Sponsored Search Grow
Posted February 18, 2006

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that the number of sponsored link advertising impressions on the Google and Yahoo! ad platforms grew 16 percent, from 55.4 billion to 64.3 billion, between August 2005 and January 2006. "Despite the overwhelming market share that Google and Yahoo! search enjoy, they continue to see strong growth in the volume of sponsored links," said Ken Cassar, chief analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings.

"While Google, in particular, seeks to diversify its revenue, it is a positive sign that its core search advertising business remains robust," continued Cassar.

The 64.3 billion sponsored link impressions include the Google and Yahoo! Web sites as well as their respective search and contextual advertising networks.

Nielsen//NetRatings notes that although Google had more sponsored link impressions in January, Yahoo! is gaining ground. During the last six months, Yahoo's sponsored links have grown 21 percent to 23.2 billion, while Google's have grown 14 percent to 41.1 billion.

Top advertisers - January 2006

The Nielsen//NetRatings research shows that eBay is the primary sponsored link advertiser on both sites. eBay's Shopping.com is Google's No. 2 sponsored link advertiser, followed by Local.com, Target Stores and Expedia, respectively. Shopping.com is also Yahoo's No. 2 sponsored link advertiser, followed by University of Phoenix, Lending Tree and Target Stores, respectively.

"E-commerce advertisers, eBay chief among them, represent the top advertisers on both Yahoo! and Google. It is becoming increasingly clear that sponsored link advertising is a necessary cost of doing business for e-commerce companies," Cassar concluded.

Nielsen//NetRatings' AdRelevance collects impressions from over 1,000 top U.S. Web properties.