Study: Yahoo Beats Google in Search Ad Dollars Growth
ADOTAS – Search marketing spending increased in the first quarter of this year, but spending growth slowed in March, raising fears about the second quarter, according to a report from SearchIgnite, a search advertising technology firm. But the most interesting statistics in the study were that Google lost share to Yahoo.
Yahoo gained significant market search spend share in the first quarter, primarily at the expense of Google. Yahoo’s share of spend grew to 24.2% in March from 19.6% at the end of the fourth quarter, while Google’s share declined to 70.4% down from 74.5%. Meanwhile, MSN’s share of search spend fell to 5.4% from 5.9% quarter over quarter.
“It was a stronger than expected Q1 for search marketing as advertisers continue to invest more money in the medium,” said Roger Barnette, president of SearchIgnite, in a release. “While search budgets have been relatively insulated from marketing budget cuts, some of the incremental dollars have been taken off the table.”
Google and Yahoo are both set to issue earnings reports this Thursday and April 22, respectively.
Concern about the health of Google’s business has been increasing through the first quarter as comScore continues to release negative reports about the search titan. This month was no exception: Google ranked #2 behind Yahoo for the total number of unique visitors in March. In February, comScore said that the number of clicks on Google’s ads were flat in January.
Yahoo is also being closely watched. Yahoo’s Jerry Yang has been touting reports of a healthy bottom line, saying Microsoft’s unsolicited bid doesn’t accurately reflect the company’s health – and that its first quarter revenue would grow between 8% and 17%. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, on the other hand, continues to argue that its takeover offer is fair – and even more valuable than when it was made on January 31, saying that Yahoo’s business is in a state of continuous deterioration.
Reader Comments.
No comments yet
Leave a Comment
Article Sponsor
More News
Spotlight
Mobile to the RescueADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — The industry is still wary about mobile advertising — does it work, how significant is the ROI [...] more...
Latest News
- Reality Bites Google December 3rd 2008
- 2009 Revenue For Twitter December 3rd 2008
- Funding Round-Up: Evernote, Angie’s List, UTest December 3rd 2008
- Ads Not Working? Change The Font December 3rd 2008
- MySpace Breaks Into Mobile Ad Market December 3rd 2008
- Cyber Monday, Profitless Boon? December 3rd 2008
- Yahoo, Rumors and Stupidity December 3rd 2008
- FCC To Mull Free Internet Plan December 2nd 2008
Features
- Down Year Will Bring Opportunities December 3rd 2008
- Mobile to the Rescue December 2nd 2008
- Ideas On Effective Management December 2nd 2008
- Quality Video: DIY (Cheap) or Else December 1st 2008
- Will Widget Channel Be Tuned In? November 26th 2008
Reader Favorites
Classifieds
Most Commented
- Targeting Is the Ad Network "Killer App" (7)
- Vengence is Mine Saith Ballmer (6)
- When Boomers, Gen Y Collide (5)
- Study: Blogs Beat Social Networks on Purchase Influence (5)
- Federal Bailout Proposed for Online Ad Industry (4)
- Ad Networks That Buck the Downward Trend (4)
- Self-Serve Ad Exchange: This Century's Strowger Switch? (3)
- Bust-Outs and Layoffs: Apple, NBCU, Nokia, Spot Runner, WildTangent (3)
