Despite Microsoft’s persistent efforts to promote the capabilities of Bing AI, the company continues to hold a share of around 3% in the search engine market, according to the latest statistics.
Microsoft has been enthusiastically advocating Bing AI as an innovative means to enrich search experiences through artificial intelligence. While AI has garnered curiosity and interest, the advancements in Bing’s AI capabilities have not managed to significantly increase Microsoft’s portion of the search engine market.
In February 2023, Microsoft introduced Bing AI Chat in a limited release, initially requiring users to join a waitlist for access. By May, the waitlist was removed, granting broader access to Bing Chat. Despite these efforts, the availability of the new AI features has not translated into a notable surge in Bing’s market share, as indicated by the most recent market statistics.
Market intelligence firm Statcounter’s data reveals that Bing’s global search engine share stood at 2.99% in July. This figure is a slight decline from January’s 3.03% and a marginal increase from April’s 2.76%. Similarly, web analytics firm Similarweb reported Bing’s share as 3.23% in June, a figure that has remained relatively consistent since the beginning of the year.
Web traffic metrics provided by analytics firm YipitData depict a fluctuation in the number of visitors to Bing. Numbers shifted from 95.7 million in February to 101.7 million in March, followed by 96.4 million in April, 99.2 million in May, and 97.7 million in June. It’s important to note that YipitData’s usage statistics encompass PCs but exclude mobile devices and data from China.
Amid these statistical reports from various sources, Microsoft has asserted that the new Bing has been a success, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The company has also contested the data provided by these analytics firms, asserting that their numbers do not encompass all users who directly visit Bing’s chat page.
However, representatives from Statcounter, Similarweb, and YipitData have confirmed that their data accounts for traffic to and from Bing’s Chat feature. David F. Carr, senior insights manager for Similarweb, explained that while there may be some interactions not captured, they would not be significant enough to drastically alter the results.
Microsoft responded to these claims through a spokesperson, stating:
“While we cannot comment on third-party data, we can share that Bing has grown to exceed 100 million daily active users. Our usage signals show strong growth since February and because of new access points like Bing Chat Enterprise, we’ve experienced one of our biggest growth months on record since we launched our new Bing and Edge experience. Already, our customers have engaged in over a billion chats and have created over 750 million images with Bing Image Creator.”
Since its inception in July 2009, Bing has faced an uphill battle in vying for a share of the search engine market against Google. Google’s grip on this lucrative landscape has remained consistently strong, holding around 90% of the global market share. Search is a pivotal revenue driver for Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other companies, primarily from advertisers who pay for ad placements. In 2022, Google amassed $162 billion from search-related ads, whereas Microsoft’s Bing generated approximately $11 billion.
Attempting to leverage the hype surrounding generative AI, Microsoft initiated its efforts by integrating its chatbot into Edge and the mobile Bing app. Users could interact with the AI bot, ask questions, seek information, and even generate content. In recent times, Microsoft expanded Bing AI beyond Edge to other browsers like Chrome and Safari, aiming to attract more users.
In addition to text generation, Bing can now produce images based on textual descriptions. The new visual search feature allows users to submit images for interpretation or pose questions about them. Furthermore, an enterprise version of Bing AI caters to large organizations, offering them the ability to implement and manage the chatbot for their employees.
To avoid losing ground, Google has also ventured into integrating AI with its well-known search engine. The Search Generative Experience (SGE), currently available as a Google Labs experiment, aims to enhance conventional search results with AI-generated summaries, sources, and suggested follow-up questions.
The pivotal question remains: Can AI effectively attract more users to traditional search engines, and which search engines will emerge as frontrunners in this competitive landscape?
“The challenge lies in determining which tool users will predominantly favor for their search needs,” commented Max Gomez, chief marketing officer of digital marketing firm The HOTH.
“From my perspective, users are likely to gravitate toward Google when they have a clear search intent,” Gomez added. “This notion is reinforced by the introduction of SGE on the search engine results page, indicating Google’s push for more comprehensive search queries that extend beyond traditional brand terms. Conversely, I anticipate a trend where users will increasingly turn to AI for specific answers, particularly when exploring unfamiliar subjects or specialized tasks like coding and programming.”
Source: t.ly/i2OKh
