by Toby Lu
In the past month, Fetion and Tiantian Kuaibao have been suspended one after another. This time it is the turn of Sogou to search for App.
Since Sogou "married" Tencent , some of its products have been shut down in less than a year. This time, Sogou's core search business has been shut down. Although is currently Sogou's Only the mobile search app has been offline, and the PC version has been retained. However, the importance of this move is self-evident. Does this mean that the mobile search engine market will be taken over by , Baidu, and ? Will Tencent and Sogou give up the mobile search business?
Sogou map, Sogou account to Sogou search App
Looking back on the outage of Sogou search, in fact, there have been clues.
In fact, as early as January this year, Sogou Search issued an announcement stating that due to the company's business adjustments, Sogou Search App will be upgraded to Bingo App in mid-to-late January 2022.
However, Morketing found that Bingo App was removed from the shelves in many markets. Bingo App cannot be searched in development markets such as Apple App Store, Xiaomi App Store, etc.
Until August 12 this year, Sogou Search suddenly announced that the Sogou Search App had officially stopped serving at 23:59 on August 8, 2022. The Sogou Search App will no longer be available, but the web version of Sogou Search can still be used.
Moreover, in addition to Sogou Search App, Sogou has successively ceased many businesses in the past two years.
In May of this year, Sogou Map was officially offline, and all related business services were closed. Entering the original domain name will jump directly to Tencent Map;
Sogou content open platform "Sogou Account" announced that due to the company's business adjustment platform Operations and services will cease at 17:00 on September 22, 2021;
Some netizens discovered that Sogou Borrowing Money, Sogou Reading were also shut down one after another.
A series of Sogou's businesses were shut down. Most of the products were completely acquired by Tencent. Since September 24 last year, Sogou issued an announcement announcing the completion of its merger with Tencent. So far, , Sohu, and have withdrawn from all shares of Sogou. , Sogou became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent and completed its delisting. After the acquisition of
is completed, Sogou's business will begin to be integrated into Tencent's system. Therefore, Sogou's original browser, reading and other businesses will be merged with similar products of Tencent Content Group (PCG) and the team will be unified, while search and input methods, etc. Business will continue to operate under the Sogou brand.
In other words, since Sogou was acquired by Tencent, Tencent has begun to "de-Sogou" in many products, and business, and has shut down some repetitive and unprofitable businesses.
Perhaps the suspension of the Sogou Search App is a strategic adjustment for Sogou when integrating into the Tencent system. However, the outside world generally wonders whether it is a pity for Sogou to abandon the mobile search App. After all, the search field is Sogou’s strong business. In terms of revenue sources, search advertising and in-app information flow advertising are also important sources of revenue. In Sogou’s last position The financial report shows that total revenue in the second quarter of 2021 was US$140 million, of which search advertising-related revenue accounted for US$130 million.
The search engine market "reigns in flames"
In two years, Sogou has continued to shut down, this time it came to the search engine business. In the search engine market, the leader "Baidu" always occupies the first position, and Sogou is in the second echelon.
According to the "2021-2027 China Search Engine Industry Market Monitoring and Market Analysis Forecast Report" released by Zhiyan Consulting: Baidu accounted for 71.10% of China's search engine market in February 2021, accounting for the largest share; Sogou accounted for 71.10% of China's search engine market; Sogou accounted for 71.10% of China's search engine market; 17.47% of the engine market; Haosou accounts for 3.40% of the Chinese search engine market; Google accounts for 2.80% of the Chinese search engine market; Shenma accounts for 2.70% of the Chinese search engine market.
Especially in recent years, Baidu has made every effort to develop the mobile Baidu App, combining mobile search with information flow recommendations to further increase user activity.From the data point of view, in March 2021, the number of monthly active users of Baidu APP reached 558 million, an increase of 2.6% from the end of December 2020.
Look at Sogou again. In addition to the core input method, browser, and search, Sogou seems to say goodbye to its glorious past. Even in Tencent system content, QQ input method and QQ browser are all replaceable. product.
We can also see the downward trend from Sogou’s financial report. Sogou's total revenue in the second quarter of 2021 was US$140 million, a year-on-year decrease of 44%; the net profit attributable to Sogou company was US$39.9 million, compared with a net loss of US$8.5 million in the same period last year. Does the
search engine still have imagination? Sogou chose to abandon mobile apps and retreat to PCs, but , Alibaba, , ByteDance, etc. are still coveting the search market, which can be said to have reignited the war in the search market.
According to statistics from the Toubao Research Institute, China's search engine market size will reach 89.534 billion yuan in 2022. As of June 2021, the number of search engine users has reached 795 million, with a usage rate of 78.7%.
Two years ago, Alibaba established the Intelligent Search Business Department for the innovative business group and chose to continue to increase its focus in the search field. Wu Jia, general manager of the UC Business Department and General Manager of the Shuqi Business Department, became the head of the new department. Quark Browsing The browser is developed by the UC team. This browser is famous for its simplicity and lightness, and is deeply loved by young people.
According to data officially revealed by Quark, "Currently, Quark App has more than 10 million Generation Z users, of which users born after 1997 and later account for about 50%."
In the search engine market, the word Jiedong itself is also a "search engine". The search engine we traditionally understand is "people looking for information", which is an active information search, while content and interest recommendation is a kind of "information looking for people". ByteDance After taking "information to find people" to the extreme with Toutiao, , Douyin, and , Tiaodou has begun to look for new breakthrough points in search engines.
Morketing learned that ByteDance established a search department as early as 2017, and then launched “Toutiao Search” in 2019. It tested the Toutiao Search App in 2020, continued to increase Douyin search, and formed its own search product matrix.
Conclusion
At this point, let’s look at the matter of Sogou Search App choosing to cease operations. It may not be difficult to understand.
First of all, Sogou’s position is extremely unfavorable. The leader in the search industry has obtained most of the search advertising revenue. Sogou does not have excellent products in mobile search, and advertisers’ marketing expenses have tended to be mobile; secondly, in After joining Tencent, major Internet companies are implementing the strategy of "cost reduction and growth". Sogou's loss-making state is unsustainable and must be changed; finally, the search engine market has once again started a war, with Alibaba and ByteDance both competing with each other. Product innovation has intervened in the search battle, and Sogou’s search mobile terminal is under greater pressure to survive.
However, after the Sogou Search App is discontinued, the upgraded new application Bingo App will continue to "fight", which needs to be proven by the market and time.
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