Tougher times ahead for Google
I don’t often write ‘factual’ news stories or stories on technologies or players in the web game; though these are some fairly interesting statistics I read on Google yesterday at Business Insider.
Statistics that do not bode well for Google:
2014 has been a big year of change for Google
- Google’s search business – core to its revenue and profit – does not have the sort of rosy future it did a few years ago. And mobile is to blame because people don’t use the web as much on their mobiles as they do on their desktops.
In 2014, Google’s search advertising business grew at its slowest rate in six years. - People are searching for products on Amazon, not Google; desktop searching on Amazon has increased by 47% in 2014, directly taking away from revenue Google would have made advertising these products in its search results.
- A few key people have departed and this says something. And leaves others pessimistic.
- Outside the US, Google is fighting wars on many fronts, not least of which are the Europeans over privacy. In fact, the Europeans want to split Google up. Ouch!
Google has recently pulled out of Russia and has also closed its news websites in Spain and Island. - Facebook is fighting YouTube (owned by Google) for video advertising. This is a problem, not only because TV advertisers prefer Facebook to YouTube, though because on mobile (which is where all the growth is), Facebook controls a 21% share of time on mobile. Ouch, ouch!
2015 is not looking hot.
