Bing Off to a Good Start

June 9, 2009

comScore released a preliminary study of the performance of Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine, during the first week of its public launch. The results of the analysis show a substantial improvement in Microsoft’s position in the search market in the days following Bing’s introduction.

Microsoft Sites increased its average daily penetration among U.S. searchers from 13.8 percent during the period of May 26-30 to 15.5 percent during the period of June 2-6, 2009, an indication that the search engine is reaching more people than before. Microsoft’s share of search result pages in the U.S., a proxy for overall search intensity, increased from 9.1 percent to 11.1 percent during the same time frame.

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Microsoft Sites Search Performance

6/2/09-6/6/09 vs. 5/26/09-5/30/09

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore qSearch

                                  5/26/09-      6/2/09-    Point Change
                                  5/30/09       6/6/09     

Searcher Penetration (Avg. Daily)   13.8%        15.5%          1.7

Share of Search Results Pages        9.1%        11.1%          2.0

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“These initial data suggest that Microsoft Bing has generated early interest, resulting in a spike in search engagement and an immediate term improvement to Microsoft’s position in the search market,” said Mike Hurt, comScore senior vice president. “So far it appears that the lifts in searcher penetration and engagement have held relatively steady throughout the five-day period. The ultimate performance of Bing depends on the extent to which it generates more trial through its extensive launch campaign and whether it retains those trial users. It appears it is off to a good start.”