05 May 2006 | James Holland

Trinity Announces Revenue Dips Across Board

Internet search statistics are now a commonplace currency amongst planners and buyers, with data on page impressions, unique users and even the length of a user’s visit to a website helping to form successful online campaigns. New research from Nielsen//NetRatings goes one step further than traditional insight into search marketing however, revealing where users actually go once they have completed a search. “Everyone knows Google is the biggest search engine but we reveal where Google visitors go once they’ve actually searched,” explained the research specialist, before revealing that almost 23 million people in the UK visited a search engine in January 2006, representing a massive 84% of the Internet population. British internet users deliver more than half a billion click-throughs from search engines every month, with the retail sector receiving the greatest number of visits from search engines overall (click-throughs) Rank Sector Unique Audience clickingthrough to sector (000’s) % of total search audience Leading brand in sector (illustration only) 1 Mass Merchandiser 7,587 33% Amazon 2 Shopping Directories & Guides 7,069 31% Yahoo! Shopping 3 Government 7,049 31% The NHS 4 Broadcast Media 6,805 30% BBC 5 Universities 6,750 30% Oxford University 6 Research Tools 6,277 28% Wikipedia 7 Member Communities 6,263 28% Friends Reunited 8 Directories/Local Guides 5,814 26% Yell 9 Current Events & Global News 5,578 25% BBC News 10 Multi-category Travel 5,526 24% Expedia E.g. In Jan 2006 7.6 million people clicked on a link in a Top 10 search engine to a mass merchandiser site. This represents 33% of all people visiting a Top 10 search engine. Source: Nielsen//NetRatings UK NetView, home & work data, excluding Internet applications, Jan 2006 â€˘ Overall, the retail sector received the greatest number of people clicking-through from search engines â€˘ Mass merchandisers received the greatest number of people clicking-through, 7.6 million, which represents 33% of the search audience and 28% of the entire UK Internet population The Top 10 Search Engines (by share of click-throughs) Share of Search Engine Click-Throughs Wanadoo Search 2% Tiscali Search 1% Ask Jeeves Search 5% My Way Search 1% MSN Search 7% AOL Search 9% Yahoo! Search 10% Other 1% Google Search 64% Source: Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Search, Jan 2006 ÂŠ 2006 Nielsen//NetRatings Page 2 of 3 The Top 10 Search Engines (by Unique Audience) o Google continues its dominance of the search market generating nearly two-thirds (64%) of all click-throughs and almost 19 million visitors each month – three times as many as nearest rivals Yahoo! and MSN Search Rank Search Engine Unique Audience (000’s) % of UK Internet Population (‘reach’) Most likely click-through destination 1 Google 18,768 68.6 Universities 2 Yahoo! Search 5,901 21.6 Shopping Directories & Guides 3 MSN Search 5,790 21.2 Broadcast Media 4 Ask.com 4,003 14.6 Shopping Directories & Guides 5 AOL Search 2,692 9.8 Shopping Directories & Guides 6 Wanadoo Search 1,545 5.7 Mass Merchandisers 7 My Web Search 1,043 3.8 Mass Merchandisers 8 Microsoft Search 814 3.0 Software Manufacturers 9 eWoss 677 2.5 Internet Tools/Web Services 10 Kellysearch 637 2.3 Mass Merchandisers E.g. In Jan 2006 18.8 million people (69% of the UK Internet population) visited Google and their most likely click-through destination were University websites. Source: Nielsen//NetRatings UK NetView, home & work data, excluding Internet applications, Jan 2006 Alex Burmaster, European Internet Analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings says “Retail, government, broadcast media and universities are sectors particularly benefiting from search. The staggering percentage of people using search engines and clicking on links show how deeply ingrained the search experience is in today’s Internet. For many search has become the lifeblood that flows through the Internet body. Different sectors have been successful in terms of benefiting from or utilising the leading search brands. For example, universities are the most popular destinations for Google searchers whereas broadcast media sites are the most popular destination for MSN searchers. It shows that despite Google’s overwhelming popularity there are other viable options. For example, if you provide a web service such as file-sharing or music software you’ve got a greater probability of driving visitors through a smaller search engine such as eWoss.” Top 10 destinations from Google o Universities and government sites received the greatest number of people clicking-through from Google Rank Sector Unique Audience clickingthrough to that sector (000’s) % of sector’s total audience 1 Universities 5,622 62% 2 Government 5,420 54% 3 Mass Merchandiser 5,311 37% 4 Research Tools 5,242 62% 5 Broadcast Media 5,103 39% 6 Shopping Directories & Guides 5,084 52% 7 Member Communities 4,761 36% 8 Current Events & Global News 4,433 39% 9 Directories/Local Guides 4,302 52% 10 Special Interest News 4,243 54% E.g. In Jan 2006 5.6 million people clicked on a link in Google to a university website = 62% of all people visiting a university website Source: as above “It is important not to forget that Google’s phenomenal success has had implications and benefits for others far beyond Google itself. Take the university sector for example – Google drove over 5.6 million visitors to university websites in January alone, which represented 62% of the entire audience for that sector. This means that only the military sector (63%) owed a greater percentage of its entire audience to Google. Many brands and sectors owe their successes to the search industry. As innovations in search technology increase, such as customised or local search, this reliance on search for visitors is likely to increase.” ÂŠ 2006 Nielsen//NetRatings Page 3 of 3 EDITOR’S NOTES The audience click-through numbers refer to the Top 10 Search engines ONLY – however, the Top 10 do account for 99% of the entire search sector audience Please source all information to Nielsen//NetRatings. Please note that ACNielsen and Nielsen are both separate, unrelated companies and should NOT be quoted when sourcing the attached data. If an abbreviated name is required then please use NetRatings For further information, please contact: Alex Burmaster, European Internet Analyst Tel: 020 7014 0590 / 0780 3131144 / aburmaster@netratings.com Lucy Green, Marketing Communications Tel 020 7014 0590 / 07734 126750 / lgreen@intl.netratings.com About Nielsen//NetRatings Nielsen//NetRatings is a global leader in Internet media and market research, providing companies with valuable insight into their businesses. Nielsen//NetRatings offers the industry’s premier source of actionable Internet data and digital