June Search: Bing Was a Bright Spot

What does $100 million advertising budget and mountains of PR get you? If you’re Microsoft (MSFT) launching a new search engine, the answer is becoming clearer. In its first month on the job, Bing has raised Microsoft’s search market share by 0.3pts to 6.5%. That might not seem like much, but keep in mind two key points.

First, Bing’s major gains came in the last week of June. Microsoft started TV advertising for Bing earlier in the month, but ad viewers may have taken a few exposures to get the message.

Second, June was a down month for search engines across the board. The overall search market fell by 1.7% and Google (GOOG) lost 0.9% query volume. The Live/Bing tag team, unlike every other search engine, served up more queries last month than it did in May – 19 million more to be exact.

In other words, Bing was the only bright spot in an otherwise rough June for search.

Bing also raised Microsoft’s rate of Sponsored Referrals to 5.6%, as expected. In June, Bing yielded 80% more “paid clicks” than MSN/Live did in May.

Let me repeat that: Bing yielded 80% more “paid clicks” last month than MSN/Live did in May. Given this fact, it’s highly likely that Bing will raise Microsoft’s overall search revenue, even though revenue per paid click may go down.

In terms of user experience, Bing has also won some high praise. Sunday, David Pogue from the New York Times said, “In a lot of ways, Bing is better than Google.”

But praise has stopped short of handing Bing the gold in user experience, with reviewers pointing out that Bing borrows many features from Google and Ask. In a head-to-head matchup, Danny Sullivan over at Search Engine Land wrote, “Bing isn’t 50% better than Google.”

Now everyone knows the true test of Bing begins after Microsoft’s ad campaign wraps up.

And observers are right to be skeptical. A couple of years ago, IAC also spent $100 million on advertising Ask. Today, Ask holds on to its meager market share for dear life, having slipped 13.3% over the past year.

To grossly misquote the Talking Heads, “after the money’s gone” will it be “same as it ever was”?

Comments

[WillC7:]

I'm not ask skeptical as most people when it comes to Bing. I think that this will play out a bit differently than Ask, because Microsoft has the resources to keep it from sliding too far away from the competition. The advertising had a lot to do with the success this past month, that can not be denied. But most people have been pleasantly surprised by the results that Bing has produced so the product is actually legit and the people in charge seem to be set in making sure they keep with the latest technologies and trends.
Still, it's going to be a while before they catch up to Google. Google would actually have to decline or remain stagnant for a few years to have the gap closed considerably. It makes for an interesting time in the industry.
eZanga.com

Jul 14 11:00 AM