Experian Hitwise reveals latest UK Search Engine and Social Analysis; Microsofta[euro](tm)s bing regains position as UKa[euro](tm)s second favourite search engine; YouTube accounts for 1 in every 35 UK Internet visits.

M2 PRESSWIRE-August 8, 2011-: Experian Hitwise reveals latest UK Search Engine and Social Analysis; Microsofta[euro](tm)s bing regains position as UKa[euro](tm)s second favourite search engine; YouTube accounts for 1 in every 35 UK Internet visits(C)1994-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

RDATE:08082011

London -- Experian Hitwise's latest Search Engine and Social Analysis shows that July was a good month for Microsoft, YouTube and Twitter but was not so strong for the market leaders in their respective fields, Google and Facebook.

Microsoft Sites reclaimed the number two spot in the search engine rankings list having dropped to third last month for the first time this year. Microsoft Sites, led by the bing search engine, accounted for 3.84% of all UK Internet searches conducted in July 2011.

Microsoft Sites increased their market share within the Search category by 0.96% compared to June, and were also 0.67% up on July 2010. Google meanwhile had a reversal of fortunes, with a declining market share of searches in July of 0.98%. Google Sites were also marginally down year-on-year by 0.56%,but still accounted for over 91% of searches conducted by UK Internet users.

Yahoo! Sites increased their market share of visits slightly this month to account for 3% of all UK searches online and Ask Sites also made minor gains. However, it was only Microsoft Sites which demonstrated any notable growth in the search market this month and bing was the only search engine to increase its market share of searches year-on-year between July 2010 and July 2011.

"Microsoft has recovered from last month's blip to once again become the UK's second most popular search provider," commented Robin Goad, Research Director of Experian Hitwise. "The gains made by Microsoft Sites this month are almost exactly equal to the losses suffered by Google, which means that some of the searches that were being conducted on Google engines last month are now being typed into bing. In this constantly fluctuating search market, it's important for brands to understand where people are searching for their products, and crucially how rankings, paid rates and search success rates can vary across the different search engines. The key for bing now is to hold on to its gains in the search market and build on its strengths which differentiate it from Google and the other engines." YouTube accounts for 1 in every 35 UK Internet visits YouTube continued its exceptional growth as the fastest moving social network for the fifth consecutive month. One in every 35 visits to a website by UK Internet users now goes to YouTube and the video site now accounts for 22.54% of all visits to social networks, its highest market share of the UK social landscape recorded to date.

The search term 'youtube' was also the third biggest after term typed into search engines this month. The most popular search term was 'facebook', while 'ebay' was second. Facebook, meanwhile, suffered a significant loss of market share of visits this month dropping from 53.72% to 50.14% of all UK Internet visits to social networks. Facebook's dominance of the UK social market hasn't been this low since October 2009, when the network accounted for 50.46% of all visits to the category.

Robin Goad added: "The growth of YouTube over the last year has been outstanding. Now firmly entrenched as the UK's third most visited website after Google UK (www.google.co.uk) and Facebook, YouTube continues to make advances in the field of online video. A lot of YouTube's growth has come from usage on mobile devices. One in 20 visits to YouTube now comes from a mobile device used on a home WiFi network, and that doesn't take into account the millions of videos watched each month using the 3G networks. We already know that mobile is the next digital frontier, and YouTube is a great example of a brand that is already reaping the rewards of attracting a strong affinity with smartphone and tablet users. The next step for marketers is to work out not just how to organise their search and social spend, but how much resource can be dedicated to the growing online mobile industry." YouTube increased its presence in social by extending its market share of visits to the Experian Hitwise Social Networking and Forums category from 20.52% in May to 20.76% in June. Facebook was the second fastest growing social network of the month, followed by Tumblr.

Contact: Alexandra Banks Digital PR Manager, Experian Marketing Services +44 (0)7966 102 823 alexandra.banks@uk.experian.com : mailto:alexandra.banks@uk.experian.com press.uk@hitwise.com : mailto:press.uk@hitwise.com

About Experian Hitwise

Experian Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Experian Hitwise gives marketers a competitive advantage by providing daily insights on how 25 million Internet users around the world interact with more than 1 million Web sites. This external view helps companies grow and protect their businesses by identifying threats and opportunities as they develop. Experian Hitwise has more than 1,500 clients across numerous sectors, including financial services, media, travel and retail.

Experian Hitwise (FTS:EXPN), www.experianplc.com : http://hitwise.chtah.com/a/tBOP8HKB8U3jIB8csdrAAAZxMBF/experian , operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, France, China and Brazil. More information about Experian Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com/uk : http://hitwise.chtah.com/a/tBOP8HKB8U3jIB8csdrAAAZxMBF/hitwiseuk .

For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit the Experian Hitwise research blog at www.ilovedata.com : http://hitwise.chtah.com/a/tBOP8HKB8U3jIB8csdrAAAZxMBF/ilovedata and the Experian Hitwise Data Centre at www.hitwise.com/datacentre : http://hitwise.chtah.com/a/tBOP8HKB8U3jIB8csdrAAAZxMBF/datacentre About Experian Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 80 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2011 was US$4.2 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 41 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and So Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://hitwise.chtah.com/a/tBOP8HKB8U3jIB8csdrAAAZxMBF/experian : http://hitwise.chtah.com/a/tBOP8HKB8U3jIB8csdrAAAZxMBF/experian .

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