According to Experian Hitwise Microsoft achieved a market of 9.57%, whereas Google and Yahoo! lost 1% to end up with 70.60% and 16.14% respectively. The report by Comscore suggested that Google’s share went to 65.4% October from 64.9% in September. Microsoft went from 9.4% to 9.9% and Yahoo! dropped from 18.8% to 18%. Though the estimates in each study vary slightly, the bigger picture is becoming more apparent. Google’s monopoly is being threatened ever so slightly and Bing is creeping to public consciousness.

Microsoft has shown steady growth over the last 5 months since its launch. The deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft to collaborate in search engine operation is set to close early next year. The 10 year agreement points to growing market share to Bing and splitting ad revenue between the two companies. This partnership is expected to grow Bing’s market share to 30%. How much this will threaten Google is still a question that hangs in the air.

When Bing was launched it received a very tepid response. It was expected to be another failure. Since then, Bing has moved from being just another attempt at beating Google to becoming a worthy opponent. Bing had also recently partnered with Wolfram Alpha, a computational search engine. The addition though labeled as a “geeky” service has added to Bing’s product image. Facebook and Twitter are now integrated into Bing as well.  Video and image search is a lot more user-friendly compared to Google and SEO experts now have a new avenue to explore through the visual search offered on Bing.

Microsoft has announced its “Windows Theme Experience and Windows Personalization Gallery in Windows 7”. This is a radically new area into which internet based advertising will move to. Users will have to option to choose a branded theme which they are passionate about. Ducati, Porsche and Twentieth Century Fox have already entered this market. Users can download their favorite themes and convert their desktops into a branded experience.

Though Google hasn’t changed its UI dramatically and offered a snazzy Bing-like interface, it has kept re-inventing its back end infrastructure. Users are very familiar to the “plain-jane” interface Google offers. Any changes to the UI are not expected anytime soon. However subtler changes are becoming apparent with the integration of the Caffeine search algorithm. Search results will now include video and image results on the first page of Google results. Results will become more and more relevant to the keyword searched.

Google stock has risen by $4.23 to end at $576.28 at closing on November 16^th, the highest in the last year and a half. This only goes to show the trust of the public in Google’s product. Microsoft’s efforts to topple Google will have to a long drawn battle and they should expect a very tough fight.

The good news for advertisers from this increased competition between the two giants is plain to see. More options, better platforms and ever improving quality in the product. Prices will tend to be controlled as the competition fights it out as well.

Google, Yahoo! and other web companies have urged the FDA to modify the current regulations that place such a stranglehold on online advertising. Major revenue for these companies comes through advertising. Not being able to tap into the enormous drug advertising market has led them to move the FDA to modify its regulations.

Yahoo! Vice President David Zinman said “We need to get some adjustment to the way the medium is used because it’s very different from print and broadcast — that’s the main challenge”.

Companies that do advertise their drugs do so indirectly. They advertise anonymously for certain medical conditions. Links shown are connected to the drug website. This indirect form of advertising makes it hard for the consumer to find what they are looking for.

Current FDA regulations require drug advertisements to have all documented side effects and benefits made known to the consumer. Due to the differences between television or print and the internet, the monitoring of ads is not straight forward. The regulations placed by the FDA aren’t without reason either. The motivation behind the regulations is the safety of the consumer. Proper information on the side-effects and risks of a drug are rights of the consumer.

Due to the vast nature of the internet, monitoring drug advertising by the FDA is a difficult process and an expensive one. The FDA regulates products that make up one quarter of the US economy. Adding monitoring of web advertising will be an incredible burden on the already overburdened institution. If a change in regulation will be required, then the expenses that will be incurred for the additional monitoring should be borne by the new industry user fees. Drug industries already pay millions to fund the review of new drugs by the FDA.

The modifications to the present regulation are not likely to be released until 2011. This extended timeline for the modifications are what are of concern to Google and Yahoo! Since media technology is growing tremendously over short periods of time, this lengthy wait could cause a lagging effect. The regulations would never be able to keep up and the industry as a result would never reach full potential.

A study by American Journal of Public Health offers certain guidelines. To form a balanced package, the ads need to be designed to satisfy the following goals:

• Ads should provide information on the prevalence of the conditions, who is at risk and the obvious symptoms that are known. If there are unobvious symptoms, then provide information on what the risk of contracting the condition is.
• Use quantitative information to describe the drug’s potential benefits to give the user a realistic idea of the drug based on facts.
• Use quantitative information to display the risks associated with the drug. This information should not be cloaked by any distractions to the user.

The infrastructure to monitor all ads and verify if they satisfy these conditions is not trivial. The lengthy timeline expected is a result of the complicated nature of this problem. With the pharmaceutical lobby and web companies now asking for quicker changes could prompt an expedited release of new guidelines. We can only wait and watch as it plays out.