DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) new Bing search engine continued to
gain market share in its second week of availability, said data
tracker comScore Inc. (SCOR).
The software giant, long an also-ran to Google Inc. (GOOG) in
the search space, is hoping Bing creates a beachhead to have
Microsoft become a bigger player in the online-advertising arena. A
$100 million marketing campaign is supporting Bing's launch.
The service saw its market share of number of searches rise to
16.7% last week from 15.8% a week earlier, said comScore. The
figure was 13.7% in the last week of May.
Microsoft's share of search results pages, a measure of the
intensity of search activity by online users, climbed to 12.1% from
11.3% and 9.1%, respectively.
ComScore senior vice president Mike Hurt said the data "reflect
a continued positive market reaction to Bing in the initial stages
of its launch."
Google's market share has hovered around 60%, while Yahoo Inc.
(YHOO) is next at about 20%.
- By Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2136;
kevin.kingsbury@dowjones.com