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

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

Online advertising accounts for $60 million a year in India

Indian companies spend $3 billion on promotional campaigns in a year, out of which online advertising accounts for $60 million, according to Yahoo India managing director George Zacharias.

Zacharias has said internet advertising revenue is projected to grow by 50 per cent a year, outpacing the industry average, as companies plug their products to an expanding online audience.

India has about 25 million internet users who visit the web every month and 85 per cent of them log onto Yahoo, George Zacharias, has said, adding, the number of internet users in the country is growing by 40 per cent a year.

(Source: Forbes)

Just An Online Minute... Broadband Use Expected To Top 90% By 2008

Broadband penetration continues to surge, according to a new report by Magna Global. As of the end of last year, an estimated 55.6 million U.S. households, or 74% of all Internet households, connected to the Web via high-speed lines. That's up significantly from 2005's 43.9 million households and more than double 2003's 26 million.

As broadband use has surged, the number of dial-up connections has shrunk. Last year, just 19.7 million, or 26% of all Internet households, went online via dial-up.
What's more, broadband penetration is soon expected to surpass 90%, with an estimated 81 million U.S. homes connecting via high-speed connections by 2008.

At the same time, one in three households lacks Internet access altogether, according to Magna estimates. Even by 2008, when the vast majority of Internet homes will be on broadband, 18% of all U.S. homes still won't be online at all.

Still, with broadband use continuing to increase so quickly, it's no surprise that digital efforts are becoming more important to marketers. After all, broadband users not only tend to spend more time online, but they are also able to view more pages when connected. And, of course, broadband users can view video online, which opens the door to advertise using TV-like techniques.

Consider, The Wall Street Journal reported this week Nike is looking to move its account from Wieden + Kennedy, its agency since 1982, due to the shop's perceived weakness in digital advertising. "Despite its top-notch ability in every other department, Wieden has been slow to adapt to the Internet -- an important arena for a marketer as focused on the youth audience as Nike," the Journal writes.

Additionally, a recent survey of the Association of National Advertisers revealed that integrated marketing communications topped senior marketing execs' list of the most important issues they currently confront. Last year, integrated marketing communications ranked as the fourth most important issue.

Source: Media Post

Viacom/Google Fallout: Prime Time For Smaller Competitors To Woo Content Partners

by Shankar Gupta


IT'S PRIME TIME FOR SMALLER video players to step in and make content partnerships as relations between Google and traditional media companies grow increasingly frosty. That was the assessment of industry watchers in the wake of the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit filed Tuesday by Viacom against the search giant and its subsidiary YouTube.


Viacom is likely to seek out other partners who are more responsive in developing strategies to pay media companies whose content appears on their sites, said Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey. "They think they've waited long enough for Google and YouTube," he said. "What they're going to do is work aggressively to get distribution everywhere else."

Citing a major deal with YouTube rival Joost and smaller initiatives that allow small site owners to create custom clips of Viacom content and syndicate them on their Web sites, McQuivey said that major media companies' dissatisfaction with Google-YouTube is an opportunity for up-and-coming players.

"Viacom does want that content out there--make no mistake, they just feel like they didn't get enough cash for the value they're providing for YouTube," he said. "There's an opportunity for smaller players to run to companies and say, 'we're your friends, we'll protect your interests, come do a deal with us.' "

Some smaller players, however, have also faced major litigation. In February, Bolt Media, another online video sharing site, sold itself to another video-sharing site, GoFish.com, to raise money to settle a lawsuit with the Universal Music Group.

Aaron Cohen, founder of Bolt Media, said that the spate of DCMA lawsuits, culminating in the Google-Viacom suit, shows that the legal system surrounding copyright on the Web is broken. Video sharing sites say the DCMA (the Digital Millenium Copyright Act) protects companies from copyright infringement suits as long as they remove infringing content when the owner complains.

"I settled in part because I think the system is broken, and that it's simply not a winnable solution over the long-term, no matter how the court cases play out," he said. "This is obviously very flawed legislation; it isn't working for anyone. So, content owners and content distributors need to work together to improve the business system and the legal system."

Google on Tuesday released a statement that seems to suggest that the search giant intends to battle the case out in court rather than settling.

"We have not received the lawsuit but are confident that YouTube has respected the legal rights of copyright holders and believe the courts will agree," the statement read. "We will certainly not let this suit become a distraction to the continuing growth and strong performance of YouTube and its ability to attract more users, more traffic and build a stronger community."

Google CEO Eric Schmidt likewise made a strong statement last week in an interview on Bloomberg TV, saying that partnerships between media companies and Web distributors are inevitable. "The growth of YouTube, the growth of online, is so fundamental that these companies are going to be forced to work with and in the Internet," he said.


Source: MediaPost

Search Engine Ad Spending Forecast Up 39 Percent in 2007

According to the second annual report on ad spending from Outsell, Inc., U.S. advertising is expected to grow 5.8 percent in 2007. The national study of advertisers, controlling about $6.5 billion of spending, shows that companies plan to increase their online spending by 18 percent this year, faster than for any other major media type. Advertisers also plan to raise their spending for advertising on search engines by 39 percent, the fastest of any online media method.

The survey of 1,010 advertisers and media types including online, print, events, TV/radio/movies, an overview of the reported findings includes:

• While the largest recipient of ad dollars (40 percent), Print Advertising will continue to lose share as Online Advertising’s share grows to 20 percent
• Online advertising spending for pay-per-click (PPC) ads will fall one percent in 2007, while Cost-Per-Action ads' share will grow eight percent and online sponsorships' share will rise 12 percent
• Forty-nine percent of advertisers have reduced or plan to reduce their PPC spending because of click fraud, up from 37 percent in the Spring of 2006. Advertisers rate online advertising very effective for branding, contrary to common wisdom that online is effective at generating leads, but is weak for branding(
• The share of TV/radio/movie ad spending will decline about 3.5 percent this year. Advertisers are redirecting more trade magazine ad dollars to events than they are moving to paid search

Source: MediaPost

59% of corporate decision makers use the Net for information search

According to ACNielsen Corporate Decision Makers Survey 6, corporate decision makers' access to the Internet increased from 81 per cent in 2005 to 98 per cent in 2006.

Ninety-eight per cent use the internet to check Office Emails, closely followed by Personal Emails (95%) and Information Search (59%). CDMs are increasingly showing interest in online transactions, either booking online air tickets (38%), railway tickets (24%) or online share trading (15%).

In the corporate echelons, the internet is becoming one of the most attractive media, because of its speed and ability to keep people connected wherever they are. It won't be long before the Internet is the primary medium for all communications, and features at the top of any media plan.

Source:Business Standard

E-Commerce Finishes Year Up 25% Over 2005

For the full year 2006, online retail spending reached $102.1 billion, marking a 24-percent increase versus 2005. Online holiday e-commerce accounted for $24.6 billion, up 26 percent versus last year.

E-Commerce Spending Summary (2006 vs. 2005) Non-Travel (Retail) Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
	Billions ($)
	2005	2006	Pct Change
Full Year (Jan. 1 – Dec.31)	$82.3	$102.1	24%
Holiday Season (Nov. 1 – Dec. 31)	$19.6	$24.6	26%

2006 was certainly an exceptional year for online retailers as e-commerce spending eclipsed $100 billion for the first time, and growth remained very strong with a 24-percent increase versus last year. The online holiday shopping season of course played a vital role in the year’s success, as spending accelerated during the final two months of the year, helping push total online retail spending over the $100 billion threshold.

Twelve Days of E-Commerce Spending in 2006 Break $600 Million
Online retail spending saw several strong individual spending days during 2006, with 12 days during the November/December holiday season surpassing the $600 million mark. In comparison, just six days in 2005 reached $500 million in online sales, with the top day registering $556 million (Monday, December 12, 2005). Wednesday, December 13 marked the heaviest online spending day of 2006 with $667 million spent, followed by Monday, December 11 ($661 million) and Monday, December 4 ($648 million). Monday, November 27 (“Cyber Monday”) was surpassed 11 times during the subsequent weeks of the holiday season.

Top 12 Days of 2006 E-Commerce Spending, Ranked by Dollars Spent Non-Travel (Retail) Spending Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases Source: comScore Networks
Rank	Date	E-Commerce Spending ($ Millions)
1	Wednesday, December 13	$666.9
2	Monday, December 11	$660.8
3	Monday, December 4	$647.5
4	Friday, December 8	$638.2
5	Thursday, December 14	$634.4
6	Wednesday, December 6	$630.6
7	Thursday, December 7	$629.4
8	Friday, December 15	$623.9
9	Tuesday, December 12	$619.8
10	Tuesday, December 5	$612.3
11	Tuesday, November 28	$608.2
12	Monday, November 27 - “Cyber Monday”	$607.6

2006: The Year of the Procrastinator
The flow of online holiday retail spending in 2006, as compared to the previous year, demonstrated that online consumers pushed their buying later than ever. Spending growth during the first third of the season (Weeks 1-3) rose a modest 23 percent above 2005 levels, despite the week before Thanksgiving, which saw robust 30-percent growth versus the corresponding week in 2005. The middle third of the season (Weeks 4-6), during which the greatest share of holiday e-commerce spending occurred, was consistent with the 26-percent growth demonstrated during the course of the season as a whole. The final three weeks of the holiday season (Weeks 7-9) saw a major surge in spending as the procrastinators came out in full force, driving a 31-percent increase versus the corresponding weeks in 2005. The week leading up to Christmas (week ending December 24, 2006) saw the biggest surge with a 45-percent increase versus the corresponding week a year ago, as consumers showed their faith in online retailers’ ability to ‘deliver the goods’ in time for Christmas.

Source: comScore