Wednesday, May 30, 2007

April Searches Up 11% from 2006: comScore

Americans conducted some 7.3 Billion search queries in April and according to comScore, there is an 11% rise from the same month last year.

Users searched using Google almost half the time (49.7%), followed by Yahoo with 26.8% and Microsoft with 10.3%. While Yahoo, Microsoft, Ask, and Time Warner all saw their search shares slip incrementally from March to April, Google's share rose 1.4%.

In the past month, industry speculation increased about Google's commitment to its mainstay search offering in light of the company's forays into various other online and offline projects. But that talk has been tempered by a number of recent enhancements from universal search, to cross-language search, to personalized search that aim to improve the search experience with regard to ease of use and relevancy.

But then what about Yahoo and its Panama platform? Although in an earnings call earlier this year, Yahoo had forecast the new algorithm to deliver less of an ROI than initially expected, CEO Terry Semel mentioned that Panama did help the company "significantly increase its lead in search share in Yahoo Japan and Taiwan."

Perhaps content to attack search in the U.S. from another angle, Yahoo moved forward with its mobile offering, oneSearch, which allows users to get targeted, localized search results right in their phones. Yahoo claims to have added 1.5 million new users to its Yahoo Go mobile platform, presumably making it the leading mobile brand and mobile search provider in the country.

Microsoft remains a distant third with traditional search, although the company has launched a Live Search offering for Windows Mobile that incorporates category-based local searching, maps and traffic information.

Analysts are watching to see whether IAC's Ask, with its recently launched barrage of out-of-home and TV ads touting its new algorithm, can increase its share of search (from 5.1%) in the coming months. Addressing the Goldman Sachs Internet Conference last week, IAC Chairman and CEO Barry Diller said the campaign will ratchet up considerably in June and July.


Source: MediaPost




Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Online travel expected to become $1.4 billion industry by the end of 2007

The online travel segment in India is expected to record 70 per cent growth by the end of 2007 with a market size that may increase to $1.4 billion. In fact, today most online travel portals sell about 3,500 to 4,000 tickets a day. This is still 7-8 per cent of the total travel industry in the country (estimated at more than $20 billion).

The percentage of the online travel segment is expected to grow to 10 per cent in the coming year. In comparison, are countries like the US where 30 per cent of travel bookings (air tickets plus packages) are done online, reports Financial Express.

“The industry will grow 4-5 times in the next 7-8 years. With only a handful of players present in the market today, the growth projections are enough to attract a number of players into this segment in the next couple of years,” Dhruv Shringi, co-founder, Yatra.com, has said.


Source: Alootechie