Back After 6 Years, Daum's 'Real-Time Trends': 5 Questions the Return of Korea's Portal Hot Search Poses to the AI Search Era
Kakao subsidiary AXZ has relaunched the real-time popular search keyword service on the Daum portal — shut down in February 2020 — under the name 'Real-Time Trends,' six years later. This piece offers an in-depth analysis of the rationale and significance of this counter-trend move in the age of AI search and zero-click queries, and what it means for the portal survival race against Naver and Google.
Image Unavailable: Daum's official logo image cannot be directly uploaded to Notion in this environment. A link to the relevant image source is provided in the body instead.
Why should you care now? In 2026, as AI swallows up search, Daum's revival of 'real-time search' is not mere nostalgia — it's a survival strategy.
TL;DR
- Kakao subsidiary AXZ launched a beta of 'Real-Time Trends' on the Daum portal starting March 3, 2026.
- It marks a return exactly 6 years after the service was shut down in February 2020 amid controversies over public opinion manipulation and credibility.
- Real-Time Trends displays a Top 10 keyword list that refreshes every 10 minutes, using AI to synthesize not just search volume but also news, café logs, and web document data.
- A 'guardrail' automatically excludes candidate-related keywords 60 days before an election.
- Naver drew a line, saying "no plans to reintroduce," while Google remains indifferent.
1. The Facts: What Has Returned
Daum's 'Real-Time Trends' displays keywords ranked 1–10 in the upper right of the PC homepage search bar and below the mobile search bar. Rankings auto-refresh every 10 minutes.
Moving beyond the old simple search-volume approach, AXZ combined three technologies:
- AI Issue Briefing (launched August 2022): Issue summaries based on news article clustering
- Today Bubble (launched May 2023): Detection of rapidly rising interest across public web pages
- Café & search log analysis: Utilizing Daum's unique community data
AI synthesizes these three signals to produce an 'Issue Ranking.' AXZ stated: "We hope this helps users discover useful information related to daily life and safety, as well as issues that can form a social consensus."
2. Why It's Trending: Why the Buzz Now
News of Daum's real-time search revival spread rapidly, with major Korean media covering it simultaneously on launch day. Two emotions are intertwined in the reaction.
Nostalgia: Before 2020, real-time search served as a 'thermometer of the times,' offering an instant snapshot of the social mood. Many users fondly remember 'that thing that showed you what was going on at a glance.'
Concern: At the same time, real-time search carries the stigma of being a 'hotbed of public opinion manipulation.' Organized attempts to push or pull specific keywords during political events were repeated, and this was the direct cause of the 2019–2020 shutdown.
3. Context & Background: Why Daum Chose to Go Against the Trend
Daum's real-time search revival is a high-stakes gambit in a survival war. Korea's domestic search market share as of 2026:
| Search Engine | Market Share (Feb 2026) | Naver | 44.1% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 47.1% | Bing | 4.95% | |
| Daum | 1.56% |
Daum, which once co-ruled as a top-two portal alongside Naver, is now in 4th place — behind even Bing. AXZ has been undertaking a full overhaul: rebranding the logo in four colors, adding sports streaming, community issue, and gaming widgets to the home tab. Reports indicate a revival of 'Agora' is also under consideration.
As 'zero-click search' (where AI provides answers directly on the results page) spreads and overall portal traffic declines, Daum is betting that a real-time feed showing what people are reacting to at this very moment will drive users back.
4. Five Key Questions
① Is the Public Opinion Manipulation Problem Solved This Time?
AXZ has reduced reliance on raw search volume, introduced AI composite analysis, and added an automatic exclusion of candidate keywords 60 days before elections. However, 'café log' data can be biased toward internal Daum community activity, leaving room for renewed neutrality controversies.
② Why Did Naver Say 'No Plans to Reintroduce'?
Naver shut down its own real-time search in 2021 and pivoted toward personalized recommendation feeds. Its market share is currently stable, and it appears to have determined that the risks of reintroducing real-time search outweigh the benefits.
③ How Is It Different from Google Trends?
Google Trends is closer to an analytical tool for developers and marketers. The experience of an average user checking 'what's trending right now' directly from the home screen is the unique strength of Daum's Real-Time Trends.
④ Does Keyword Ranking Still Matter in the AI Search Era?
With the rise of AI search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, demand for traditional 'keyword search' is declining. However, the human desire to know "what's happening in Korea right now" is difficult for AI search to fully replace.
⑤ Can Daum's Comeback Attempt Succeed?
In the short term, media attention and re-engagement traffic are expected. However, recovering market share depends not just on real-time search but on a comprehensive improvement of search quality, news curation, and the community ecosystem.
5. Outlook: A New Phase in the 2026 Portal Wars
Daum's move is a bet that "even in an AI-dominated search era, a service that shows the collective interests of humans in real time still has value." If correct, real-time search becomes the catalyst for a portal revival. If wrong, Daum remains a dinosaur of the AI age.
Key things to watch:
References
- Daum Revives Real-Time Search After 6 Years — Yonhap News
- Daum Reintroduces 'Real-Time Search Keywords' After 6 Years with AI Integration — Asia Economy
- In the Era of 'Zero Click' AI... Daum Portal's Bold Move — Chosun Ilbo
- Daum Revives Real-Time Search Amid AI Era — Chosun English
- Daum Reintroduces Real-Time Search Rankings After 6 Years — Chosun English
Image Source
- Daum/Kakao official logo image: Kakao IR Official Homepage