Search to topple e-mail as "killer app"

February 17, 2006


A new report claims that online search is set to oust e-mail as the "killer app" sometime during 2006. According to Deloitte's Technology, Media & Telecommunications report, improved functionality and faster connections will help fuel demand for search applications during this year, finally toppling e-mail as the most-used new media application.

This may have a knock-on effect for advertisers who pay for premium spots on the search page, or those who employ search engine optimisation in a bid to promote their services. This new study follows a November 2005 report from Pew Internet and American Life that identified the increasing popularity of online search.

And a further new report from Nielsen//NetRatings backs up the popularity of online search, with searches in the US growing to 5.1 billion in December 2005 from 3.3 billion searches in December 2004. This 55 percent increase vastly outstrips the 3 percent growth in the number of people getting online, indicating a growing reliance on search by established consumers.

Google still takes the top spot, followed by Yahoo and MSN.

Meanwhile, it's well established that spending on online search advertising grew last year, but display advertising appears to be lagging further behind. So claims a new report from Thomson Intermedia and KPMG, which says that in the last quarter of 2005, display advertising appeared to decline when compared year-on-year.

- from Electric Network News