Image-based online ad spending by consumer goods companies increased 57 percent over the last two years, growing from $99.8 million in the first quarter of 2007 to $156.2 million in the same quarter in 2009, according to new Nielsen research.
Quarter-over-Quarter Growth in Online Display Ad Spend by U.S. Consumer Goods Industry

Quarter
Estimated Spend
Quarter-over-Quarter Growth

Q1 2007
99,814,750
n/a

Q1 2008
122,785,505
23%

Q1 2009
156,221,975
27%

Source: Nielsen AdRelevance

“While direct response advertising has been very successful on the Internet, with categories like finance and travel devoting a significant portion of their budget to online advertising, on-line advertising will not continue to …

Nielsen Online today reported data for the top U.S. search providers, ranked by total searches, the top companies/divisions and web brands in May 2009.  Total searches increased 20 percent over May 2008.
Top 10 Search Providers for May 2009 (U.S.) 

Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
Share of Searches

All Search
9,440,467
20.3%
100.0%

Google Search
5,968,840
28.2%
63.2%

Yahoo! Search
1,625,253
22.3%
17.2%

MSN/Windows Live Search
891,502
-14.6%
9.4%

AOL Search
364,784
13.1%
3.9%

Ask.com Search
205,438
21.9%
2.2%

My Web Search
77,283
44.7%
0.8%

Comcast Search
55,853
33.1%
0.6%

Yellow Pages Search
33,141
n/a*
0.4%

NexTag Search
27,189
29.9%
0.3%

AT&T Worldnet Search
17,719
-32.4%
0.2%

Source: Nielsen MegaView Search

 * A year-over-year comparison is not possible because of a definitional change to Yellow Pages Search.

As news came out about Time Warner’s decision to split with AOL, blogs were buzzing, with most in consensus that this could be a great move for both AOL and Time Warner. Many blogs discussed how AOL, under the new leadership of Tim Armstrong, could definitely make headway as an independent company. With all of the buzz surrounding the subject, conversations have already more than tripled today compared to yesterday, increasing from less than .01 percent on Wednesday the 27th to .05 percent by the end of the work day …

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
% of all Searches

All Search
8,608,488
4.40%
100.00%

1
Google Search
5,510,366
7.80%
64.0%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,406,416
-2.80%
16.3%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
852,998
7.20%
9.9%

4
AOL Search
321,205
-8.80%
3.7%

5
Ask.com Search
181,617
5.90%
2.1%

6
My Web Search Search
59,110
3.60%
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
45,338
-1.80%
0.50%

8
Yellow Pages Search
37,160
N/A*
0.40%

9
NexTag Search
22,845
3.90%
0.30%

10
Dogpile.com Search
17,010
3.10%
0.20%

Source: Nielsen MegaView Search
* A year-over-year comparison is not possible because of a definitional change to Yellow Pages Search.

The Nielsen Company released March 2009 U.S. data for the Top Parent Companies/Divisions and Top Web Brands, as well as average Internet usage. Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! led the way for parent companies online.

According to Nielsen Online, approximately 8.5 billion Web searches were conducted during February 2009, a 10% percent jump from January 2008.
Google searches accounted for 63.5 percent of all Web searches with nearly 5.4 billion queries. Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Ask.com continued to round out the top five.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
Share of Searches

All Search
8,494,653
10.10%
100.00%

1
Google Search
5,394,190
19.20%
63.50%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,415,354
4.00%
16.70%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
881,050
2.40%
10.40%

4
AOL Search
320,098
-19.90%
3.80%

5
Ask.com Search
162,226
-16.90%
1.90%

6
My Web Search
55,772
-21.60%
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
42,895
1.30%
0.50%

8
Yellow Pages Search
37,636
N/A*
0.40%

9
AT&T Worldnet Search
17,371
-27.60%
0.20%

10
Dogpile.com Search
15,880
-28.90%
0.20%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search

* A year-over-year comparison is not possible because of a definitional change to Yellow Pages …

According to Nielsen Online, there were approximately 9.5 billion Web searches conducted during January 2009, up an impressive 27.5 percent from January 2008.
Google searches accounted for 62.8 percent of all Web searches with more than 5.9 billion queries.  Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Ask.com continued to round out the top five.
Searches represent the total number of queries conducted at the provider.

Rank
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
Share of Searches

 
All Searches
9,461,583
27.5%
100.0%

1
Google Seach
5,945,064
40.8%
62.8%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,528,779
8.7%
16.2%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
1,057,677
18.3%
11.2%

4
AOL Search
381,769
8.9%
4.0%

5
Ask.com Search
181,205
1.0%
1.9%

6
My Web Search
66,649
-6.9%
0.7%

7
Comcast Search
50,311
25.8%
0.5%

8
Yellow Pages Search
25,392
NA*
0.3%

9
AT&T Worldnet Search
24,061
-2.0%
0.3%

10
NextTag Search
23,145
30.0%
0.2%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search

* A year-over-year comparison is not possible because …

According to Nielsen Online, there were roughly 8.6 billion Web searches conducted during December 2008 – up 19.6% over the same month last year.
Google searches accounted for nearly 63% of all Web searches, with 5.4 billion queries. Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.
Searches represent the total number of queries conducted at the provider.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
Share of Searches

All Searches
8,623,705
19.60%
100.00%

1
Google Search
5,421,943
33.50%
62.90%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,448,140
13.70%
16.80%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
841,457
-15.50%
9.80%

4
AOL Search
357,025
5.10%
4.10%

5
Ask.com Search
169,116
6.00%
2.00%

6
My Web Search
62,415
-11.60%
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
50,385
45.10%
0.60%

8
NexTag Search
29,219
0.70%
0.30%

9
AT&T Worldnet Search
27,176
8.00%
0.30%

10
BizRate Search
23,593
37.10%
0.30%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search

According to Nielsen Online, there were almost 8.1 billion Web searches conducted during November 2008 — up 9.6% over the same month last year.
Google searches accounted for more than 64% of all Web searches, with almost 5.2 billion queries.  Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.

Rank
(by # of
searches)
Provider
Searches
(in 000’s)
% Growth:
Year Over Year
% of Searches

 
All Searches
8,075,564
9.6%
100%

1
Google Search
5,177,158
21.7%
64.1%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,299,306
-1.4%
16.1%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
733,460
-16.7%
9.1%

4
AOL Search
344,465
3.6%
4.3%

5
Ask.com Search
184,059
-6.0%
2.3%

6
My Web Search
71,113
-18.3%
0.9%

7
Comcast Search
40,645
3.5%
0.5%

8
AT&T Worldnet Search
25,351
-13.3%
0.3%

9
NexTag Search
22,308
-19.5%
0.3%

10
Dogpile.com Search
17,121
-6.5%
0.2%

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 2008).

View the full press release.
Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings on CNET.com and Silicon.com, as well as in Mediaweek and …

According to Nielsen Online, Google Search accounted for more than half of all online searches in the month of September with an estimated 4.8 billion queries. Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
% of Searches

#
All Searches
8,089,226
100.00%

1
Google Search
4,825,556
59.70%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,464,478
18.10%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
953,504
11.80%

4
AOL Search
335,187
4.10%

5
Ask.com Search
178,217
2.20%

6
My Web Search
53,825
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
51,935
0.60%

8
AT&T Worldnet Search
30,086
0.40%

9
NexTag Search
17,775
0.20%

10
Dogpile.com Search
17,574
0.20%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search -September 2008

View the full press release.