TORONTO Canadian Internet users are more likely to use search engines and search more often than their American counterparts. Findings from comScore also show Google.Com is the top search engine in both countries, but slightly more popular in Canada.
“With more than 60 percent of home users accessing the Web through a broadband connection, it didn’t surprise us to find that Canadians are more frequent search engine users,” said Brent Lowe-Bernie, president of comScore Media Metrix Canada. “These numbers should offer a clear indication to search providers and marketers that Canada is fertile market for search engine advertising.”
While Canadians are in many ways heavier Internet users than Americans, the online advertising market in Canada is less developed than it is in the United States. Online advertising in Canada accounted for 1.5 percent of total advertising revenue in 2003 – less than half of the 3.3 percent share in U.S. market.
In the United States, search marketing has grown to become the single largest segment of online advertising revenue, accounting for 35 percent of total Internet advertising spending in 2003. With qSearch data showing that Canadians are heavier online searchers than Americans, clearly a similar opportunity for commercialization exists in Canada.
A comparison of search engine market share in Canada and the U.S. reveals significant differences in the competitive landscape of these two countries. Google, which has a 6-point share lead over Yahoo! in the United States, holds a dominant share of the market in Canada, accounting for 62 percent of all searches conducted by Canadian Internet users in April 2004. In April, more than 40 percent of Canadian Internet users conducted at least one search at MSN and Yahoo! (as represented by “Searcher Penetration”), a reflection of the massive reach of their online properties, which are visited by 96 and 75 percent of the Canadian Internet population, respectively.
