As a search competitor, Microsoft is pretty much a failure – both comScore and Hitwise saw a drop in its already-small market share during October. The corporation is far from finished, however, and it seems that traffic to Microsoft’s many sites actually rose.
“Web traffic to the Microsoft parent company increased 3% YTY, from a 3-month average monthly unique audience of 115.9 mln unique visitors in Q3 2006 to 119.1 mln unique visitors in Q3 2007,” reports Alex Moskalyuk. Granted, three percent isn’t much – many sites experience that as a regular fluctuation – but there were other clues pointing to the company’s increasing strength.
“Total minutes spent at Microsoft Web properties increased 5% YTY, from 42.9 bln in Q3 2006 to 45.2 bln in Q3 2007,” Moskalyuk (who obtained his information from Nielsen//NetRatings) continued. Also, Xbox.com, MSN Tech & Gadgets, MSN Astrology, and MSN Real Estate all saw double-digit increases in their audience (of 55, 36, 31, and 29 percent, respectively).
One slightly tricky detail is the fact that MSN/Windows Live Search also experienced an increase of 29 percent. Yet it’s important to separate total audience from market share, and we should also remember that 29 percent might not be at all impressive given the search property’s small starting point.
Another point to remember: Microsoft’s market cap is currently a little over $313 billion. As such, percentage points may not be of immediate concern.
