Contrary to earlier reports by comScore Media Matrix, Nielsen//NetRatings indicated that search volume actually increased 39% in January compared to the prior year. ComScore’s findings indicated that search grew at just 11%.
The disparity does not stem from total search figures for January of 2006, which Nielsen//NetRatings says is at about 5.7 billion, while comScore counted 5.5 billion. However, there was a material difference between the two companies’ January 2005 figures. Nielsen//NetRatings counted 4.1 billion searches in that month, while comScore tallied almost 5 billion.
Nielsen//NetRatings chief analyst Ken Cassar said that consumers were searching more because searching has become a habit that is a part of everyone’s lives. The company said that January 2006’s search volume was the largest number they had ever seen.
On the other hand, comScore said that growth was decreasing because there are fewer new users, and that users are not searching heavily.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, Google increased its share by 1%, from 47% to 48%. Yahoo also saw an increase of 1%, hopping up from 21% to 22%. MSN, however, realized a decline of 2% in its share of search volume, which dropped from 13% to 11%.
Source:
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3589111
Network
