 |
|
In search, biggest
only get bigger
Growth in search usage is among the top engines
By Diego Vasquez
All the buzz, both among users and advertisers, is in search,
and there's now more and more talk of the new search engines that are arising to challenge
the established biggies.
But so far it's just talk. Even against the new challengers, the big search engines
are getting bigger, both in terms of user traffic and ad dollars.
Two new reports tell us that search engine use continues to increase at a
steady clip but only among the larger sites, and that the rate of that growth is being
dwarfed by the speed at which advertisers are spending money to be placed on those top
sites.
Looking at these numbers, it's no surprise that AOL is
revamping to a more ad-based
model to directly challenge Yahoo by allowing more users to access its features for
free.
A new report by internet tracking firm Hitwise outlines the continued growth
of internet search engine usage, attributing most of it to the web’s big
three: Google, Yahoo and MSN.
According to Hitwise, one out of every 14 U.S. internet visits during the
week ended Oct. 30 went to the top 10 search engines, a 7 percent increase over the same
period a year ago, the week ended Nov. 1, 2003.
This is so despite the heavily hyped launches of five new engines:
Vivisimo.com, Clusty.com, AllTheWeb.com, A9.com and Snap.com. Users are not switching in
appreciable numbers. Those five sites combined make up only about one-tenth of 1 percent of
U.S. internet visits in Hitwise’s Search Engines and Directories category, leaving
the big three largely responsible for search’s growth.
None of those five sites finished higher than No. 75 in the category during the
two-week period that ended Nov. 6.
With the help of some Amazon.com-related promotions, that company’s
A9.com has actually managed to increase its market share of U.S. visits in the Search
Engines and Directories category by 1,150 percent since April. Still, the site ranked No.
130 in the category the week ended Nov. 6.
Hitwise says the Search Engines and Directories category as a whole has been
basically flat over the last year, outside of the growth showcased by the top 10 search
sites.
But internet analysts at eMarketer are projecting another boom in online ad
spending this year, spurred mainly by ads on search sites.
Overall eMarketer expects online ad spending to reach $9.36 billion this
year, which would be a 28.8 percent increase over last year. But the company projects ad
spending in search alone to reach $3.9 billion, a 54.6 percent increase versus last year
and a 42 percent share of the entire internet advertising market.
By contrast, non-search advertising is projected to grow by 14.9 percent over
last year, to $5.4 billion, a pace that while certainly brisk puts it more in line with
the growth of traditional media.
Within search, the big engines and portals, including AOL, account for half of all
online ad revenue, and that figure is expected to rise further, at least in the shorter
term.
Top 10 Search Engines |
Rank
(week ending 11/06/04) |
Name |
Rank
(week ending 10/30/04) |
| 1. |
Google |
1. |
| 2. |
Yahoo! Search |
2. |
| 3. |
MSN Search |
3. |
| 4. |
Google Image Search |
4. |
| 5. |
Ask.com |
5. |
| 6. |
Excite |
6. |
| 7. |
iWon |
7. |
| 8. |
Yahoo! Image Search |
8. |
| 9. |
My Web Search |
9. |
| 10. |
Dogpile |
10. |
| Source:
Hitwise |
Rank
of smaller search engines
Site ranking in recent weeks |
| Engine |
week
ended 10/30/04 |
Week
ended 11/06/04 |
| alltheweb.com |
75 |
75 |
| a9.com |
129 |
130 |
| snap.com |
210 |
194 |
| vivisimo.com |
199 |
198 |
| clusty.com |
328 |
336 |
Source:
Hitwise
*Search Engines and Directories category includes portals such as MSN.com and Yahoo.com |
Top 25
parent companies
Through October 31 |
| # |
Parent |
Unique
Audience (000) |
Reach % |
Time spent
per person (hh:mm:ss) |
1 |
Microsoft |
53,162 |
49.9 |
0:32:50 |
2 |
Time Warner |
50,647 |
47.5 |
1:34:22 |
3 |
Yahoo! |
45,900 |
43.1 |
0:43:22 |
4 |
Google |
26,492 |
24.9 |
0:08:42 |
5 |
eBay |
17,048 |
16.0 |
0:47:15 |
6 |
United States
Government |
10,871 |
10.2 |
0:10:02 |
7 |
Ask Jeeves |
10,287 |
9.7 |
0:10:49 |
8 |
Walt Disney
Internet Group |
9,316 |
8.7 |
0:18:48 |
9 |
Amazon |
9,133 |
8.6 |
0:09:38 |
10 |
RealNetworks |
9,036 |
8.5 |
0:15:55 |
11 |
InterActiveCorp |
7,917 |
7.4 |
0:09:52 |
12 |
Viacom
International |
7,353 |
6.9 |
0:17:38 |
13 |
United Online |
7,195 |
6.8 |
0:36:26 |
14 |
Network
Associates |
6,587 |
6.2 |
0:12:16 |
15 |
AWS Convergence
Technologies |
6,131 |
5.8 |
0:07:45 |
16 |
Landmark
Communications |
6,089 |
5.7 |
0:06:10 |
17 |
CNET Networks |
5,707 |
5.4 |
0:07:15 |
18 |
Daum
Communications |
5,215 |
4.9 |
0:05:36 |
19 |
About-Primedia |
5,174 |
4.9 |
0:03:58 |
20 |
Verizon
Communications |
4,958 |
4.7 |
0:12:41 |
21 |
Comcast Corp. |
4,805 |
4.5 |
0:20:32 |
22 |
EarthLink |
4,725 |
4.4 |
0:27:15 |
23 |
Gorilla Nation
Media |
4,618 |
4.3 |
0:04:40 |
24 |
Apple Computer |
4,535 |
4.3 |
0:09:07 |
25 |
eMarketResearchGroup |
4,421 |
4.2 |
0:02:35 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings |
Top 25 brands
Through October 31 |
| |
Parent |
Unique
Audience (000) |
Reach
% |
Time
spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
1 |
Yahoo! |
44,631 |
41.9 |
0:44:27 |
2 |
MSN |
41,521 |
39.0 |
0:30:16 |
3 |
AOL |
38,943 |
36.5 |
1:53:38 |
4 |
Microsoft |
36,591 |
34.3 |
0:13:20 |
5 |
Google |
26,058 |
24.5 |
0:08:24 |
6 |
eBay |
16,425 |
15.4 |
0:46:19 |
7 |
Real |
8,656 |
8.1 |
0:15:44 |
8 |
Amazon |
7,612 |
7.1 |
0:09:50 |
9 |
McAfee |
6,523 |
6.1 |
0:12:19 |
10 |
WeatherBug |
6,099 |
5.7 |
0:07:33 |
11 |
MapQuest |
5,946 |
5.6 |
0:07:03 |
12 |
Weather Channel |
5,918 |
5.6 |
0:06:10 |
13 |
CNN |
5,486 |
5.2 |
0:10:31 |
14 |
Lycos Network |
5,206 |
4.9 |
0:05:36 |
15 |
Netscape |
5,122 |
4.8 |
0:10:10 |
16 |
Gorilla Nation Media |
4,618 |
4.3 |
0:04:40 |
17 |
About.com |
4,550 |
4.3 |
0:03:36 |
18 |
Apple |
4,535 |
4.3 |
0:09:07 |
19 |
eMarketResearchGroup |
4,421 |
4.2 |
0:02:35 |
20 |
Comcast |
4,297 |
4.0 |
0:22:15 |
21 |
ESPN |
4,138 |
3.9 |
0:15:46 |
22 |
EarthLink |
3,938 |
3.7 |
0:25:03 |
23 |
Bank of America |
3,849 |
3.6 |
0:19:50 |
24 |
Gator Network |
3,751 |
3.5 |
0:01:21 |
25 |
EA Online |
3,572 |
3.4 |
1:29:22 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings |
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through October 31 |
| # |
Company |
Impressions (000) |
1 |
Dell
Computer Corporation |
570,689 |
2 |
Netflix
Inc. |
442,780 |
3 |
LowerMyBills.com
Inc. |
429,377 |
4 |
InterActiveCorp |
403,950 |
5 |
AT&T
Wireless Services Inc. |
362,699 |
6 |
Verizon
Communications Inc. |
288,880 |
7 |
Ford
Motor Company |
268,131 |
8 |
DaimlerChrysler
Corporation |
224,486 |
9 |
Classmates
Online Inc. |
220,558 |
10 |
Travelfleamarket.com
Inc. |
216,580 |
11 |
Orbitz |
214,948 |
12 |
Scottrade
Inc. |
211,964 |
13 |
Equifax
Inc. |
209,397 |
14 |
Ameritrade
Holding Corporation |
202,674 |
15 |
Ask
Jeeves Inc. |
185,534 |
16 |
Monster
Worldwide Inc. |
183,335 |
17 |
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. |
164,916 |
18 |
MatchNet
plc |
148,656 |
19 |
Apollo
Group Inc. |
147,912 |
20 |
SBC
Communications Inc. |
145,781 |
21 |
Membershipme.com |
143,636 |
22 |
Fidelity
Investments |
141,596 |
23 |
EarthLink
Inc. |
140,851 |
24 |
MarketRange
Inc. |
134,459 |
25 |
TD Bank
Financial Group |
133,366 |
| Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through October 31 |
| |
Company |
Impressions
(000) |
1 |
Yahoo! |
4,645,629 |
2 |
MSN |
2,304,770 |
3 |
CNN |
441,510 |
4 |
iWon |
440,795 |
5 |
ESPN.com |
378,364 |
6 |
Drudge Report |
319,889 |
7 |
The New York Times |
316,436 |
8 |
eBay |
280,587 |
9 |
Juno |
279,235 |
10 |
AOL.com |
265,596 |
11 |
MSNBC |
258,961 |
12 |
Excite |
253,871 |
13 |
NetZero |
251,290 |
14 |
Classmates |
248,912 |
15 |
National Review |
207,599 |
16 |
AT&T Worldnet |
179,856 |
17 |
The Weather Channel |
178,883 |
18 |
EarthLink |
174,433 |
19 |
About.com |
173,271 |
20 |
Netscape |
170,184 |
21 |
CBS SportsLine |
153,699 |
22 |
Realtor.com |
140,698 |
23 |
Webshots |
139,320 |
24 |
myspace |
135,952 |
25 |
Boston.com |
128,457 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
Average use
Through October 31 |
| |
|
Current
Week |
Last
Week |
%
Change |
| Sessions/Visits per
Person |
10 |
9 |
11.11 |
| Domains Visited per
Person |
22 |
22 |
0.00 |
| PC Time per Person |
7:59:51 |
7:53:49 |
1.27 |
| Active Digital Media
Universe |
106,825,698 |
106,251,260 |
0.54 |
| Current Digital
Media Universe Estimate |
199,860,951 |
199,861,059 |
0.00 |
| Source:
Nielsen//Net Ratings AdRelevance |
|
Nov. 9, 2004
© 2004 Media Life
- Diego
Vasquez is a staff writer for Media Life.
|
|
|
|
