How do small and medium-sized enterprises perceive advertising on Google, Meta, and ChatGPT?

Investing.com - According to a recent survey by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are increasingly turning to search tools integrated with artificial intelligence.

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The report highlights a surge in adoption and future intent for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) through its search and AI overview features, surpassing competitors in practicality and growth.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) remains a dominant force in digital advertising, but the survey indicates a “mild year-over-year softening” in its usage, suggesting small advertisers are reallocating budgets toward generative AI-powered discovery tools.

Generative AI and ChatGPT Experiments

The digital advertising sector is entering a rapid experimentation phase, with a high percentage of SMBs interested in testing OpenAI’s ChatGPT advertising products. Growing interest in generative text and video creation is fundamentally changing the competitive landscape among traditional social media giants.

Analysts find that businesses increasingly favor high-intent search results driven by AI, which offer more direct conversion paths compared to traditional social feeds.

This automation trend is also reflected in the rising usage of AI-supported creative tools.

As SMBs seek to lower barriers to producing high-quality content, demand for platforms offering integrated generation features is expected to grow, potentially redistributing market share among “big tech” advertising giants for the remainder of 2026.

Budget Shifts and Platform Practicality

Survey results highlight a shift in advertiser sentiment, with the functional performance of AI-enhanced search beginning to surpass the broad reach of traditional social media. Google’s AI overview has gained particular appeal, with respondents noting improvements in lead quality and relevance.

In contrast, Meta remains a core component of native advertising, but its slight year-over-year decline suggests some budgets are being redirected to emerging high-intent platforms.

Data shows that the “first-mover” advantage in AI integration is translating into measurable gains in advertiser loyalty.

As AI tools continue to advance technically, a platform’s ability to maintain practicality for SMBs will determine its long-term revenue resilience in an increasingly automated advertising ecosystem.

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