Top Chinese Web Browsers in China

Sogou’s search-related revenues were $237.6 million, a 1% increase year-over-year. The auction-based pay-per-click services continued to increase year-over-year, accounting for 91.0% of search and search-related revenues, compared to 87.2% in the corresponding period in 2019.

Other revenues were $19.7 million, a 6% increase year-over-year. The increase was primarily due to increased revenues from sales of smart hardware products.

Net loss attributable to Sogou Inc. was $31.6 million, compared to a net loss of $3.9 million in Q1 2019. Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Sogou Inc. was $31.1 million, compared to a net loss of $2.7 million in the corresponding period in 2019.

Sogou Mobile Keyboard had 482 million DAUs (daily average users), up 9% year-over-year. As China’s largest voice recognition app, it processed up to 1.4 billion daily voice requests.

Sogou released its Sogou Mobile Keyboard 10.8 in April 2020, the latest version of the Sogou Mobile Keyboard. Powered by its AI technologies, the latest upgrade features new multilingual voice-based transcription and translation services, supports language input in four more languages, and offers improved accuracy rates for voice inputs.

For the second quarter of 2020, Sogou expects total revenues to be in the range of $260 million to $280 million, representing a decrease of 8% to 14% year-over-year, or a decrease of 4% to 11% year-over-year in RMB terms.

China’s mobile search market overview 2020

Sogou Financial Results in Q4 2019

Total revenues were $301.0 million, a 1% increase year-over-year.

• Search and search-related revenues were $274.6 million, down 1% year-over-year. However, auction-based pay-for-click services continued to increase year-over-year, accounting for 88.2% of search and search-related revenues, compared to 84.8% in the corresponding period in 2018.
• Other revenues were $26.4 million, a 26% increase year-over-year. The increase was primarily due to increased revenues from sales of smart hardware products.

Cost of revenues was $168.7 million, a 9% decrease year-over-year. Traffic acquisition cost, a primary driver of cost of revenues, was $129.0 million, a 14% decrease year-over-year, representing 42.8% of total revenues, compared to 50.3% in the corresponding period in 2018.

Gross profit was $132.4 million, an 18% increase year-over-year. Non-GAAP gross profit was $132.6 million, a 19% increase year-over-year.

Total operating expenses were $95.0 million, a 4% decrease year-over-year.

• Research and development expenses were $48.7 million, a 1% increase year-over-year, representing 16.2% of total revenues, largely flat with the corresponding period in 2018.
• Sales and marketing expenses were $34.9 million, a 16% decrease year-over-year, representing 11.6% of total revenues, compared to 14.0% in the corresponding period in 2018. The decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in marketing and promotional spending.
• General and administrative expenses were $11.3 million, a 21% increase year-over-year, representing 3.8% of total revenues, compared to 3.1% in the corresponding period in 2018. The increase was primarily due to an increase in professional fees.

Operating income was $37.4 million, a 202% increase year-over-year, compared to $12.4 million in the corresponding period in 2018. Non-GAAP operating income was $41.5 million, a 216% increase year-over-year, compared to $13.1 million in the corresponding period in 2018.

Other income, net was $0.5 million, compared to $9.6 million in the corresponding period in 2018. The decrease was primarily due to a $9.1 million impairment loss on certain equity investments of Sogou in 2019.

Income tax expense was $2.0 million, compared to an income tax benefit of $3.6 million in the corresponding period of 2018.

Net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $35.0 million, a 33% increase year-over-year, compared to net income of $26.4 million in the corresponding period in 2018. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $39.0 million, a 44% increase year-over-year, compared to net income of $27.1 million in the corresponding period in 2018.

Basic and diluted earnings per ADS were $0.09. Non-GAAP basic and diluted earnings per ADS were $0.10.

As of December 31, 2019, it had cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $1.1 billion, compared to $1.0 billion as of December 31, 2018.

Net operating cash inflow for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $52.0 million. Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter of 2019 were $9.1 million.

Sogou Financial Results for Full Year 2019

Total revenues were $1.17 billion, a 4% increase from 2018.

• Search and search-related revenues were $1.07 billion, a 5% increase from 2018. The increase was primarily due to growth in auction-based pay-for-click services. Auction-based pay-for-click services accounted for 88.1% of search and search-related revenues, compared to 83.8% in 2018.
• Other revenues were $99.1 million, compared to $101.0 million in 2018.

Cost of revenues was $738.5 million, a 6% increase from 2018. Traffic acquisition cost, a primary driver of cost of revenues, was $562.2 million, a 6% increase from 2018, representing 48.0% of total revenues, compared to 47.4% in 2018.

Gross profit was $433.8 million, a 1% increase from 2018. Non-GAAP gross profit was $434.3 million, a 1% increase from 2018.

Total operating expenses were $369.4 million, a 4% decrease from 2018.

• Research and development expenses were $190.4 million, a 6% decrease from 2018, representing 16.2% of total revenues, compared to 17.9% in 2018.
• Sales and marketing expenses were $138.3 million, a 5% decrease from 2018, representing 11.8% of total revenues, compared to 13.0% in 2018.
• General and administrative expenses were $40.7 million, a 7% increase from 2018, representing 3.5% of total revenues, compared to 3.4% in 2018.

Operating income was $64.4 million, a 44% increase from 2018. Non-GAAP operating income was $80.3 million, a 36% increase from 2018.

Other income, net was $21.1 million, compared to $41.5 million in 2018. The decrease was primarily due to a $17.8 million gain from one of Sogou’s equity investments recognized in the third quarter of 2018.

Income tax expense was $2.7 million, compared to $1.2 million in 2018.

Net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $89.1 million, compared to $98.8 million in 2018. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $105.0 million, compared to $113.0 million in 2018.

Basic and diluted earnings per ADS were $0.23. Non-GAAP basic and diluted earnings per ADS were $0.27.

Sogou Outlook for Q1 2020

For the first quarter of 2020, Sogou expects total revenues to be in the range of $240 million to $260 million, representing a 5% decrease to 3% increase year-over-year, or a 1% decrease to 7% increase year-over-year in RMB terms.

In developing this guidance, Sogou has considered the potential impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as other challenges in the macro-environment and the online advertising industry.

Given its Search business has navigated the situation relatively well, Sogou expects Search to remain resilient in the first quarter. The guidance represents its current and preliminary view, which is subject to substantial uncertainty, particularly as to the development and potential impact of the COVID-19 virus in China and elsewhere.

For the first quarter 2020 guidance, the Company has adopted a presumed exchange rate of RMB7.00 = $1.00, as compared with the actual exchange rate of approximately RMB6.74 = $1.00 for the first quarter of 2019, and RMB7.03 = $1.00 for the fourth quarter of 2019.

China’s second-largest search engine Sogou announced total revenues of $314.9 million in the third quarter, a 14% increase year-over-year, or a 17% increase in RMB terms.

Search and search-related revenues were $288.2 million, a 13% increase year-over-year and accounting for 91.5% of total revenues in Q3 2019.

The increase was primarily due to growth in auction-based pay-for-click services. Auction-based pay-for-click services accounted for 88.7% of search and search-related revenues, compared to 82.7% in Q3 2018.

Other revenues were $26.7 million, a 25% increase year-over-year. The increase was primarily due to increased revenues from sales of smart hardware products.

Net income attributable to Sogou was $36.6 million, a 53% increase year-over-year. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Sogou was $40.9 million, a 46% increase year-over-year.

Cost of revenues was $189.3 million, a 9% increase year-over-year. Traffic acquisition cost was $143.7 million, a 6% increase year-over-year, representing 45.6% of total revenues, compared to 48.9% in Q3 2018.

Gross profit was $125.6 million, a 22% increase year-over-year. Non-GAAP gross profit was $125.7 million, a 22% increase year-over-year.

Total operating expenses were $98.2 million, a 10% decrease year-over-year.

• Research and development expenses were $50.0 million, relatively stable year-over-year, representing 15.9% of total revenues, compared to 18.3% in Q3 2018.
• Sales and marketing expenses were $37.5 million, a 14% decrease year-over-year, representing 11.9% of total revenues, compared to 15.8% in Q3 2018. The decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in marketing and promotional spending.
• General and administrative expenses were $10.7 million, a 31% decrease year-over-year, representing 3.4% of total revenues, compared to 5.6% in Q3 2018. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in expenses related to non-core business initiatives.

Sogou’s operating income was $27.4 million, compared to an operating loss of $6.8 million in Q3 2018. Non-GAAP operating income was $31.6 million, compared to non-GAAP operating loss of $2.7 million.

Income tax expense was $2.4 million, compared to an income tax benefit of $0.4 million in the corresponding period of 2018.

Net income attributable to Sogou was $36.6 million, a 53% increase year-over-year, compared to net income of $23.9 million in Q3 2018. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Sogou was $40.9 million, a 46% increase year-over-year, compared to net income of $28.0 million in Q3 2018.

Basic and diluted earnings per ADS were $0.09. Non-GAAP basic and diluted earnings per ADS were $0.10.

As of September 30, 2019, ogouS had cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $1.1 billion, compared with $1.0 billion as of December 31, 2018. Net operating cash inflow for Q3 2019 was $19.6 million. Capital expenditures for Q3 2019 were $0.7 million.

Sogou Mobile Keyboard had 464 million daily average users, up 14% year-over-year. Claiming to be China’s largest voice app, it processed up to 830 million daily voice requests.

Chinese search engine Sogou’s search-related revenues totaled $276 million in Q2 2019, accounting for 91% of total revenues according to its announced financial results.

Sogou Performance Highlights in Q2 2019

• Total revenues were $303.6 million, a 1% increase year-over-year, or an 8% increase in RMB terms.
• Net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $21.3 million. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $27.8 million.
• Sogou Mobile Keyboard had 453 million DAUs (daily average users), up 17% year-over-year. As China’s largest voice app, it processed up to 680 million daily voice requests.

During the second quarter, our business maintained steady growth and we made important progress in key areas,” said Xiaochuan Wang, CEO of Sogou. “Search revenues continued to grow faster than the industry average. At the same time, by leveraging the large user bases for both Search and Mobile Keyboard, we have gradually built up our big data and recommendation service at a company level and are focusing on unlocking its commercial value.”

Mr. Wang added,

We also geared up our efforts to drive innovation in language-centric AI technologies and continued to advance our leadership in voice and computer vision. Moreover, leveraging our core AI capabilities, we made significant progress in upgrading the smart hardware business, with new AI-enabled products launched and more in the pipeline. Going forward, we believe the steady growth in our core search business, coupled with the solid progress in the big data and recommendation service and smart hardware, will support sustainable expansion across our businesses.

Joe Zhou, CFO of Sogou, said, “We continued to drive top-line growth during the second quarter. Notably, revenues generated from the big data and recommendation service ramped up quickly year-over-year. Although we anticipate the external environment will remain challenging in the second half of 2019, we expect to experience positive momentum from our new growth drivers.”

Financial Results in Q2 2019

Total revenues were $303.6 million, a 1% increase year-over-year.

Search and search-related revenues were $276.2 million, a 2% increase year-over-year. The increase was primarily due to growth in auction-based pay-per-click services. Auction-based pay-for-click services accounted for 88.2% of search and search-related revenues, compared to 84.7% in the corresponding period in 2018.

Other revenues were $27.5 million, an 11% decrease year-over-year. The decrease was primarily due to lower sales of smart hardware products as a result of Sogou’s continued efforts to upgrade its smart hardware strategy.

Cost of revenues was $195.9 million, a 9% increase year-over-year. Traffic acquisition cost, a primary driver of the cost of revenues, was $146.3 million, an 8% increase year-over-year, representing 48.2% of total revenues, compared to 45.0% in the corresponding period in 2018. The increase was driven by price inflation.

Gross profit was $107.8 million, an 11% decrease year-over-year. Non-GAAP gross profit was $107.9 million, a 12% decrease year-over-year.

Total operating expenses were $96.1 million, largely flat year-over-year.

• Research and development expenses were $50.6 million, a 10% decrease year-over-year, representing 16.7% of total revenues, compared to 18.7% in the corresponding period in 2018. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in professional fees.
• Sales and marketing expenses were $36.7 million, an 8% increase year-over-year, representing 12.1% of total revenues, compared to 11.2% in the corresponding period in 2018. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in personnel-related expenses.
• General and administrative expenses were $8.8 million, a 31% increase year-over-year, representing 2.9% of total revenues, compared to 2.2% in the corresponding period in 2018. The increase was primarily due to an increase in expenses related to non-core business initiatives.
• Operating income was $11.6 million, compared to operating income of $24.8 million in the corresponding period in 2018. Non-GAAP operating income was $18.1 million, compared to non-GAAP operating income of $29.9 million in the corresponding period in 2018.
• Other income $4.2 million, compared to $3.4 million in the corresponding period in 2018.

The income tax benefit was $1.4 million, compared to income tax expense of $3.0 million in the corresponding period of 2018. The income tax benefit resulted from a tax filing adjustment of income tax expense previously recognized, which was due to a reduction in taxable income related to Chinese government initiatives to encourage investment in R&D.

Net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $21.3 million, compared to net income of $33.2 million in the corresponding period in 2018. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $27.8 million, compared to net income of $38.2 million in the corresponding period in 2018.

Basic and diluted earnings per ADS were $0.05. Non-GAAP basic and diluted earnings per ADS were $0.07.

As of June 30, 2019, Sogou had cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $1.1 billion, compared with $1.0 billion as of December 31, 2018. Net operating cash inflow for the second quarter of 2019 was $56.2 million. Capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2019 were $12.1 million.

China’s mobile internet users overview for the first half of 2019

Sogou achieved solid results in Q2 2018 with revenue increasing 43% year-on-year to US$301.4 million and non-GAAP net income up by 58% to US$38.2 million, according to its financial results. That was greatly driven by the twin growth engines – search and mobile keyboard – and AI-focused strategy.

Search and search-related revenues were $270.6 million, a 45% increase year-on-year. The increase was primarily due to the strong growth in auction-based pay-for-click services, driven by improved monetization and continued traffic growth in mobile search.

Auction-based pay-for-click services accounted for 84.7% of search and search-related revenues, compared to 83.0% in the corresponding period in 2017.

In search, Sogou differentiated services from Baidu in key verticals, such as healthcare. It also deepened its partnership with WeChat by providing more search services such as the encyclopedia and interactive Q&A platform.

Its AI-powered innovations drove broader adoption of the Sogou Mobile Keyboard, with DAU increasing by 36% year-on-year to 380 million in Q2 2018. Especially in June, Sogou Mobile Keyboard handled approximately 300 million voice inputs on average per day, up 54% year-on-year, and remained China’s largest voice mobile application.

Meanwhile, Sogou also applied its AI capabilities to enhance the competitiveness of the recently launched hardware products, such as Sogou Travel Translator and Sogou Smart Recording Translator.

Baidu also had a good quarter in Q2 2018. Check out China mobile internet market forecast 2018-2020 here.

One China’s top search engine company, Sogou’s Total revenues were $908.4 million in 2017, a 38% increase from 2016.

• Search and search-related revenues were $801.6 million, a 34% increase from 2016. The increase was primarily due to solid growth in auction-based pay-for-click services, which accounted for 83.0% of search and search-related revenues, compared to 77.6% in 2016.
• Other revenues were $106.8 million, a 69% increase from 2016. The growth was primarily due to increased revenues from Internet value-added services (or “IVAS”) and sales of smart hardware products.

Cost of revenues was $457.4 million, a 51% increase from 2016. Traffic acquisition cost, a primary driver of cost of revenues, increased by 50% to $303.6 million, representing 33.4% of total revenues compared to 30.7% in 2016.

Gross profit was $451.0 million, a 26% increase from 2016. Non-GAAP gross profit was $451.5 million, a 26% increase from 2016.

Total operating expenses were $357.1 million, a 25% increase from 2016.

• Research and development expenses were $172.8 million, a 25% increase from 2016, representing 19.0% of total revenues compared to 21.0% in 2016.
• Sales and marketing expenses were $156.4 million, a 27% increase from 2016, representing 17.2% of total revenues compared to 18.6% in 2016.
• General and administrative expenses were $27.9 million, a 13% increase from 2016, representing 3.1% of total revenues compared to 3.7% in 2016.

Operating income was $93.9 million, a 31% increase from 2016. Non-GAAP operating income was $117.6 million, a 39% increase from 2016.

Income tax expense was $14.4 million, compared to $27,000 in 2016. The increase was primarily due to an increase in taxable income, and a relatively smaller tax benefit related to the preferential tax rate of one of the Company’s subsidiaries that is qualified as a “Key National Software Enterprise.”

Net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $82.2 million, an increase of 46% from 2016. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Sogou Inc. was $105.9 million, an increase of 54% from 2016.

Basic earnings per ADS were $0.22 and diluted earnings per ADS were $0.20. Non-GAAP basic earnings per ADS were $0.32 and non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS were $0.29.

For the first quarter of 2018, Sogou expects total revenues to range from $218 million to $228 million, representing a 35% to 41% increase year-over-year.

Meet Shanghai’s new consumers 2017

Sogou, one of the top Chinese search engines, revenues reached US$257 million in Q3 2017, up 55% year-over-year and 22% quarter-over-quarter.

In Q3 2017, Sogou continued to expand market share in mobile search, propelled by robust traffic growth. Mobile search traffic grew by 38% year-over-year, driving a 24% increase in total search traffic.

Total revenue reached $257 million, an increase of 55% a year ago and 22% from the previous quarter, continuously outpacing industry growth.

Related: Baidu delivered solid financial results in the third quarter of 2017 with top line increasing 29% year over year

Sogou made new progress with its product collaboration with Tencent. Specifically, Tencent began testing the integration of Sogou Search into WeChat, which allows its users to access all internet information through Sogou’s general search function from within WeChat.

Sogou has also advanced its AI technology research and product applications. Its technologies in natural language processing continued to enable the transition from search into Q&A.

As Sogou has filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Committee relating to a proposed initial public offering.

Baidu has 78.2% share of China’s mobile search market by the total number of mobile search queries in the first quarter of 2017.

Sogou had 7.9% mobile search market share, followed by Easou (4.9%).

China search engine market overview Q1 2017

Baidu had about 23% less active online marketing customers (451,000) in Q1 2017 compared to Q1 2016. But, its revenue per online marketing customer increased by 27% to 32,200 yuan ($4,678).

WeChat, launched by Sogou in 2014, is testing with external sources in its search results. Is it going to be a threat in China’s mobile search market? Share your thoughts in the comments.

StatCounter data shows Baidu’s market share was 76.05% in China search engines market in April 2017, followed by Shenma (8.78%), 360 Search (7.87%), Sogou (3.31%), and Google (1.84%).

Baidu is more dominant in China’s mobile search market with over 82% market share, followed by Shenma (13.79%) according to StatCounter.

China search engine market overview Q1 2017

Shenma search was a co-founded mobile search engine by UCWeb and Alibaba in 2013; and, Alibaba acquired UCWeb in 2014.

China search engines market totaled 18.76 billion yuan (US$2.72 bn) in Q1 2017, with a decrease of 8.6% compared to Q4 2016 and an increase of 5.3% YoY.

Baidu still leads China’s search engine market in Q1 2017 with 75.88% market share by total revenues (including overseas revenues and channel revenues), followed by Google China (10.24%) and Sogou (8.41%).

Baidu’s market share is the highest at 83.93% if excluding overseas revenues and channel revenues.

Baidu had less active online marketing customers in Q1 2017, representing a 23.2% decrease from Q1 2016. But, its revenues per online marketing customer saw a 26.8% increase from Q1 2016.

China’s Mobile Search Market in Q1 2017

Baidu has 78.2% share of China’s mobile search market by the total number of mobile search queries in the first quarter of 2017, followed by Sogou and Easou.

Baidu is making efforts in China’s rising news feed advertising market, promoting a “search + recommend” model to advertisers. The news feed ad is displayed after every six news items on Baidu mobile.

Easou is a technology company based in Shenzhen; and, it focuses on mobile search and a fiction mobile app.

The number of mobile search users in China reached 628 million in Q3 2016, an increase of 1.29% QoQ according to iiMedia Research.

Baidu still led mobile search market in China with 44.5% usage ratio, followed by Shenma (sm.cn; 20.8%), Sogou (16.2%), 360 (11.8%). Shenma search is a joint venture set up by Alibaba and UC in 2013.

66.8% China online users conducted mobile search on mobile browsers; 24.6% on mobile search apps according to iiMedia. 35.3% and 33.9% users are interested in voice search and image search respectively.

Sogou, one of the top three search engines in China after Baidu and Qihoo 360, announced their cooperation with Microsoft Bing with the launch of two new products: Sogou English Search and Sogou Scholar Search.

While conducting academic research online, a lot of Chinese are more inclined to use Google search which for the reasons we all know can not be easily accessed. The new vertical search products from Sogou specifically target this segment of users, who have higher education and income levels.

Sogou English Search users can also type in Chinese to search for English content.

Also read: Baidu Mobile Search Users Reached 663 Mn in March 2016

Total revenues of all Chinese search engine companies reached 80.76 billion (US$12.48 billion) in 2015 with an increase of 34.7% according to iResearch.

China’s search engine advertising revenues totaled 68.26 billion yuan (US$10.55 billion) in 2015, an increase of 32.2% YoY.

Baidu continued to dominate China search engine market with over 80% market share by advertising revenues, followed by Google China (9.2%), Qihoo 360 (4.9%) and Sogou (4%). Qihoo 360 has been growing fast, whose revenues were still behind Sogou at the end of Q2 2015.

Qihoo 360 announced the launch in Hong Kong of Shangyi on 31 March 2016, which is a set of integrated data and marketing analytics tools designed to help local and overseas marketers and advertisers identify the unique characteristics of Chinese netizens in order to optimize their marketing strategies and enhance business growth.

Read more: China’s Mobile Search Market Insights

The number of China mobile search engine users reached 590 million in Q3 2015 and the ratio of lower educated users have increased.

China mobile search engine users reached 590 million, a YoY increase of 19.9% and QoQ increase of 3.9% according to iiMedia Research.

The penetration rate of smartphone search users in China reached 88.3%.

With high penetration of smartphones and different mobile categories of apps among the young generation, 26 years old to 35 years old users account for 56.8% of the total, followed by users between 18 to 25 years old (16.5%).

Junior high school and college graduates account for the majority of mobile search engines users. Junior high school students account for 26.3%; and users of primary school and below 10.4%. Mobile search users with low education are gradually increasing, due to the growing popularity of smartphones, integrated functions of the mobile search and simpler operation.

About 76.5% users search on mobile phones every day, of which 65.0% of users search once to five times each day and 21.7% search six to ten times.

Search engines on the mobile end help users get whatever they need any time and any place which provides convenience. Increasing functions and interfaces of the mobile search engine are also main factors for many users. Mobile web browser remains the primary search entry point as adopted by 58.8% mobile search users.

Most users have a specific brand preference when searching on mobile. Baidu still has the largest share, accounting for 44.1%; Shenma, with strong traffic from UC browser, accounts for 17.4%, followed by Easou, Sogou and Haosou. About 40.7% users wouldn’t use other search engines.

71.6% users search for news through smartphones. Local affairs, novels, websites, Question & Answer are also frequently-searched content.

Scanning the QR code to search for information is a widely used mobile search method that 56.8% of users used once due to high accuracy and convenience. 32.1% of users still search by inputting words.

Ads, less optimized websites, slow network and low integration between search words and search content are major existing problems against better user experience.

The rapid development of China mobile search engine industry has formed a relatively complete industrial structure. The popularity of smartphones and technology further promotes the development of mobile search market. How to meet the needs of individual users and properly manage ads placement become main problems of mobile search engine providers.

Also read: China Mobile Apps Market Insights in H1 2015

China’s search engine market in Q2 2015 reached 19.22 billion yuan (US$3.09 billion), with an increase of 25.9% QoQ and 36.9% YoY according to Analysis Research.

In Q2 2015, Baidu accounted for 79.81% of the overall market share by revenues which excluded channels revenue; Google China 10.89%, Sogou 6.34%, and the others 2.96%.

Also read: China Online Retail Exceeded $265B in H1 2015

Sogou, one of the top three search engines in China, revenues were US$116 million, up 66% YoY and down 3% QoQ according to Sohu’s financial results.

Mobile search made a greater contribution to Sogou’s revenue, and Sogou expects to grow substantially faster than the overall search industry in China.

Mr. Xiaochuan Wang, CEO of Sogou, commented,

In the first quarter, Sogou maintained its solid growth momentum. Our in-depth cooperation with Tencent, in particular with Weixin, has brought unique capabilities to our mobile search and further enhanced our competitiveness.

Aggregate search traffic rose by 60% year-over-year while mobile search traffic jumped 130%. It’s expected that mobile search traffic will surpass PC traffic at some point of 2015. Our financial performance was impressive as well. Quarterly revenues were $116 million, up 66% year-on-year, and we achieved non-GAAP net income of $16 million.

Sogou revenues are expected to be between US$135 million and US$145 million in Q2 2015; this implies a sequential increase of 16% to 25% and an annual growth of 48% to 59%.

Read more: Baidu, Sogou among Top 5 Biggest Search Engines in the World

eMarketer estimated that in 2015, the total spend of digital advertising in the world will exceed US$170.85 billion according to its report released on 31 March 2015. Baidu and Sohu ranked the second and fourth respectively in the top 5 biggest search engines by revenue in 2014.

According to eMarketer’s estimation, in 2015, search engine ad spend will be US$81.59 billion with an increase of 16.2% from last year. And in 2019, search engine ad’s annual growth will be nearly 10% and its transaction value will exceed US$130.58 billion.

Among all the internet companies worldwide, Google still dominates the search engine advertising market. In 2015, its search engine ad business value is expected to be over US$44.46 billion with an increase od 15.7%. It represented 54.5% market share worldwide.

Benefited from Google’s exit from China, Baidu will account for 8.8% market share in 2015, which is increased by 1.2% from 2014. In 2014, Baidu’s mobile revenue surpassed PC in December. 

Baidu has a better understanding of China market. Browser is a strategic product for internet big players like Baidu and other internet companies. Baidu offers easier way for China internet users to access Google.

China is now the second biggest search engine market, after the U.S. with a market size of US$14.9 billion. And China search engine advertising market’s growth rate will be 32.8%, which is twice than the average growth rate worldwide in 2015.

Also read: Top 6 Desktop Browsers in China in 2014

In Q4 2014, total transaction value of China search engine market was RMB16.26 billion (US$2.63 billion) with an increase of 3.7% from the third quarter. In 2014, total transaction value exceeded RMB57.14 billion (US$9.25 billion) with an increase of 45.2% YoY according to data of EnfoDesk.

According to EnfoDesk, Baidu accounted for 79.48% market share, ranking top by revenue (including revenue from overseas but excluding revenue from channels), followed by Google China (11.91%) and Sogou(5.54%) in Q4 2014 in China.

Including the revenue from overseas and channels, Baidu represented 77.3% market share; while Google China represented 10.29% in Q4 in China search engine market.

Excluding the revenue from overseas, Baidu had 85.9% market share, followed by Sogou (6.3%) and Google China (4.34%) in Q4 2014. The market share structure was different from Q3 2014 in search engine market. See the difference here.

In 2014, China search engine market was performing well. EnfoDesk believed that the growth result from advertisers’ contribution to search market advertising, as well as mobile search market’s rapid development.

In December 2014, for the first time Baidu search revenue from mobile surpassed PC. Baidu expects mobile’s monetization rate to trend up throughout year 2015.

Also read: China Mobile Search Trend 2015

Sohu total revenues were US$477 million, up 24% year-over-year and 11% quarter-over-quarter while Sogou, part of Sohu, revenues were US$119 million, up 70% year-over-year and 12% quarter-over-quarter according to Sohu announced financial results.

Sogou’s mobile keyboard is the top Chinese input application on both iPhones and Android phones while mobile search also showed strong momentum.

In 2014, Sogou continued on its rapid growth trajectory upon the smooth integration with Soso, Tencent’s search brand. Sogou now provides a full range of search services for the vast number of Tencent users.

Sogou have deepened  cooperation with Tencent’s WeChat. Following the launch of a unique function that allows Sogou users to search content published by WeChat official accounts, in their latest version of our mobile search App, they added a new feature called “WeChat Headlines“, which surfaces the most popular and breaking news stories being shared on WeChat.

Sogou have seen robust search traffic growth with mobile traffic growing over 150% in the past twelve months.

Sohu Performance Highlights in 2014

• Total revenues were US$1.7 billion, up 19% year-over-year.
• Brand advertising revenues were US$541 million, up 26% year-over-year. Of this, revenues of Sohu Media Portal were US$198 million, up 9% year-over-year. Revenues of Sohu Video were US$176 million, up 61% year-over-year.
• Sogou revenues were US$386 million, up 79% year-over-year.
• Online game revenues were US$652 million, down 3% year-over-year.
• GAAP net loss attributable to Sohu.com Inc. was US$171 million or US$4.43 loss per fully-diluted share. Non-GAAP net loss attributable toSohu.com Inc. was US$120 million or US$3.11 loss per fully-diluted share

Total revenues for 2014 were US$1.7 billion, up 19% compared with 2013.

Total online advertising revenues, which include revenues from the brand advertising and search and Web directory businesses for 2014, were US$899 million, up 43% compared with 2013.

Brand advertising revenues for 2014 were US$541 million, up 26% compared with 2013. The year-over-year increase was mainly due to increases in revenues from the online video and real estate advertising businesses. Of this, revenues of Sohu Media Portal were US$198 million, up 9% year-over-year. Revenues of Sohu Video were US$176 million, up 61% year-over-year.

Search and Web directory revenues for 2014 were US$358 million, up 80% compared with 2013. The year-over-year increase was mainly driven by the search business as a result of increases in the number of paid clicks and higher average cost per click.

Online game revenues for 2014 were US$652 million, down 3% compared with 2013. The decrease reflected a decline in revenues from TLBB, following the strategic decision to simplify its gameplay, and from Wartune and DDTank, as both games have now entered a mature phase in China. The decreases were partially offset by the successful launch of a new mobile game, TLBB 3D, and a new MMO, Fantasy Frontier Online.

Read more: China E-commerce Market in 2014

The recently launched version of Sogou Chinese input method has Sogou search integrated. As one of the most popular Chinese input method in China, the new Sogou Input could “hijack” some Baidu’s search volume.

When Sogou Input users type Chinese in search engines, suggestions with direct search results could be integrated and send users to the website directly. Even when they type Chinese in other text area, this could also happen. Even more, as shown in the above screen capture, Sogou suggests different search terms as users type and send them to Sogou’s own search results page if any suggestion is clicked. Interestingly, this feature is disabled when users use 360 search.

According to CNZZ’s data, new Sougou accounted for 12.75% market share in China search engine market in August 2014. The top 2 remained to be Baidu and 360 search (which is now Haoso.com).

Also read: China Search Engine Market Share in Q3 2014

In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China search engine market was RMB16.45 billion ($2.67 billion) with increase of 11.7% quarter on quarter and 50.6% year on year according to data from iResearch.

China search engine market was keeping its stable growth in consecutive three quarters in 2014 and it is still performing well. In Q3 2014, Baidu accounted for 82.2% market share in China search engine market by revenue, ranking top, followed by Google China, Sougou and 360 search.

Search engines’ revenue from mobile search was the key driving force for China search engine market in Q3 2014. The revenue from mobile search increased RMB5.53 billion ($0.9 billion) representing 59.9% of total growth from same period of prior year.

Sogou’s search and others revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were US$98 million, up 88% YoY and 16% QoQ, mainly due to increases in the number of paid clicks and higher average cost per click according to Sohu’s released financial results for Q3 2014.

As shown above, according another Chinese research company Analysis’s EnfoDesk data, Baidu accounted for 79.45% market share by revenue in Q3 2014 including revenue from overseas but excluding revenue from channels, ranking top, followed by Google China (12.04%) and Sougou (including Soso) (5.53%) in Q3 2014 in China.

Including revenue from overseas and channels, Baidu had 77.31% market share, followed by Google China (10.41%) and Sougou (8.27%).

Excluding revenue from overseas, Baidu had 85.63% market share by revenue, followed by Sougou (6.24%) and Google China (4.78%) in Q3 2014.

Google China’s market share was decreasing continuously as it only accounted for 4.78% in China search engine providers market by revenue not counting revenue from overseas.

Sogou cooperated with social platform to strengthen its status in Q3 2014. It provided mobile search service on Wechat official platform and had access to hundreds of Wechat official accounts to establish database.

Also read: China Mobile Search User Behaviors in H1 2014

Sogou, Sohu’s search arm, made progress in both search and input method in the third quarter of 2014. In search, aggressive marketing initiatives helped enhance the brand recognition of Sogou. Sogou mobile search traffic grew by nearly 20% quarter-over-quarter.

Sogou’s search and others revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were US$98 million, up 88% YoY and 16% QoQ, mainly due to increases in the number of paid clicks and higher average cost per click according to Sohu’s released financial results for Q3 2014.

In September, Sogou’s mobile Keyboard became the No.1 app on the iOS China app store’s ranking table once Apple finally allowed third party input method software to work on its iOS 8 system.

Facing Baidu’s dominance in China’s search engine market, Sogou also struggles to be the number two and its market share fell in the third place after Baidu and Google in Q2 search engine market. Sogou has a lot to do even after the merger with Soso or the launch of Wechat search feature.

Find out more China search engine news here.

Total revenue in Chinese search engine market reached RMB14.73 billion with a QoQ increase of 26.8% and YoY growth of 58.5%, 39.5% of which were contributed by mobile.

Chinese Search Engine Market Share by Revenue

Baidu has 81.7% share of China’s search engine market by revenue in the second quarter of 2014, followed by Google (10.9%), Sogou (3.8%), and 360 Search (2.6%) according to data from iResearch.

Sogou has just launched a search feature for Wechat official accounts and articles published via Wechat official accounts.

For Wechat article searches, recent articles seem to have higher rankings on the search results pages. Account verification also seem to influence the ranking in the positive way.

According to EnfoDesk, in Q1 2014, China search engine market reached 11.16 billion yuan (USD 1.81 billion). Channel revenue excluded, Baidu accounted for 79%market share by revenue, Google China accounted for 12.8%, the new Sogou (including Soso) ranked the third with 5.4%.

In Q1 2014, Baidu led the search engine market with 77.1% share (channel revenue included), Google China accounted for 11%. New Sogou (including Soso) accounted for 8.1%.

Baidu remained as the market leader in China in Q1 2014, keyword advertising was still the top priority of Chinese advertisers. Meanwhile, Baidu also improved its search engine marketing management and enhanced user experience. Revenue from mobile search also reinforced Baidu’s status in search engine market.

Google’s market share in China kept shrinking, its main revenue came steadily from helping Chinese advertisers reach overseas market.

The new Sogou (including Soso) focused on PC and mobile terminals at the same time. In PC terminal, Sogou’s traffic entrances added Tencent’s browser, QQ, etc. In mobile terminal, via QQ mobile browser and Sogou mobile browser and mobile Tencent websites and Sohu, the new Sogou’s development was promising.

Released by EnfoDesk, the statistic of the “Quarterly Marketing Supervision on China’s Internet Search Engine in Q4 2013” showed that the market of China’s search engine enterprises amounted to USD 11.42 billion. The market size increased by 1.2%, compared with Q3 2013, and had a 40.3% YoY increase. In 2013, the total market of China’s search engine enterprises reached USD 39.36 billion, increasing by 36.7%, comparing with 2012.

In the market share by revenue (excluding channel revenue), Baidu accounted for 78.4% share, while Google China and Sogou (including Soso) accounted for 13.7% and 5.3% respectively.

In the market share by revenue (including channel revenue), Baidu accounted for 76.6%, followed by Google China and Sogou (including Soso) accounted for 11.8% and 8.0% respectively.

Baidu remained its leading position in China search engine market. Both its efforts on PC and mobile devices contributed to its achievements. However, Google China’s market share dropped slightly. As the competition among search engines became more fierce, what’s more, Google had been losing its product managers and IT elites in China, Google’s market share was encroached bit by bit. The merging of Soso and Sogou increased the new Sogou’s market share, benefiting from the technology and traffic sources of Tencent platforms. With an improvement on its product and marketing system, Qihu 360 began to stand out among the rest.

Generally, the search engine market kept stable with a slowdown on its growth rate. Baidu, Google and Sogou were the three major players in the current market. In the near future, Qihu 360 would take a place in the market by improving its commercial system. Compared with the stable search engine market in PC, the accelerating commercialization in mobile market will be the main trend of future search engine market. As a mature and technique-required advertising model that can bring a high ROI , search engine will continue to gain its popularity.

According to CNZZ, Baidu search engine market share by volume accounted for 63.55%, ranking the first. Baidu search engine market share had been gradually encroached by its competitors. Baidu search engine market share by volume dropped monthly by 0.31% in November. 360, however, its search engine market share by volume increased by 1% to 21.84%, ranking the second. Followed by Sogou and Google.

Except for Baidu, 360 and Sogou, other search engines’ market share all fell below 3%. Google only accounted for 1.66%, Microsoft Bing accounted for 0.56%.

In November, only 360, Sogou and Youdao had a growth in market share. 360 had the biggest growth monthly, almost by 1%. Sogou grew by 0.78% monthly. While, Soso had the biggest drop in November, decreasing by 1.4%. After the integration of Sogou and Soso, they both experienced different developing tracks. Whether the merge would enable the new Sogou to compete with 360 and Baidu, we will wait and see.

According to EnfoDesk, China search engine market scale in Q3 2013 reached 11.28 billion yuan (USD 1.84 billion), 20.3% more than last quarter.

Baidu dominated 78.5% search engine market share by revenue (channel revenue not included), followed by Google China with 14% share. After the merge of Sogou and Soso, the new Sogou occupied 5.1% market share.

In Q3 2013, Baidu ranked top in market share by revenue (channel revenue included), with 76.9%. Google China came to the second with 12.2%, followed by Sogou with 8%.

Baidu remained its leading position in China search engine market in Q3 2013. SME could achieve effective marketing by placing ads on Baidu. Google China’s market share kept stable because Google offered enterprises a way to do advertising oversea. However, Google Chinese search and user experience hadn’t been improved, so its market share would decrease furthermore.

The merge of Soso and Sogou to become the new Sogou increased Sogou’s market share, benefiting from Tencent platfroms’ technology and traffic sources.

Wang Xiaochuan, CEO of Sogou, revealed the cooperation details in an internal email that Sogou and Tencent would form a joint department to begin cooperation on search.

The email said that Tencent would merge Soso and QQ Chinese input with Sogou, and invested USD 448 million to take 36.5% of stake in Sogou. Tencent expected to increase its stake in Sogou to 40% very soon. Tencent and Sogou would work with each other in technologies, products, traffic and data, which would start a new chapter in mobile internet field.

Wang said the merging of Sogou’s technology creation with Tencent’s large platforms would give them advantages in PC search, wireless search and social search. Sogou’s star product Sogou Chinese input together with Tencent’s product would surprise users. The joint department would make sure the integrated products keep coming to internet users.

Sogou is the third largest search engine in China, after Baidu and Qihoo 360 search; and, Soso is the fourth. With the merger, it’ll be interesting to see some changes in China’s search engine market.

According to CNZZ, Baidu topped China search engine market share with 63.16%, followed by Qihoo’s 360 with 18.23%. Sogou ranked third with 10.35% market share.

In comparison with July search engine market share, Baidu had an obvious drop from 64.25% to 63.16%, while 360 had a big jump from 17.59% to 18.23%. Sogou also increased by 0.64%.

China search engine Marketreached 9.28 billion yuan(1.5 billion USD) in Q2 2013, with a QoQ growth of 25.1% and a year-on-year growth of 35.3%, according to statistics released by iResearch.

China search engine market growth in Q2 was driven by three factors. First, due to seasonal factor, after the Chinese Spring Festival, search traffic was growing. Second, the number of search advertisers and ARPU  increased. Third, Qihoo’s 360 search quickly commercialized. However, the sluggish macroeconomics, saturated traffic in desktops, and mobile search revenue realization was troubling the search engine market.

Baidu dominated market with 81.4% share in Q2, followed by Google China with 13.1%. Sogou was 3.3%, and Soso 1.3%. 360 only occupied 0.8% in market share by revenue in Q2.

China online ad market in Q2, from iResearch data, reached 23.26 billion yuan (USD 3.8 billion), growing 17.4% compared to Q1 and YoY growth of 27.4%. China online ad market is entering to a steady growth stage.

In Q2, search, video, news and navigation monthly usage increased. NetEase, Taobao and eTao had more than 10% QoQ growth, Sina, Sohu and iFeng had more than 7% QoQ growth.

Search engine ads kept growing in Q2 with 36.4% online ad market share. Vertical search ads and brand banner ads dropped slightly compared to Q1, with 22.4% and 21.2% share. Video ads grow steadily with 6.7% share.

Baidu, Google and Sogou promote the grow of search engine ads, market new player Qihoo’s 360 will further push it. Vertical search ads is due to the fast growth of Taobao search, online shopping increase brings up vertical search ads. High quality video content, such as movies, TV dramas and shows boost video ads growth.

In China top 10 online ad market companies, Baidu was still the leader with 7.56 billion yuan in revenue. Taobao came to the second with 5.61 billion yuan. Taobao, Qihoo’s 360 and Sohu had grown by more than 40%.

Qihoo’s 360 main revenue comes from navigation, growing steadily. Qihoo’s search ads conversion keeps increasing. Taobao has lots of small business which provide growing need for advertisement.Sogou search engine and its video contributed to its revenue growth.

According to iResearch Q1 report, Baidu search engine market share is 80.6% (by revenue), growing steadily compared to 79.7% in last quarter. And Google shares 14.4%.

In Q1, China search engine market reached CNY7.41 billion (USD 1.21 billion), which had a year-on-year increase of 135%, but QoQ growth down by 6.8% mainly due to seasonal factors (Chinese Spring Festival) and the growing of mobile search.

For China web search requests market share in Q1 2013, Baidu remains the leader position,with 81.6% market share. Followed by 360, with 10.3%.

iResearch predicts Baidu’s market share would remain 81.2% in Q2, and 360 will increase by 0.8%.

According to EnfoDesk, Baidu had 66.91% China search engine market share in the first quarter of 2013 by user visits, followed by 360 with 13.42% and Sogou with 9.32%.

Stickiness of using one search engine is relatively low and then it greatly on the entry points to the internet. Qihoo 360 and Sogo both make full use of the entrance advantages of their products to penetrate the search market within a short time.

According to China search engine market quarterly data in 2012 released by EnfoDesk, the China search engine leader Baidu accounted for 78.6% of the total search engine market, Google for 15.6%, while Sogou 3.1%.

In 2012, Baidu had about 78% of the search engine market share. Its growth tended to slow down since the second quarter of 2012, but kept its share to 78.6%.

Google China in the mainland market, mainly relied on export trade for its search revenue. It’s a good effective channel of the oversea marketing and promotion for China’s domestic advertisers, which also added to Google’s revenue.

Sogou’s market share kept stably increasing, and the impact of the new competitors was low. The “Chinese language input software – Brower – Search Engine” strategy proved to be successful. Sogou Input took its free platform advantage,bringing a huge amount of users together, and drove the brower download and search engine usage. Although in the latter part of the year, Qihoo 360 entered the search engine market, however not affecting the traffic of Sogou search.

China search engine market reached 7.78 billion yuan (USD 1.25 billion) in Q3 2012, with the QoQ growth of 13.5% and YoY growth of 44.1%. China’s search engine market growth is slowing down as the growth rate is lower than 50% for the very first time due to a few factors:

• Affected by the macroeconomic situation, advertisers reduced their advertising budget
• Fast-growing mobile search engine took some market share
• The launch of Qihoo 360 search engine took some search volume market share while having not yet started to contribute revenue to search market

Market Share Distribution Change

In Q3 2012, Baidu’s market share increased from 79.5% to 80.3% while Google suffered a decrease to only 14.6%.

For Google, who previously powered Qihoo 360 navigation and web browser search, also suffered from 360 search engine.

Analysis International, a China Internet research company, released search engine market data for the first quarter in 2012. Total revenue in Q1 has grown by 70.4% (YoY) to 5.53 billion yuan (USD$877 million) though it’s dropped by 4.7% compared to the previous quarter.

Baidu’s Q1 earnings surged 76% as the Chinese Internet search giant’s revenue continued to surge. Baidu posted a profit of 1.88 billion Chinese yuan ($299 million), or CNY5.38 (85 U.S. cents) per ADS, up from CNY1.07 billion, or CNY3.06 an ADS, a year earlier.

Total revenue of China search engine market last year reached 18.78 billion yuan, up 11.7% from 2010. Baidu leads search engine market with a market share of 76.1% by revenue while Google’s down to 19.8%. Sogou and Soso expanded their market share to 2.3% and 1.4% respectively.

China web search requests amounted to 77.51 billion times in Q3 2011, up 6.1% from Q2 and 16.3% from Q3 2010 according to research company iResearch.

Baidu’s search market share by revenue has gone up by 77.7% from previous quarter in Q3 2011. And, Google China’s market share is gradually reduced, a further decline of 1% compared with Q2. Market share of other search engine brands, such as Sogou and Soso, increased to varying degrees.

Let’s take a look at a few ways to search Weibo platform in real-time.

Weibo Search Function

On Weibo platforms like Sina Weibo, you can conduct a search on any page or go to a search page such as s.weibo.com.

You can bookmark the search result page or “follow” the topic you searched for to create shortcuts. It’s nice and easy.

Update (25 August 2020): the feature to “follow” a topic on Weibo is no longer available.  Users on Weibo can filter the search results to users, articles, videos, images, and topics.

Search Weibo with Panguso

Launched this February, Panguso is joint efforts by China Mobile and Xinhua News Agency.

Update (25 August 2020): On March 1, 2014, Panguso merged with Jike and became ChinaSo. And, the Weibo search function is no longer available.

Real-time Search with Tencent SoSo

Similar to Panguso real-time search, the results on SoSo search are also auto refreshed and include also microblog content.

Update (25 August 2020): Soso discontinued services and now redirects to Sogou Search.  Sogou can’t be used to search Weibo but it can be used to search WeChat.

Real-time Search with Youdao

Youdao is NetEase’s effort in Chinese search market. It’s the first search engine that launched real-time search feature and also my favorite real-time search engine.

Update (25 August 2020): Youdao search discontinued though it still exists and focuses on the language-translation tool and services.

Weibo Search on China Search

China Search, or Zhongsou, just launched Weibo search in November this year.

I like Youdao for real-time search because Youdao’s real-time search indexes not only microblogs but also forums and news. It’s a great tool, simple and free, for marketers to monitor the online conversation.

Update (March 2, 2012): Baidu yesterday announced the integration of Weibo results including Sina Weibo into Baidu SERPs. You can visit our Facebook Page for screen capture.

Update (25 August 2020): Baidu desktop search doesn’t return any results from Weibo. But on mobile, on either browser or Baidu App, it shows a filtered channel specifically for Weibo search results:

If you’d like to monitor Weibo search results, you need more powerful tools. There are currently no free ones in the market and it usually costs about US$3,000-US$7,000 per year.

China’s mobile search market overview 2020