Searches Using Term ‘Unemployment’ in December Triples versus Year Ago
RESTON, VA, February 24, 2009 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an analysis of changes in Americans’ searching behavior resulting from the economic downturn, based on December 2008 data from Comscore Marketer, a search intelligence tool.
Searches for several terms related to the economic downturn showed dramatic gains during the past year. Among the most notable increases were searches relating to the deteriorating job market, including searches using the term “unemployment” (up 206 percent to 8.2 million searches) and “unemployment benefits” (up 247 percent to 748,000 searches). Meanwhile, terms relating to personal asset situations, including “mortgage” (up 72 percent to 7.8 million searches), “bankruptcy” (up 156 percent to 2.6 million searches), and “foreclosure” (up 67 percent to 1.4 million searches) also grew strongly. And Americans, resilient as they are, are seeking ways to save money, as evidenced by the increase in the number of searches for “coupons” (up 161 percent to 19.9 million) and “discount” (up 26 percent to 7.9 million).
Growth in Search Terms Related to Economic DownturnDecember 2008 vs. December 2007Total U.S. – Home/Work/University LocationsSource: Comscore Marketer
Search Term
Total Searches (000)
Dec-2007
Dec-2008
% Change
“Coupons”
7,637
19,921
161%
“Unemployment”
2,688
8,214
206%
“Discount”
6,271
7,928
26%
“Mortgage”
4,518
7,756
72%
“Bankruptcy”
1,012
2,589
156%
“Foreclosure”
824
1,373
67%
“Unemployment Benefits”
215
748
247%
“Online behavior has come to reflect the interests or concerns of Americans, and we are certainly seeing this manifest itself with respect to the economic downturn,” said Comscore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Search volume using terms relating to the economy has ballooned over the past year as Americans have become increasingly concerned over their economic wellbeing.”
Unemployment Searchers Skew Younger, Lower Income
To illustrate how different segments of the population might be affected by these economic conditions, Comscore examined the demographic profile of those who clicked on a link following a search using the term “unemployment”. .The profile of these Internet users generally skewed towards those households with a head younger than 35 years of age and households earning less than $50,000 a year. They were also significantly more likely to use Yahoo!, MSN-Windows Live, or Ask.com Search than Google or AOL search.
Profile of Search Clickers Using the Term “Unemployment”December 2008Total U.S., Age 18+ – Home/Work/University LocationsSource: Comscore Marketer
Term: “Unemployment”
Share of Clicks Following Search
Index*
Age of Head of Household
18-24
4.2%
118
25-34
23.5%
126
35-44
24.4%
86
45-54
26.5%
96
55-64
14.4%
101
65+
7.1%
90
Household Income
<$25k
12.2%
130
$25-49k
123
$50-74k
26.2%
97
$75-99k
81
$100k+
23.7%
89
Search Engine
Google Search
60.8%
87
Yahoo! Search
23.3%
121
MSN-Windows Live Search
10.0%
172
AOL Search
2.3%
76
Ask.com Search
3.6%
156
*Index = share of clicks on “unemployment”/share of clicks for all searches x 100; Index of 100 represents parity
About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital .marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
PressBill DaddiDaddi Brand Communications646-370-1341press@comscore.com