Bing's Search Ads Gaining Momentum
After its June 2009 launch, Bing did something few expected: it kept gaining U.S. search market share, month after month, for nearly a year straight. Here's how that momentum built, why advertisers started paying attention, and what it still says about betting on a rising platform.
Bing launched on June 3, 2009, and by August 2009 had already become the fastest-growing search engine in the U.S., reaching 10.7% market share with a 22.1% month-over-month increase, according to Nielsen data. That growth continued steadily for roughly ten consecutive months, reaching around 11.7% by March 2010 — momentum that gave advertisers a real reason to start taking Bing seriously as a second major search advertising platform.
What Happened
Microsoft launched Bing on June 3, 2009, positioning it as a "decision engine" rather than just another search box, backed by a heavy marketing push estimated at $80 to $100 million. Unlike Microsoft's earlier, largely unsuccessful attempts at search with Live Search, Bing found real traction almost immediately — and kept building on it.
By August 2009, Nielsen data showed Bing had already claimed 10.7% of the U.S. search market, making it the fastest-growing major search engine that month with a 22.1% month-over-month increase. That growth didn't stop there: independent tracking firm comScore later confirmed roughly ten straight months of incremental share gains for Bing following its launch.
The Growth Timeline
What Was Driving the Growth
A major ad campaign
Microsoft backed Bing's launch with tens of millions of dollars in advertising, driving significant awareness and trial in its first months.
OEM and toolbar partnerships
Deals that made Bing the default search on certain new PCs and toolbars gave it a steady stream of default-setting traffic.
The Yahoo alliance on the horizon
The pending Microsoft-Yahoo search partnership, announced in July 2009, gave advertisers a reason to expect Bing's reach to expand further.
Genuine product improvements
Bing's "decision engine" positioning and features like visual search were credited with making it a more compelling alternative than Microsoft's prior search products.
Why It Mattered for Advertisers
For years, advertisers who wanted an alternative to Google's search advertising had few credible options. As Bing's traffic climbed month after month, that started to change. Search-marketing firms reported client budgets shifting meaningfully toward Bing — one firm noted client spend rising from roughly 2–5% of budgets to 5–9% within about two years of Bing's launch. The sustained nature of the growth, rather than a single spike, is what made advertisers start treating Bing as a real second channel worth testing.
Who This Is Relevant To
This history is useful for
- PPC marketers and affiliates running campaigns on Microsoft Advertising today
- Anyone researching how Bing built its current position in search advertising
- Marketers evaluating whether to test a newer or smaller search/ad platform
- Content creators covering the history of search engine competition
What to keep in perspective
- This is a historical snapshot from 2009–2010, not a description of today's search market
- Search market share, ad formats and platform names have all changed since then
- Current Microsoft Advertising performance and reach should be evaluated with current data
What Marketers Can Still Learn
Four lessons that still apply today
- Sustained growth is a stronger signal than a single spike. What made Bing credible to advertisers wasn't one good month — it was ten in a row. Consistent trend data is worth more than a single headline number when evaluating a platform.
- Being second doesn't mean being ignorable. Bing never came close to Google's overall share during this period, but its growth trajectory alone was enough to earn real advertiser budget — a reminder that market position and momentum are different things.
- Partnerships can accelerate platform reach. The pending Microsoft-Yahoo alliance amplified the significance of Bing's organic growth, since it promised to combine reach rather than just add incremental share.
- Early testers benefit from lower competition. Advertisers who tested Bing early, while it was still overlooked by many competitors, often found more efficient costs than they would once budgets caught up to the platform's growth.
Perspective & Considerations
Why this history is still worth knowing
- It's the origin story behind Bing's current standing as a major search advertising platform
- It's a useful case study in how sustained growth trends earn advertiser trust
- It offers context for evaluating momentum on any platform gaining share today
Considerations
- Figures here reflect 2009–2010 reporting, not current search engine market share
- The search advertising landscape has changed substantially since this period
- Always evaluate a platform's current reach and cost efficiency with up-to-date data before shifting budget
Put PPC History Into Practice
Testing a second search advertising platform can still pay off today, just as it did for early Bing testers. Review your program's permitted traffic sources in your MarketHealth affiliate dashboard before launching a new campaign.
Join MarketHealthFrequently Asked Questions
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A Note on This Article
This article is a historical retrospective on Bing's publicly documented 2009–2010 launch and growth period, based on contemporaneous Nielsen and comScore data. It does not describe Bing's or Microsoft Advertising's current market share, features or advertising platform — confirm current data directly with the platform before making campaign decisions.