2023 saw a sharp turning point in the uptake of artificial intelligence-fueled technologies readily accessible to consumers. Software such as ChatGPT has become a symbol of the new wave of AI being rapidly adopted since its release only a year ago (Nov 2022).

As AI-fueled platforms have become more broadly available in the past year, new measurement gaps have needed to be closed.

Comscore has made significant enhancements to its search market collection and reporting through its syndicated qSearch product to deliver measurement of generative AI queries.

Unlocking The Future of Search
Comscore is uniquely capable of measuring generative AI search services as they proliferate in the market, due to the granularity and scale of its unified, unmatched data sets.

Our enhancements to search measurement during 2023 have brought a step change to the Core Search market, which for the first time can quantify generative AI search as a part of the search market landscape.

The introduction of Generative AI search is evolving the expectations of consumer discovery online and accelerating enterprise intelligence and creativity. In surfacing the shifts that we have seen in search in recent months, we can point to a greater opportunity in the industry about the future of online discovery.

In the first release of Comscore’s qSearch Core Search universe data, including generative AI search measurement, market search volume was up more than 5% MoM (October 2023).

Top Movers
In October 2023, the Core Search platforms accounted for more than 16 billion online queries, up from 15 billion in September 2023.

Google remains the dominant source for online searches, with a more than 60% share of the Core Search universe, when Comscore includes generative AI search using Google’s new chatbot Bard.

Capturing the lion's share of growth in October 2023 was Microsoft’s Bing which now includes its AI driven search platform Bing Chat and search entry points across Edge and Windows

Data for October 2023, now capturing these data measuring enhancements, shows that Microsoft search sites increased their total share of the market by 0.7 points (compared to Sept 2023), accounting for more than 27% of the Core Search universe. Verizon Media (including Yahoo and AOL) also accounted for more than 10% of the share of the Core Search universe in October 2023.

As the media industry heads into a year of opportunity in 2024 amongst major events such as the Paris Games, signal loss, a U.S. election and more, it will be against a new backdrop of tools such as AI driven search being deployed more widely as audiences search for the answers they are looking for.

Comscore will continue to unpack how this trend is unfolding and what it means for the future of discovery. To connect with our qSearch team, use this link.