How Challenger Brands Are Winning the Food & Beverage Search Battle in 2025

When consumers searched for food and beverage products on Google in early 2025, something was missing. Amazon once impossible to avoid pulled back, losing over 42% of its Share of Voice (SOV).

In that gap, YouTube tutorials, Reddit communities, and challenger brands rushed in to fill the shelf. The new leaders aren’t the biggest spender, they’re the most agile, leveraging video, community trust, and structured content to dominate Google’s search engine results page (SERP).

Here’s who’s winning, and why it matters for food & beverage brands

Amazon: Still Present, but Losing Its Grip

• Holistic SOV: 7.3% (−42.4%)
• Where It Declined: Shopping Ads (−84.2%) and Merchant Listings (−14.2%)

Amazon still tops Merchant Listings, but its sharp retreat in Shopping ads created white space for competitors. Challenger brands and retailers optimized product feeds and captured placements once monopolized by Amazon.

YouTube: How Video Became the New Buying Guide

• Holistic SOV: 4.2% (+73.2%)
• SERP Strengths: AI Overviews, recipe tutorials, reviews

Consumers increasingly turn to “how-to” videos before buying. YouTube’s rise shows Google rewarding video-first content inside AI Overviews, making it the go-to channel for recipes, nutrition, and product comparisons.

Reddit: Community Recommendations Drive Trust

• Holistic SOV: 3.7% (+15.4%)
• SERP Strengths: Organic results + People Also Ask (PAA) snippets

Reddit isn’t polished advertising, it’s authentic user conversations. That’s exactly what Google elevated in 2025. Threads about diets, recipes, and product quality now surface in People Also Ask Boxes and AIO, proving that community-driven trust can outrank legacy brand copy.

Walmart & Target: Retailers Fighting to Stay Visible

• Walmart SOV: 4.1% (+29.4%)
• Target SOV: 2.1% (−18.3%)

Walmart maintained visibility by blending Shopping Ads, Organic SERP features, and AI Overviews. Target stumbled but rebounded in Q2 with a +10% gain in Shopping Ads. Retailers who hedge across multiple formats weather volatility better than those leaning on one channel.

Challenger Brands: The Big Winners of Amazon’s Retreat

• Breakout Growth in Shopping SOV
• MoreBeer! +42,183%
• Frog Fuel Collagen Protein +41,433%
• Great Fermentations +41,300%
• Ka’Chava & Thrive Market surged across Shopping + Text Ads

These brands proved that agility beats legacy. By running targeted Shopping campaigns, optimizing feeds, and leveraging niche authority, they captured top positions in a way unthinkable when Amazon dominated.

What Google Rewarded in Food & Beverage Search

• Freshness & Recency: New, updated content outperformed static pages
• Format Diversity: Video, AI Overviews, and PAA improved Above-the-Fold visibility
• Niche Authority: Specialist brands with strong category relevance surged

Strategic Priorities for Food & Beverage Brands in 2025

• Optimize for AI Overviews: Schema markup + structured, answer-rich content.
• Invest in Community Platforms: Reddit, Quora, and YouTube now shape mid-funnel influence.
• Capitalize on Lower CPCs: Amazon’s pullback makes Shopping Ads more cost-effective.
• Blend Formats: Balance Shopping, Text Ads, and Organic to maximize SERP coverage.

Conclusion: The Shelf Has Shifted

The food & beverage aisle on Google no longer belongs to Amazon. Instead, YouTube, Reddit, Walmart, and agile challenger brands are defining discovery. Success now comes from showing up in the right formats not just spending the most.

Want the full competitive breakdown?

Download the complete Food & Beverage Search Intelligence Benchmark Report for detailed Share of Voice charts, historical trends, and brand-by-brand tactical insights.