RESTON, Va., Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. In December 2009, Americans conducted 14.7 billion core searches, with Google Sites accounting for 65.7 percent search market share, virtually unchanged from 65.6 percent in November. Microsoft Sites grabbed 10.7 percent market share, up 0.4 percentage points versus November.

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December 2009 U.S. Core Search Rankings

Google Sites led the U.S. core search market in December with 65.7 percent of the searches conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites (17.3 percent), and Microsoft Sites (10.7 percent). Ask Network captured 3.7 percent of the search market, followed by AOL LLC with 2.6 percent.




    comScore Core Search Report*
    December 2009 vs. November 2009
    Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
    Source: comScore qSearch
    ------------------------
    Core Search Entity              Share of Searches (%)
    ------------------              ---------------------
                             Nov-09       Dec-09    Point Change
                             ------       ------    ------------
                                                     Dec-09 vs.
                                                        Nov-09
                                                     ----------
    Total Core Search           100.0%       100.0%          N/A
    -----------------           -----        -----           ---
    Google Sites                 65.6%        65.7%          0.1
    ------------                 ----         ----           ---
    Yahoo! Sites                 17.5%        17.3%         -0.2
    ------------                 ----         ----          ----
    Microsoft Sites              10.3%        10.7%          0.4
    ---------------              ----         ----           ---
    Ask Network                   3.8%         3.7%         -0.1
    -----------                   ---          ---          ----
    AOL LLC Network               2.8%         2.6%         -0.2
    ---------------               ---          ---          ----


* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

Americans conducted 14.7 billion searches in December, up 2 percent from November. Google Sites accounted for nearly 9.7 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites (2.5 billion), Microsoft Sites (1.6 billion), Ask Network (545 million) and AOL LLC (383 million).




    comScore Core Search Report*
    December 2009 vs. November 2009
    Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
    Source: comScore qSearch
    ------------------------
    Core Search Entity               Search Queries (MM)
    ------------------               -------------------
                                                       Percent
                             Nov-09       Dec-09        Change
                             ------       ------       -------
                                                     Dec-09 vs.
                                                        Nov-09
                                                     ----------
    Total Core Search          14,445       14,737             2%
    -----------------          ------       ------           ---
    Google Sites                9,479        9,688             2%
    ------------                -----        -----           ---
    Yahoo! Sites                2,534        2,544             0%
    ------------                -----        -----           ---
    Microsoft Sites             1,483        1,576             6%
    ---------------             -----        -----           ---
    Ask Network                   548          545            -1%
    -----------                   ---          ---           ---
    AOL LLC                       401          383            -4%
    -------                       ---          ---           ---


* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

December 2009 U.S. Expanded Search Rankings

In the December analysis of the top properties where search activity is observed, Google Sites led the search market with more than 14.0 billion search queries, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.6 billion queries and Microsoft Sites with 1.6 billion searches. Bing experienced large growth during the month with a 6-percent increase in query volume to nearly 1.4 billion searches. eBay and Amazon Sites experienced gains in December as retail search activity picked up during the holiday season.




    comScore Expanded Search Query Report
    December 2009 vs. November 2009
    Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
    Source: comScore qSearch
    ------------------------
                                          Search Queries (MM)
                                          -------------------
                                                             Percent
                                                             Change
                                                             Dec-09
                                                             vs. Nov-
    Expanded Search Entity           Nov-09       Dec-09       09
    ----------------------           ------       ------     --------
    Total Internet                   22,280       22,741           2%
    --------------                   ------       ------         ---
    Google Sites                     13,751       14,019           2%
    ------------                     ------       ------         ---
        Google                        9,878       10,101           2%
        ------                        -----       ------         ---
        YouTube/All Other             3,873        3,918           1%
        -----------------             -----        -----         ---
    Yahoo! Sites                      2,622        2,629           0%
    ------------                      -----        -----         ---
        Yahoo!                        2,599        2,605           0%
        ------                        -----        -----         ---
        All Other                        23           24           4%
        ---------                       ---          ---         ---
    Microsoft Sites                   1,521        1,620           7%
    ---------------                   -----        -----         ---
        Bing                          1,324        1,399           6%
        ----                          -----        -----         ---
        Microsoft/All Other             197          221          12%
    -------------------                 ---          ---         ---
    Ask Network                         715          696          -3%
    -----------                         ---          ---         ---
        ASK.COM                         348          332          -5%
        -------                         ---          ---         ---
        MyWebSearch.com/ All
         Other                          367          364          -1%
        --------------------            ---          ---         ---
    eBay                                635          680           7%
    ----                                ---          ---         ---
    AOL LLC                             611          588          -4%
    -------                             ---          ---         ---
        AOL Search Network              349          325          -7%
        ------------------              ---          ---         ---
        MapQuest/All Other              262          263           0%
        ------------------              ---          ---         ---
    craigslist, inc.                    568          583           3%
    ----------------                    ---          ---         ---
    Fox Interactive Media               447          424          -5%
    ---------------------               ---          ---         ---
        MySpace Sites                   439          416          -5%
        -------------                   ---          ---         ---
        All Other                         8            8           0%
        ---------                       ---          ---         ---
    Facebook.com                        354          351          -1%
    ------------                        ---          ---         ---
    Amazon Sites                        250          302          21%
    ------------                        ---          ---         ---

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