Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - UK

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Bebo Closing the Gap with eBay as Most Searched for UK Brand

October 04, 2006

In doing a demo of Hitwise this week, we noticed that Bebo is catching up quickly to eBay as the most searched for brand in the UK. Since May, the term "bebo" has ranked #2 in the share of UK internet searches after "ebay", and Bebo's rapid rise is narrowing the gap. The market share of UK internet searches for "bebo" has increased more than three fold in the past six months and 17.6% in the past three months. The gap in the share of searches for "ebay" and "bebo" was only 5% in the four weeks to 30th September 2006, down from 25% three months ago and 80% six months ago.

I find Bebo's rise in our search term rankings really interesting for a few reasons. First, it highlights just how quickly a brand can rise through viral channels and reach mass awareness. Second, I find it pretty remarkable that a brand can take the #2 spot among the most searched for brands in the UK whilst going largely unnoticed by a large segment of the population. Does your mum or your gran know Bebo? And finally, third, it points to the challenge to existing brands. Bebo has in a very short period overtaken stalwarts such as the BBC, Tesco and Argos.

Also worth pointing out that whilst in 2005 there were twelve brands among the top 20 that were retailers (those whose primary business is to sell products or services) that number dropped to eight in 2006. In addition to Bebo, new entrants include MySpace, YouTube, Rightmove, Wikipedia and Google Earth.

Many of these new entrants are relatively young internet businesses, supported by online advertising. Whilst last year the top 20 online brands were dominated by retailers, there is now an almost even balance between retailers and advertising supported content sites. This rise of the advertising supported business model has been fuelled by continued growth in online advertising, as reported today by the UK Internet Advertising Bureau.

Posted by Heather Hopkins at 03:40 PM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Branding