India Search Market Led By 1 Billion Searches on Google Sites in June

RESTON, Va., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — comScore, Inc. , a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of the online search market in India, indicating that Google Sites commanded the strong majority of searches conducted in this developing market.

   (Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080115/COMSCORELOGO)    Google Sites Ranks as Top Indian Search Property  

Google Sites ranked as the top search property in India with more than 1 billion searches conducted in June, representing 81 percent of the market. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 9.4 percent, followed by Ask Network (1.9 percent) and Microsoft Sites (1.7 percent). Indian Internet portal Rediff.com ranked fifth with 1.5 percent.

   Top Search Properties in India   June 2008   Total India — Age 15+, Home/Work Locations   Source: comScore qSearch                                                      Searches      Share of                                                       (MM)        Searches   Total Internet                                     1,242          100.0   Google Sites                                       1,011           81.4   Yahoo! Sites                                         117            9.4   Ask Network                                           24            1.9   Microsoft Sites                                       22            1.7   Rediff.com India Ltd                                  18            1.5   FACEBOOK.COM                                          10            0.8   People Group                                           9            0.8   CNET Networks                                          5            0.4   Wikipedia Sites                                        5            0.4   AOL LLC                                                3            0.2     

“The Indian search market is dominated by global Internet brands, with Google attracting the wide majority of searches,” said Jack Flanagan, comScore executive vice president. “As the top local player in the search market, Indian web portal Rediff.com attracts slightly less than 2 percent of all searches, indicating that there is substantial room for growth among the local Internet brands.”

Search Intensity Lags in India, Indicating Opportunity for Growth

Despite being one of the most rapidly emerging Internet markets in the world in terms of overall usage growth, India currently exhibits less frequent search behavior than its global counterparts. Of the 37 countries individually reported by comScore, India ranked second to last with 53 searches per searcher during the month, well below the worldwide average of 93. India also had significantly fewer search visits per searcher (14.7 vs. 23.6) and searches per search visit (3.6 vs. 3.9).

   India Search Market Overview   June 2008   Total India — Age 15+, Home/Work Locations   Source: comScore qSearch                              Unique                    Search     Searches                 Searches   Searchers    Searches    Visits Per  Per Search                   (MM)       (000)    Per Searcher   Searcher     Visit   Worldwide      74,217     802,267       92.5        23.6         3.9   India           1,242      23,416       53.1        14.7         3.6     

“Though India represents more than 15 percent of the world’s population, it accounts for less than 2 percent of global Internet searches,” added Mr. Flanagan. “It will be interesting to see if this gap narrows as more people in India gain Internet access and ramp up their use of search over time.”

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