Google may see its mobile search market share shrink to just 64 percent in the next two years from 83 percent in 2012 as usage of mobile apps such as Yelp flourish to new heights, new report by EMarketer has revealed.
EMarketer said in its report that the mobile search based digital ad dollars will reach to a whopping $28.41 billion by 2018 and Google despite its monopoly in 2013 will see its share fall by nearly 18 percent points in a span of four years.
The report does say that Google will keep on topping the mobile search market, but smaller players specifically mobile apps based search providers will see their market share increase – primary among them being Yelp, which saw a whopping 311 percent increase in mobile search ad revenue in 2013 and a 136 percent increase in 2014. During the next two years, Yelp will see its market share of mobile search ad revenue rise to 1.9 percent.
EMarketer analyst Cathy Boyle believes that smartphone and tablets users don’t necessarily resort to browser based search when looking for something.
“The explosion of mobile app development and usage means mobile users have more — and more specialized — alternatives for finding information”, said Boyle in the report.
The report claims that specialised apps being built for specific search like job hunting, travel, product comparisons and Google’s rivals such as Bing will have a market share of 30 percent by 2016.
Further, EMarketer also noted in its report the social media based search is picking up with users inclined to carry out search and find recommendations on Facebook, Twitter and other such social platforms.
