Total number of China mobile search users exceeded 467 million in H1 2014 according to iiMedia Research. It is believed that user growth rate is slowing down since mobile penetration rate is reaching a ceiling.
According to China Mobile gateway traffic data recently leaked on Weibo, Shen Ma Search (m.sm.cn) was the second largest mobile search engine in June after Baidu.
It is estimated that competition of mobile search will focus on optimization of user experience, innovation of products function and improvement for search layout.
Baidu Ice Bucket is a algorithm change to Baidu’s mobile search results ranking algorithm that is first released on 25 August 2014.
Total revenue of China mobile search market increased to RMB2.03 billion (USD330.6 million) with an increase of 24.2% from prior quarter. iiMedia Research believed that China mobile search apps are making efforts on integration of mobile search and offline events and improving their service, which make China mobile search market more active.
Among China mobile search first-option sources in H1 2014, mobile browser was the most popular one, preferred by 56.1% of all respondents surveyed.
There was still 6.8% of total China mobile users who didn’t think there was need for mobile search app.
Public transport is the most popular place that Chinese are searching on mobile (51.2%), followed by travelling/ on business trip (45.8%) and shopping in a mall (32.2%).
Among all types of China mobile search, character input is the most used way for searching, accounting for 82.7%, followed by voice search and image search.
The most popular category of search content is hot news in China in H1 2014, accounting for 32.8% of all categories. It is believed that mobile search service mainly satisfies users’ daily needs for lifestyle and entertainment involving shopping, traveling and so on.
China mobile search advertising only represented 13.1% of total search advertising click share in 2013, according to Marin Software’s latest annual report. Yet in Q2 2014, Baidu CEO Robin Li said, Baidu active users increased by 58 thousand in Q2 2014, and Baidu mobile platform usage grows fast. Baidu mobile revenue occupies more than 10% of its total revenue for the first time.
Also read: China Mobile Shopping market Exceeded $27B in Q2 2014
