According to Adobe Digital Index data, from Q4 2014 to Q4 2015, Google’s share of paid search ad spending rose from 77% to 82%, while Bing/Yahoo held steady.
Figures are quite different in North America. Google still reigns when it comes to paid search ad spending share, but the numbers are closer—from Q4 2014 to Q4 2015, Google’s share among Adobe clients went from 67% to 68%. Bing/Yahoo’s share was much higher than in Europe, peaking at 35% in Q1 2015 before ending up at 28% for Q4 2015. Google’s dominance seems intractable in both Western markets, but the North American picture is a bit more competitive, at least.
On a worldwide basis, Adobe’s search clients are focused on the deskktop—taking 62% of paid search ad spending in Q4 2015—but that’s less and less the case. For example, desktop is down 7 percentage points from the same time in 2014, while smartphone paid search ad spending share is up 8 points. Tablet share is holding steady (14% in Q4 2015).
(Source: eMarketer)