Brave Browser Launches Ads in Its Search Engine Amid Surging Popularity

Brave Browser, founded by former Mozilla member and JavaScript creator Brendan Eich, is known for its built-in blockers that automatically prevent trackers from monitoring users, enhancing privacy protection.

The browser has also launched its own search engine, Brave Search, which, like DuckDuckGo, focuses on user privacy. However, unlike DuckDuckGo, Brave Search uses its own search index rather than relying on third-party results.

After several years of operation, Brave Search now boasts a monthly search volume of 843 million. Consequently, Brave Search is moving towards commercialization by introducing ads within its search engine.

Initially, Brave tested this with brands like Amazon Advertising, Dell, and Fubo. Following successful tests, Brave is now officially offering ad placements to all advertisers through Brave Search.

Despite emphasizing that the search engine does not track users or use collected data for targeted ads, Brave Search does enable ad measurement by default. This collects a minimal amount of user information to assess ad performance, which users can disable in the settings.

For advertisers, Brave Search offers a 14-day free trial to test ad performance before committing to a full campaign. Billing is based on a cost-per-click model, with prices varying depending on the keywords.

Here are the latest stats from Brave (as of May 2024):

• Browser: Monthly active users increased from 73.55 million to 78.95 million
• Browser: Daily active users increased from 27.46 million to 28.64 million
• Browser: Average daily active users increased from 26.10 million to 27.27 million
• Search Engine:Monthly search volume increased from 818.67 million to 843.02 million
• Search Engine:7-day average searches increased from 26.31 million to 28.05 million
• Search Engine:28-day average searches increased from 26.30 million to 27.25 million