SPONSORED LINK ADVERTISING ON GOOGLE AND YAHOO! GROWS 16

SPONSORED LINK ADVERTISING ON GOOGLE AND YAHOO! GROWS 16
PERCENT IN SIX MONTHS: YAHOO’S SPONSORED LINKS RISE 21 PERCENT,
GOOGLE’S 14 PERCENT, ACCORDING TO NIELSEN//NETRATINGS
Google Leads with 41.1 Billion Sponsored Link Impressions in January, Yahoo! Follows with 23.2 Billion
NEW YORK–February 16, 2006– Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market
research, today announced that the number of sponsored link advertising impressions on the Google and
Yahoo! ad platforms grew 16 percent, from 55.4 billion to 64.3 billion, between August 2005 and January
2006. This accounts for sponsored link impressions not only on the Google and Yahoo! Web sites, but
also in their respective search and contextual advertising networks.
“Despite the overwhelming market share that Google and Yahoo! search enjoy, they continue to see
strong growth in the volume of sponsored links,” said Ken Cassar, chief analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings.
”While Google, in particular, seeks to diversify its revenue, it is a positive sign that its core search
advertising business remains robust.”
Although Google had more sponsored link impressions in January, Yahoo! is gaining ground. During the
last six months, Yahoo’s sponsored links have grown 21 percent to 23.2 billion, while Google’s have
grown 14 percent to 41.1 billion (see Table 1).
Table 1: Sponsored Link Impressions (in billions) for Aug. 05 to Jan. 06 (U.S.)
Ad Platform Aug. 05 Sept. 05 Oct. 05 Nov. 05 Dec. 05 Jan. 06 6 Month Growth
Google 36.2 34.1 37.4 35.1 38.1 41.1 14%
Yahoo! 19.2 20.0 20.7 19.1 25.5 23.2 21%
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance, February 2006
Note: AdRelevance collects impressions from over 1,000 top U.S. Web properties.
eBay is the primary sponsored link advertiser on both sites (see Tables 2 and 3). eBay’s Shopping.com is
Google’s No. 2 sponsored link advertiser, followed by Local.com, Target Stores and Expedia,
respectively. Shopping.com is also Yahoo’s No. 2 sponsored link advertiser, followed by University of
Phoenix, Lending Tree and Target Stores, respectively.
“E-commerce advertisers, eBay chief among them, represent the top advertisers on both Yahoo! and
Google. It is becoming increasingly clear that sponsored link advertising is a necessary cost of doing
business for e-commerce companies,” Cassar continued.
Table 2: Google’s Top 5 Sponsored Link Advertisers, January 2006 (U.S.)
Company/Division Sponsored Link Impressions (000)
eBay, Inc. eBay 984,204
eBay, Inc. Shopping.com 447,591
Interchange Corporation Local.com 279,250
Target Corporation Target Stores 218,140
InterActiveCorp Expedia, Inc. 197,329
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance, February 2006
Note: AdRelevance collects impressions from over 1,000 top U.S. Web properties
Table 3: Yahoo’s Top 5 Sponsored Link Advertisers, January 2006 (U.S.)
Company/Division Sponsored Link Impressions (000)
eBay, Inc. eBay 537,137
eBay, Inc. Shopping.com 501,195
Apollo Group, Inc. University of Phoenix 151,642
InterActiveCorp LendingTree, Inc. 116,303
Target Corporation Target Stores 79,013
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance, February 2006
Note: AdRelevance collects impressions from over 1,000 top U.S. Web properties
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Nielsen//NetRatings reports January 2006 data for the Top Sites by Parent Company and Top Brands. In
addition, Nielsen//NetRatings reveals the Top Advertisers by Company for January 2006.
Nielsen//NetRatings Top 10 Web Sites by Parent Company and Top 10 Web Sites By Brand,
January 2006
Table 1. Top 10 Parent Companies, Table 2. Top 10 Brands,
Combined Home & Work (U.S.) Combined Home & Work (U.S.)
Parent
Unique
Audience
(000)
Time Per
Person
(hh:mm:ss) Brand
Unique
Audience
(000)
Time Per
Person
(hh:mm:ss)
1. Microsoft 113,669 2:10:47 1. Yahoo! 105,093 3:41:41
2. Yahoo! 105,628 3:41:12 2. Microsoft 97,763 0:47:05
3. Time Warner 102,446 5:04:29 3. MSN 94,184 1:48:45
4. Google 93,732 0:55:18 4. Google 91,599 0:54:19
5. eBay 61,833 1:49:19 5. AOL 74,519 6:18:05
6. InterActiveCorp 56,240 0:30:16 6. eBay 54,971 1:52:30
7. News Corp. Online 52,482 1:30:52 7. Amazon 42,765 0:23:53
8. Amazon 49,760 0:26:33 8. MapQuest 38,747 0:13:59
9. Walt Disney Internet Group 40,666 0:35:08 9. Real 36,137 0:45:59
10. New York Times Company 39,056 0:16:20 10. Apple 34,976 1:06:16
Example: The data indicates that 39.1 million home and work Internet users visited at least one of the
New York Times Company-owned sites or launched a New York Times Company-owned application
during the month, and each person spent, on average, a total of 16 minutes and 20 seconds at one or
more of their sites or applications.
A parent company is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs owned by a single entity. A
brand is defined as a consolidation of multiple domains and URLs that has a consistent collection of
branded content. Reach is a measure of the unduplicated audience that visits a property. The data is
expressed as the percentage of the total universe of Internet users who logged onto the Internet at least
once during the reporting period.
Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance Top 10 Advertisers, January 2006 (U.S.)
Top advertisers, ranked by estimated spending, are based on data from AdRelevance,
Nielsen//NetRatings' advertising research service. An impression is counted as the number of times an ad
is rendered for viewing.
Top 10 Advertisers by Estimated Spending
Advertiser*
Total Estimated
Spending
Impressions
(000)
1. Vonage Holdings Corp $36,574,400 14,954,696
2. Netflix, Inc. $16,770,200 5,042,750
3. United Online, Inc. $13,588,500 3,383,704
4. NexTag.com $12,557,100 3,517,763
5. LowerMyBills.com, Inc. $12,470,400 2,580,703
6. BellSouth Corporation $11,593,400 3,139,830
7. Verizon Communications, Inc. $10,346,400 2,979,028
8. InterActiveCorp $9,261,900 2,307,974
9. General Motors Corporation $9,260,900 1,749,433
10. Scottrade, Inc. $8,655,200 1,866,586
Estimated spending reflects CPM-based advertising only, and excludes search-based advertising, paid
fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, partnership advertising, advertorials,
promotions, email and direct response. Impressions reported exclude house ads, which are ads that run
on an advertiser’s own or related Web property and co-branding relationships.
Example: An estimated 1.9 billion Scottrade, Inc. ads were rendered for viewing at the cost of
approximately $8.6 million during the surfing period.
About Nielsen//NetRatings
NetRatings, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT) delivers leading Internet media and market research solutions,
marketed globally under the Nielsen//NetRatings brand. With high quality, technology-driven products and
services, Nielsen//NetRatings is the global standard for Internet audience measurement and premier
source for online advertising intelligence, enabling clients to make informed business decisions regarding
their Internet and digital strategies. The Nielsen//NetRatings portfolio includes panel-based and sitecentric
Internet audience measurement services, online advertising intelligence, user lifestyle and
demographic data, e-commerce and transaction metrics, and custom data, research and analysis. For
more information, please visit www.nielsen-netratings.com.
Editor’s Note: Please source all data to Nielsen//NetRatings.
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