Internet platforms: players, super-apps, trends, regulation, and how to crack the cases
Examples of platforms by region, super-apps in Asia and the Gulf, trends from 2024 to 2026, regulation basics, and typical case prompts.
Industry brief, with a one-minute summary: Internet platforms, marketplaces and digital adsFirm processes and online tests change from year to year and differ by office. Use this to prepare, and confirm the exact current steps on the firm's own careers page.
Key takeaways
- Platforms win locally. A leader in one country can lose in the next because network effects are built city by city and country by country.
- Common traps: Treating GMV as revenue.
- Advertising passed a trillion dollars.
- Regulators acted on gatekeepers. On 23 April 2025 the European Commission fined Apple EUR 500 million and Meta EUR 200 million, the first fines under the EU Digital Markets Act (Noerr).
- Super-apps reached profit. Grab reported its first full year of net profit in 2025, with revenue up 20 percent to about USD 3.37 billion (Grab).
Key idea
Platforms win locally. A leader in one country can lose in the next because network effects are built city by city and country by country.
| Region | Examples |
|---|---|
| US and global | Alphabet (Google, YouTube), Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), Amazon, Uber, Airbnb, Netflix |
| China | Tencent (WeChat), Alibaba (Taobao, Alipay through Ant Group), ByteDance (Douyin, and TikTok abroad), Meituan, PDD |
| India | Flipkart (owned by Walmart), Eternal (Zomato and Blinkit), Swiggy, Meesho, Urban Company, Paytm |
| Southeast Asia | Grab, Sea (Shopee), GoTo (Gojek and Tokopedia) |
| Gulf | Careem (ride-hailing owned by Uber; the Careem super-app majority owned by e&), Noon, Talabat |
| Africa and Latin America | Jumia, Takealot (Africa); Mercado Libre, Rappi, iFood (Latin America) |
So-what
Super-apps grew where many people got their first smartphone and first digital payment at the same time, as in China, Southeast Asia, and parts of the Gulf.
A super-app bundles many services in one app: rides, food and grocery delivery, payments, lending, insurance, and bookings. The idea is economies of scope: one user base, one payment wallet, and one brand serve many needs, so the cost of winning a customer is shared across services and the data from one service helps sell another. WeChat and Alipay in China, Grab in Southeast Asia, and Careem in the Gulf follow this model. It is hard to copy in markets where people already use separate best-in-class apps.
Trends from 2024 to 2026 (checked 28 September 2026)
- Advertising passed a trillion dollars. In June 2025 WARC projected global ad spending of about USD 1.16 trillion for 2025, up 6.2 percent, and expected Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta to take nearly 55 percent of spending outside China in 2025, rising to about 56 percent in 2026 (The Drum, citing WARC).
- Regulators acted on gatekeepers. On 23 April 2025 the European Commission fined Apple EUR 500 million and Meta EUR 200 million, the first fines under the EU Digital Markets Act (Noerr). In the US, a federal court ruled in April 2025 that Google illegally monopolized parts of ad technology. On 2 September 2026 the court rejected the government's request to force a sale of Google's AdX ad exchange and ordered behavioural remedies instead: rules on how Google's ad tools must work with rivals, for six years (Tech Policy Press, September 2026). Appeals are possible.
- Super-apps reached profit. Grab reported its first full year of net profit in 2025, with revenue up 20 percent to about USD 3.37 billion (Grab).
- AI is changing search and ads. AI answers inside search engines and chat assistants may change how many ad slots exist and how users click through to websites. The impact on ad revenue is still uncertain.
Platforms face competition law (for example the EU Digital Markets Act for very large "gatekeepers"), content and consumer protection rules (such as the EU Digital Services Act), and data privacy laws that limit how user data is used for ads. Rules for gig workers such as drivers and riders are changing in many countries, including the EU's platform work rules. Some countries limit foreign ownership or business models, for example India's rules for foreign-owned e-commerce marketplaces. Fintech services inside super-apps need financial licences.
| Case prompt | Structure hint | First driver to check |
|---|---|---|
| Our delivery marketplace grows GMV but loses money | Contribution per order (take rate, incentives, delivery cost) and fixed costs | Incentives per order and delivery cost per order, by city |
| Should our super-app add lending or insurance? | Customer need, data advantage, licence, risk, capital, partner or build | Share of active users with enough payment history to assess credit |
| Advertising revenue fell 10 percent | Users x time x ad load x price (CPM or CPC) | Whether volume (impressions) or price (CPM) fell |
| Should we launch our marketplace in a new city? | Demand, supply, competition, cost to reach liquidity, time to break-even | Cost to attract enough supply for short waiting times |
| Should we raise our commission to restaurants? | Revenue gain versus restaurant exit, menu price rises, and order loss | How many restaurants could leave or list elsewhere |
So-what
In platform cases, always look at both sides of the market. A move that helps one side often hurts the other.
Treating GMV as revenue. Ignoring incentives when judging unit economics. Assuming network effects are global when they are local. Forgetting multi-homing: drivers and riders often use two apps. Looking at only one side of the marketplace. In ad cases, forgetting to split the change into volume (impressions) and price (CPM).
A home services marketplace in India handles GMV of INR 2,000 crore a year and earns revenue of INR 300 crore. It pays incentives equal to 5 percent of GMV. What are the take rate and the net take rate after incentives, in percent? Give the net take rate.
Related modules: "Unit economics and subscription businesses" (case type) practices contribution per order; "Market entry" and "Market expansion" fit new cities and countries; "Pricing" fits commission and fee changes; "Competitive response" fits price wars. See also the payments and fintech module for wallets and the software and SaaS module for subscription metrics.
What is an indirect network effect?
An app's ad revenue fell while its users grew. Which split helps most?
Why do super-apps try to add financial services?
Sources for this lesson (6)
- WARC: the trillion-dollar milestone, record global ad revenues
- The Drum: Alphabet, Amazon and Meta control over half the global ad market (June 2025, citing WARC)
- Noerr: European Commission imposes first fines under the DMA against Apple and Meta (April 2025)
- Tech Policy Press: a deep dive into the antitrust remedies that spared Google's ad tech business (September 2026)
- Grab: fourth quarter and full year 2025 results, first full year net profit (official)
- Recognized public explanations of case-interview concepts and frameworks
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