Yahoo search ad share up
Yahoo has received a much needed boost with news that its share of the search advertising market rose in the first quarter.
According to figures from SearchIgnite, Yahoo’s share of search spending by sampled advertisers climbed to 23 percent, up from 18 percent previously.
In contrast to Yahoo’s gains, Google’s share of the lucrative search ad market slipped from 74.9 percent down to 71.1 percent last quarter.
“Yahoo increased its share of wallet meaningfully for the first time in several quarters,” commented Ross Sandler of RBC Capital, who released the data in their study.
Although Yahoo’s share of the search ad market was up, its overall search share was down from 21.6 percent to 21.3 percent of the US market, with Google extending its dominance to provide 59.8 percent of searches.
The figures highlighting an improvement in Yahoo’s monetization of its position come at an opportune moment, as the company attempts to force Microsoft into raising its $42 billion takeover bid.
An increase in earning potential might also attract additional bidders or investment partners to seek a deal with Yahoo, which is currently conducting a two week trial of Google’s ad serving system to explore the possibility of outsourcing the function.
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