Two browsers. Two AI strategies. Completely opposite approaches to advertising.
Arc: "We will never sell your data and we will never have a business that revolves around ads."
Opera: Just launched AMP Discover in October 2025—sponsored product ads inside their Aria AI assistant.
Opera: The First AI Browser With Ads
Opera quietly became the first major browser to monetize AI conversations directly.
In October 2025, Opera partnered with adMarketplace to launch AMP Discover—a product that embeds sponsored placements (product ads, text ads, tiles) inside Aria, Opera's built-in AI assistant.
How it works: You ask Aria a commercial question, and relevant product ads appear within the chat response. The system uses "vector-based intent matching" to serve ads based on what you're actually asking about.
This is live now. 289 million monthly active users across Opera browsers.
The business results are impressive:
- •Advertising revenue up 44% YoY in Q2 2025
- •E-commerce ad revenue up over 100%
- •ARPU of $1.97 annually across the user base
How to Reach Opera Users
Opera's AI ads run through adMarketplace, not Google Ads. If you want in:
- 1.adMarketplace partnership: AMP Discover is their platform. You'll need to work with them directly.
- 2.Product feed integration: The system works with product ads, so having clean, detailed product data matters.
- 3.Commercial intent focus: Aria ads appear when users express "commercial intent"—shopping queries, product comparisons, service searches.
This is early-stage inventory. Competition is low. If your products fit, it's worth testing.
Arc: The Anti-Ad Browser
Arc takes the opposite position. From their FAQ:
"We will never sell your data and we will never have a business that revolves around ads. In fact, we started this company because we were so unhappy with the way other browsers prioritize advertisers."
Arc's planned monetization:
- •Premium team features for businesses
- •Enterprise productivity tools
- •Potentially payments/fintech integration
What they've explicitly ruled out:
- •Selling user data
- •Ad-supported products
- •Any business model that conflicts with user interests
Arc Search (their mobile browser) includes a built-in ad blocker that blocks ads, trackers, pop-ups, and cookie banners by default.
Why Arc's Position Matters
Arc isn't just neutral on ads—they're actively hostile to the ad ecosystem.
Their "Browse for Me" feature summarizes web pages without you visiting them, which means:
- •Publishers don't get pageviews
- •Ads don't get impressions
- •Your campaigns don't reach these users
Arc has raised $128 million and is valued at $550 million. They have resources to maintain this position long-term.
For advertisers, Arc users are effectively unreachable through traditional means. The only way to reach them is through organic content that earns direct visits—or through other channels entirely.
The Broader Pattern
These two browsers represent a market segmentation:
Ad-supported browsers (Opera, Chrome, Edge): Users accept ads in exchange for free products. Traditional advertising works here.
Privacy-first browsers (Arc, Brave, Firefox with strict settings): Users actively avoid ads. They'll pay for products or accept limitations to escape advertising.
Opera has 289 million MAUs. Arc has maybe 1-2 million (they don't publish numbers). The ad-supported model still dominates.
But the privacy-first segment is growing, especially among tech-savvy, high-income users—often exactly the audience advertisers want to reach.
What PPC Managers Should Do
For Opera:
- •Investigate adMarketplace's AMP Discover program
- •Ensure product feeds are optimized for AI-based matching
- •Monitor this channel—it's new, low competition, and growing
For Arc:
- •Accept you can't reach these users through ads
- •Focus on earning their attention through content
- •Consider this audience segment in your overall marketing mix
For AI browser trends generally:
- •Browsers are becoming AI surfaces, not just page renderers
- •AI assistants in browsers will increasingly show commercial content
- •The line between "organic AI response" and "sponsored result" is blurring
Opera's move validates what many predicted: AI browsers will monetize through contextual ads in AI responses. Others will follow. Arc's position validates the counter-trend: some users will pay premium prices to avoid this entirely. Plan for both.
