(Includes additional comScore data, stock prices)
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.
Microsoft's share of search results pages, a measure of the
intensity of search activity by online users, climbed to 12.1% last
week from 11.3% a week earlier and 9.1% at the end of May, said
comScore.
ComScore senior vice president Mike Hurt said the data "reflect
a continued positive market reaction to Bing in the initial stages
of its launch."
In May, Google's U.S. market share hit a record 65%, up from
64.2% in April, according to comScore. Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) remained
stable at 20.2% while Microsoft (MSFT) reached a record low of 8%,
down from April's 8.2%.
comScore said Microsoft also saw a rise in the amount of
Internet searchers using its Internet-search service, to 16.7% last
week from 15.8% a week earlier and 13.7% in the last week of
May.
Shares of Microsoft and Google were fractionally higher in
midday trading while Yahoo was down 1.4% at $15.73.
-By Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2136;
kevin.kingsbury@dowjones.com
(Scott Morrison contributed to this story)