Where a Google-and-Meta plan stops working
A plan copied from the home market usually buys Google search and Meta social in every country. In several of our 32 markets the local platforms sell search, messaging or marketplace inventory that this plan never touches, and in two markets the global platforms are not a working route at all. This briefing documents what each local platform says it sells, from its own advertiser pages, and sets out the order of checks we run before splitting a multi-country budget.
Executive findings
- 1
NAVER sells search advertising through its own advertiser platform, and Kakao sells performance, reserved, message and search ads through Kakao Moment. Neither is bought through Google Ads or Meta Ads Manager.
Documented: official source. Scope: South Korea; NAVER Search Ads and Kakao Business official pages, as of . [1]
- 2
LINE Yahoo for Business sells one product family, LY Ads, covering search ads and auction-based and reserved display ads across Yahoo! JAPAN and LINE inventory.
Documented: official source. Scope: Japan; LINE Yahoo for Business service page, as of . [3]
- 3
Seznam says Sklik ads run in Seznam.cz search, on the Zboží.cz shopping comparison site and across Czech partner websites, and claims reach of over 97% of the Czech internet population (platform claim, not independently verified).
Documented: official source. Scope: Czechia; Seznam Sklik page, as of . [4]
- 4
Mercado Libre’s developer documentation states Mercado Ads is available only in Brazil, Mexico and Chile, with Product Ads, Brand Ads and Display formats.
Documented: official source. Scope: Mexico and Brazil; Mercado Libre developer documentation, as of . [6]
- 5
Google’s publisher policy notice of 10 March 2022 refers to the suspension of Google advertising systems in Russia.
Documented: official source. Scope: Russia; Google Publisher Policies Help, as of . [9]
Method and limitations
- Question
- Which locally sold ad platforms does a standard Google-and-Meta plan miss in our markets, and what has to be checked before buying them?
- Written for
- Heads of growth and international marketing managers planning launches in more than one country.
- Decision at stake
- Which platforms enter each market’s plan, and in what order budget is split across markets.
- Sources
- Each platform’s own advertiser, help or developer pages, opened on the access date. We quote what each page says the platform sells; reach claims are labelled as the platform’s own.
- Period
- Pages as published on 2026-10-17.
- Markets
- KR, JP, CZ, PL, MX, BR, CN, RU, from the 32 markets in the FOCUSADS registry.
- Definitions
- Available: the platform’s own pages show the ad product sold to advertisers in that market.
- Eligible: the specific advertiser, with its entity, category and billing, can open and fund an account. Availability does not imply eligibility.
- Paused market: FOCUSADS does not plan paid activity there until a legal and sanctions review is complete.
- Limitations
- We document what each platform sells. We do not publish market-share or audience figures without an independent source.
- Foreign-advertiser eligibility for Chinese platforms and Yandex’s current offer for advertisers in Türkiye were not verified for this article.
- A platform listed here is a research record. FOCUSADS execution in each market is shown separately on the market page.
South Korea: two local platforms before the global ones
Documented: official source
NAVER sells search advertising through its own advertiser platform at searchad.naver.com. Kakao sells advertising through Kakao Moment, whose business guide lists performance ads, reserved ads (보장형, bought for fixed delivery), message ads delivered in KakaoTalk, and search ads. A plan for a Korean launch that only funds Google Search and Meta has no line for either.
The practical consequence is setup time. Each platform needs its own account, business verification, creative specifications and conversion tag, and the Korean landing page has to work on the platforms’ in-app browsers.
Japan: LINE and Yahoo! JAPAN sold together
Documented: official source
LINE Yahoo for Business sells LY Ads as one product family: search ads, auction-based display and reserved display. For a consumer launch this is a third major buying platform next to Google and Meta, and the creative needs Japanese copy written for each placement.
Czechia and Poland: local search and a local marketplace
Documented: official source
Seznam’s Sklik places ads in Seznam.cz search results, on Zboží.cz and across Czech partner sites. For small local-service budgets this matters because a Czech searcher may use Seznam instead of Google for the same query.
In Poland, Allegro sells advertising to sellers on its marketplace: sponsored offers bought per click with daily and total budgets, display ads bought per impression, fixed-fee highlights, video, and Google Ads campaigns run through Allegro. These require an Allegro seller account and live offers, so they belong in the plan only for advertisers that sell there.
Mexico and Brazil: marketplace search with its own rules
Documented: official source
Mercado Libre documents Mercado Ads for Brazil, Mexico and Chile. Product Ads promote existing listings in search results and on product pages, billed per click within a daily budget. The seller learning centre says sellers need MercadoLíder status and a green reputation to start, and that real estate, vehicles and services cannot use Product Ads. Brand Ads and Display are sold to brands and official stores.
China and Russia: gates before channels
Documented: official source
Baidu Marketing sells search and feed advertising, Tencent Ads sells inventory across Tencent properties, and ByteDance’s Ocean Engine sells brand, search, ecommerce and local advertising on Douyin and Toutiao. Whether a foreign advertiser can open an account, which documents are required and how a landing page must be hosted are questions for each platform and for local counsel. FOCUSADS lists mainland China as paused until that review is done.
Google’s own publisher policy notice records the suspension of Google advertising systems in Russia from March 2022. Yandex sells its own ad products. Any activity in Russia also needs a sanctions review, so Russia is a paused market in our registry and the planner will not recommend channels there.
Funding local tests without inflating the budget
Illustrative model, not a benchmark
When a local platform covers the same intent as a global one, fund the test from the line it overlaps with. In the example below a Korean search budget is split so that NAVER gets a readable test while total spend stays the same.
| Line | Copied home-market plan | Market-adjusted plan |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search | 6,000 | 3,000 |
| NAVER Search Ads | 0 | 3,000 |
| Meta | 4,000 | 2,500 |
| Kakao Moment | 0 | 1,500 |
| Total media | 10,000 | 10,000 |
Assumptions
- Total monthly media of 10,000 in the plan currency is fixed by the owner.
- Each test line must reach the planner’s minimum readable spend for its channel type; the figures here are placeholders for that rule.
- Lines are rebalanced after the first full test cycle on cost per qualified outcome, using the same conversion definition everywhere.
What we would test, in order
| Step | Measured by | Counts as success when |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm availability and advertiser eligibility for each local platform in writing or from the platform’s own pages. | Account opened and funded, tag firing, category approved. | Every planned line has a verified account route before budget is committed. |
| Run the local and global search lines side by side with one conversion definition. | Cost per qualified outcome and share of new customers per line. | The local line meets the market’s target cost per outcome within one test cycle, or its budget returns to the global line. |
| Check overlap in reported conversions between platforms against your own order or CRM data. | Platform-reported conversions minus de-duplicated conversions. | Budget decisions use de-duplicated outcomes. |
Market check before the budget split
Run these rows for every market. A plan line exists only when the last column is filled.
| Market | Local platform documented | What it sells | Gate to clear first |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea | NAVER Search Ads; Kakao Moment | Search; performance, reserved, message and search ads | Korean business verification, Korean landing page |
| Japan | LY Ads (LINE Yahoo) | Search; auction and reserved display | Japanese creative per placement |
| Czechia | Seznam Sklik | Search, Zboží.cz, partner sites | Czech-language ads and landing page |
| Poland | Allegro Ads | Sponsored offers, display, highlights, video | Active Allegro seller account |
| Mexico, Brazil | Mercado Ads | Product Ads, Brand Ads, Display | Seller status; category not excluded |
| China | Baidu, Tencent Ads, Ocean Engine | Search, feed, social, ecommerce | Legal, entity and hosting review (paused) |
| Russia | Yandex ad products | Search and network ads | Sanctions review (paused) |
How this connects to our method: Assign every channel a role
References
- 네이버 검색광고 (NAVER Search Ads), NAVER, accessed
- 카카오모먼트 (Kakao Moment) business guide, Kakao Business, accessed
- LINEヤフー広告 (LY Ads: search and display), LINE Yahoo for Business, accessed
- Sklik: reklama na Seznamu, Seznam.cz, accessed
- Rozwiązania reklamowe dla sprzedających (Allegro Ads), Allegro Advertising, accessed
- What is Mercado Ads?, Mercado Libre Developers (Global Selling), accessed
- Advertise on Mercado Libre and attract more customers, Mercado Libre Seller Learning Center, accessed
- Mercado Ads introduction, Mercado Libre Developers, accessed
- Regional Monetization Pause Policies, Google Publisher Policies Help, accessed
- Yandex Ads, Yandex, accessed
- 百度营销 (Baidu Marketing), Baidu, accessed
- 腾讯广告 (Tencent Ads), Tencent, accessed
- 巨量引擎 (Ocean Engine), ByteDance, accessed