Week of August 24, 2009

Microsoft's Global Search Deficit

Friday, August 28, 2009

As we've reported recently, Microsoft's launch of its new search engine, Bing, has been judged successful by most observers. While the service has a long way to go to compete with Google, it's off to a good start and has received strong reviews. This, combined with Microsoft's deal with Yahoo, should give Microsoft a stronger foothold in search.

Microsoft is far behind Google in the US, but in even worse shape abroad. ComScore estimates that Microsoft's share in counties like the UK, Korea and Germany is less than 3%. One country where Microsoft and Yahoo start from a position of strength is Japan where Goggle and Yahoo each have a share of about 43%.

Google's Worldwide Domination

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Microsoft and Yahoo recently announced a deal to join forces and try to get back into the search game, which is dominated by Google. In the US, Google has a market share of about 60%, impressive by any standards, but much less than its share in other countries, reports Silicon Alley Insider <http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-its-googles-world-we-just-live-in-it-2009-7> . Worldwide, ComScore says that Google's share is 67%. Among the countries where Google has the highest share are:

* Turkey 93%

* Brazil 89%

* Italy 88%

* Canada 82%

* Germany 82%

* UK 79%

Popular Kid Search Categories

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Symantec's list of the top 100 search terms for kids, based on an analysis of users of their OnlineFamily.Norton <http://onlinefamilyinfo.norton.com/articles/schools_out.php> service, shows media, music and sex to be the most popular categories. At least 27 of the 100 related to music searches for specific artists or songs, not counting searches for music destination sites like MySpace and iTunes. 3 of the top 53 terms related to Miley Cyrus; her alter ego, Hannah Montana; or one of her songs. Here are the top music search terms and where they ranked overall in Symantec's top 100:

* 8. Michael Jackson

* 15. Miley Cyrus

* 19. Taylor Swift

* 26. Boom Boom Pow

* 27. Hannah Montana

* 30. Lady Gaga

* 40. Poker Face

* 41. Lil Wayne

* 47. Jonas Brothers

Kids Search for the Darndest Things

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Symantec, makers of the popular Norton Anti Virus and Internet Security software, among others, recently released a list of the top 100 search terms for kids. They tracked 3.5 million searches between February and July of this year by users of the OnlineFamily.Norton <http://onlinefamilyinfo.norton.com/articles/schools_out.php> service. You Tube has clearly become a major destination as 3 of the top 12 terms were variations of the name "YouTube" and #9 on the list was for a popular character on a kid-friendly YouTube channel. Here are the top 10 search terms:

* 1. YouTube

* 2. Google

* 3. Facebook

* 4. Sex

* 5. MySpace

* 6. Porn

* 7. Yahoo

* 8. Michael Jackson

* 9. Fred (Fred Figglehorn, a fictional character on a YouTube channel)

Incredible Growth in Online TV & Movie Viewing

Monday, August 24, 2009

Ipsos MediaCT has the numbers on the impressive growth of online TV and movie viewing. Their most recent study, published the first week of August, reports that, in the previous 30 days, 26% of those surveyed had streamed a TV show online and that 14% had streamed a feature-length film. Both figures are more than double the numbers in the Ipsos survey in September 2008. Among the other specific findings:

* 51% of 18-24 year-olds say they have streamed a TV show and 30% streamed a movie in the past month.

* 64% of those who had watched full-length video programming still preferred to watch shows on their TVs, rather than on their computers or mobile devices.