Gen Z Preference For TikTok Over Google Drops 50%, Data Shows

More U.S. consumers in an Adobe Express survey said they’ve used TikTok for search than in the company’s 2024 survey. But the platform’s position as a Google challenger may be weaker than the headline numbers suggest.

An updated report from Adobe Express, published February 17, surveyed 807 consumers and 200 small business owners in the US about their search habits across platforms. Adobe says the data was collected in January 2026, and that the SurveyMonkey survey was conducted in February 2026.

Forty-nine percent of consumers surveyed said they have used TikTok as a search engine, up 8 percentage points from 41% in Adobe’s 2024 report.

Gen Z Is Pulling Back

Among Gen Z respondents, the share who said they are more likely to rely on TikTok than Google fell from 8% in 2024 to 4% in 2026.

Sixty-five percent of Gen Z still said they’ve used TikTok as a search engine, and 25% found it effective for finding information. But that usage isn’t translating into preference over…