Answer extracted from the Pod Save America podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How has the definition of 'search' changed and what platforms are now part of the search landscape?
Google remains the largest search player with dominant market share and revenue, but the concept of "search" itself has fundamentally changed. Users now search simultaneously across multiple platforms—TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini—rather than choosing a single search engine. This fragmented, multi-platform search behavior reshapes how information reaches voters and consumers.
The shift reflects a deeper change in how people spend time online. Rather than opening Google and conducting a single search, they're simultaneously navigating several platforms, each serving different search behaviors and information needs.
As Danielle Butterfield explains in this episode of Pod Save America, Google's search revenue remains the largest and most lucrative in the digital landscape. However, this doesn't mean Google owns the search experience anymore. When researchers at Priorities USA examined where less politically engaged voters actually find information, they discovered these audiences are spread across platforms Google can't control—platforms that weren't even considered "search" engines five years ago.
The traditional definition of search as "someone opening a search engine and typing a query" is now outdated. Today, a TikTok user discovering information through the 'For You' page, an Instagram user scrolling Reels, or someone asking ChatGPT a question are all performing search behaviors. They're looking for information, validating opinions, or exploring topics—the core function of search—but on platforms not designed as search engines.
Why Multiple Platforms, Not Multiple Choices
The key distinction is this: people aren't choosing between platforms. They're using them in parallel. This simultaneity fundamentally changes how information flows and how messaging reaches target audiences. A voter may check Google for news, TikTok for cultural commentary, Instagram for peer validation, and ChatGPT for explanations—all in the same hour, sometimes the same session.
This behavior matters enormously for political campaigns, content creators, and anyone trying to reach an audience. The old model—optimize for Google, reach everyone—no longer works. A message that lands on Instagram's algorithm may never reach YouTube viewers, and AI chatbot users exist in an entirely separate information ecosystem.
Discussed at length in the full episode, Priorities USA's research into how the 2028 election will unfold is built on this insight: candidates and organizations must design messaging strategies for a fragmented search landscape, not a Google-dominated one.
"Nine out of the ten top YouTube ads in 2024 were just 30-second ads that ran on TV first. We are quite literally practically taking 30-second ads that we run on TV and then putting them on YouTube and expecting people to watch them—and that is quite literally lighting money on fire."
Danielle Butterfield — Executive Director, Priorities USA. Butterfield joined Priorities USA in 2017 following the Hillary Clinton campaign, initially as Digital Director. She negotiated to build an in-house team focused purely on innovation rather than working with outside consultants. Under her leadership, Priorities USA transformed from a traditional presidential super PAC into an organization anchored in digital research, infrastructure, and innovation.
This quote reveals how misaligned traditional advertising assumptions still are with multi-platform reality. Campaigns were spending millions repurposing TV ads for YouTube without understanding that YouTube users have entirely different viewing habits and expectations than television audiences. The same mistake—failing to adapt messaging to platform—is being repeated across TikTok, Instagram, and AI platforms.
If you want to understand how voters actually consume information in 2026 and beyond, listen to the full conversation, where Butterfield details Priorities USA's groundbreaking research into search and media behavior across multiple platforms.
Key takeaways
- Google maintains the largest search market share and revenue, but no longer owns the search experience.
- Search behavior now spans TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, ChatGPT, and Gemini simultaneously rather than sequentially.
- People use multiple platforms in parallel to find information, validate opinions, and explore topics, fragmenting audience reach.
- Traditional campaigns still repurpose TV-style ads for digital platforms without adapting to each platform's unique search and viewing behavior.
See also
What was the methodology and scale of the Priorities USA search behavior study?
The study analyzed approximately six million searches from opted-in users who shared their behavioral data with a third-party provider. It covered two time periods: late 2024 and a portion of 2025.
How does Priorities USA study the media habits of less politically engaged voters?
Priorities USA runs an always-on survey operation where participants are paid to send screenshots of their screen-time apps, which are then validated against actual behavioral data to understand which platforms less engaged voters are truly using.
What did Priorities USA's post-2024 research reveal about YouTube consumption and vote behavior?
Priorities USA found that YouTube consumption was more predictive of vote choice and vote swing from 2020 to 2024 than age, demographic, or geographic factors. Men watching more than three hours of YouTube per day showed among the highest vote swing toward Trump of any cross-tab in their research.