Google is still the most popular search engine in Israel, according to a TNS Teleseker Internet Monitor (TIM) autumn 2004 survey of Israelis aged 13 and above. The survey, conducted in November 2004, examined weekly Internet reach (the percentage of the total population or a given target group reached by a website) rates for websites in Israel. It found that Internet reach for Google was 62%.
Walla! ranked second, with a weekly Internet reach rate of 57.4%, falling from first place in the TIM survey in May 2004. However, among youths, Walla! was the top-ranking search engine, with an Internet reach rate of 72%.
The TIM survey was conducted among a representative nationwide sample of 849 Jewish Internet users aged 13 and over. As reported last week, Israel has 3.2 million Internet users aged 13 and over, amounting to 63% of the population aged 13 and over. The survey uses the recall method, in which respondents are asked, without prompting, to name whether and when they last visited one of the websites listed.
Most leading websites managed to increase their weekly Internet reach rates. The survey found that "Yediot Ahronot" news website Ynet was ranked third, with a weekly Internet reach rate of 41.9%, followed by MSN (including MSN Israel and Hotmail) in fourth place, with 38.3%. Nana was in fifth place with 33.3%.
The "Globes" website increased its weekly Internet reach rate over the past six months from 9.4% to 10.5%, even though the Hebrew-language archives and real estate section were restricted to paying subscribers.
The "Ha'aretz" websites increased their weekly Internet reach rate to 66.2% from 62.9% in the previous survey. The Ha'aretz group includes Walla!, IOL, Ha'aretz newspaper, TheMarker, and Wallashops.
The Internet reach of all MSN websites rose significantly from 42.5% in the previous survey to 59.4% in the present survey. The group's websites include Hotmail Start, P-1000, MSN in Hebrew and English, and MSN Messenger.
The TIM survey reflects the results of a survey of the proportion of Internet users aged 13 and above reporting that they visited each of the websites at least once during the week-long period of the survey. The figures do not reflect the number of clicks or actual entry into any of the websites.
The present survey also included Internet reach rates to e-commerce sites for the first time. Wallashops was ranked in first place, with an Internet reach rate of 8.9% of respondents. Netaction was ranked second, with 5.9%, followed by P-1000 (5.8%), and Olsale.co.il (4.7%).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on December 20, 2004