by analyzing individual preferences and interests to recommend and showcase not only products but also benefits, promotions, and shopping-related content.

In particular, Naver will also enhance benefits for Naver Plus Membership subscribers. CEO Choi emphasized, "From August, we conducted a three-month test of free shipping and free exchange/return benefits for guaranteed delivery products. It was confirmed that these benefits led to increased transaction volume and high user satisfaction without significantly impacting profitability. We will transform into a relational commerce platform that supports brand analysis, marketing, customer management, and price management to secure new loyal customers and potential clients and make it easier to approach them."

Regarding Naver's progress in Saudi Arabia, CEO Choi said, "Sales from the Saudi Ministry of Housing's digital twin platform project were recorded for the first time in Q3," adding, "We expect broad opportunities including super apps, AI models, and data center construction."

This strategic announcement was based on Naver's strong earnings performance. On the same day, Naver reported Q3 consolidated operating profit of 525.3 billion KRW, a 38.2% increase compared to the same period last year. Revenue rose 11.1% to 2.7156 trillion KRW, and net profit increased 48.8% to 530.1 billion KRW.

Revenue from the search platform segment was 997.7 billion KRW, up 11% year-on-year, marking a return to double-digit growth after 10 quarters. Commerce revenue grew 12% to 725.4 billion KRW, supported by collaborations with brands, enhanced membership benefits, and improved delivery quality.

Fintech revenue increased 13% to 385.1 billion KRW, and content revenue rose 6.4% to 462.8 billion KRW. Notably, Japan's LINE Manga achieved record-high monthly active users (MAU) and paid user numbers, driving growth in paid content revenue. Cloud revenue grew 17% year-on-year to 144.6 billion KRW.