SAN DIEGO (EMWNews) August 11, 2008 —

Covario, Inc., the leader in interactive marketing analytics, today

announced the release of the Q2 2008 edition of its Global Search Spend

Analysis series. For the first time in two years, Yahoo has grown the

percent of spending it commands with major technology advertisers in

North America and Asia Pacific (APAC) at the expense of Google. In

addition, Covario is beginning to see the first examples of compression

in paid search spending growth. This is evidenced by a dip to 43 percent

from 52 percent growth rate in the previous quarterly analysis. This dip

is in part due to budgetary pressures resulting from economic

conditions, as well as better optimization allowing for similar return

results at lower spend levels.

” It is very exciting for us to be able to observe first-hand such trends as the bucking of the biggest losing streak in the paid search market – the loss of market share by Yahoo to Google. ”

This second installment in Covario’s analysis

series shows the latest global paid search spending allocation patterns

for 128 brands at 12 major technology organizations such as Adobe Intel,

Lenovo and RIM between Q1 2007 (Q1 ’07) to Q2

2008 (Q2 ’08). The combined paid search

advertising spend of the analyzed brands represents more than $225

million. Below are some additional highlights from the analysis:

Changes in Regional Spending Allocations by Search Engines

• As compared to the 10 percent North America budget allocation reported

  for Yahoo in Covario’s Q1 ’08

  analysis, the percentage increased to 14 percent in Q2 ’08.

  This increase in spending came directly from allocations that had

  previously gone to Google, which fell from 86 to 81 percent from Q1 to

  Q2.

• While the share of spending allocation in APAC is fairly low,

  approximately seven percent of budget allocation, it is worth noting

  that Yahoo’s portion increased nearly 35

  percent at the expense of Google. Yahoo climbed from approximately 15

  percent in Q1 to 50 percent in Q2, while Google plummeted from 72

  percent in Q1 to 46 percent in Q2. The remainder of this share gain

  came from Baidu, which US-based advertisers are finding difficult to

  use. Q2 allocation to Baidu was only five percent in Q2 from

  approximately 14 percent in Q1 ‘08.

• Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is a non-competitive market with

  Google owning just more than 90 percent of global advertisers’

  paid search spend. This is up more than 10 percent from a year ago and

  up nearly two percent from Q1 ’08.

Changes in Regional Spending Allocations

• There has been a steady increase in allocations to EMEA-based search

  spending since Q3 ’07. While mid last year

  the allocation was less than 10 percent due to complications that

  arose from Yahoo’s Panama platform, in Q2 ’08

  the allocation was up to 27.5 percent. Advertisers are increasing

  their allocation to EMEA due largely to a more positive economic

  outlook in the region as compared to the United States. Covario does

  not necessarily expect a Q3 uptick in spending in APAC due to the

  Olympics, but there is a possibility of Olympics ads in EMEA and North

  America driving spending in those regions.

• Spending in APAC was seven percent, down slightly from nearly 12

  percent in Q1 ‘08. High tech and consumer

  electronics companies, which dominate Covario’s

  analysis, tend not to allocate a very large advertising spend in the

  region due to concerns over protection of intellectual property.

• North America accounts for 65 percent of spending, up by less than one

  percent from Q1 ‘08 and up approximately

  6.5 percent from Q2 ’07.

“Our client roster inspired us to launch this

analysis series due to our customers’ unique

positions in the advertising ecosystem – they

are US-based, but also global in the scope regarding their paid search

advertising programs, so they tend not to be retailers or ecommerce

vendors who focus on one geographic region,”

said Craig Macdonald, vice president of marketing and product management

at Covario. “It is very exciting for us to be

able to observe first-hand such trends as the bucking of the biggest

losing streak in the paid search market – the

loss of market share by Yahoo to Google.”

This analysis leverages the advanced analytics of Covario™

Paid Search Insight and the paid search advertising data for more than

two dozen of the world’s largest advertisers

including Adobe, Intel, Lenovo and Research In Motion (RIM) to determine

global spending trends and performance.

Additional findings and graphical representations of these trends are

available in Covario’s Global Search Spend

Analysis Vol. 2 (Q1 2007 to Q2 2008). The analysis results will also be

presented by Macdonald in a webinar format on August 14, at 11:00 a.m.

PDT. To register, please use the following link: http://www.covario.com/Q208PaidSearchSpend.shtml.

To request a copy, please contact Covario_Team@jhg.com

or visit www.covario.com.

About Covario, Inc.

Covario, Inc. is the leader in Interactive Marketing Analytics (IMA)

software. The Covario portfolio provides global organizations with

robust interactive and search marketing analytics solutions for display

advertising, paid search advertising and organic search engine

optimization across the enterprise and throughout the channel. Covario

enables complex and distributed organizations to control brand

integrity, ensure budget transparency and deliver quantifiable results

across business units, distribution channels and languages.

Headquartered in San Diego, Covario’s growing

customer list include some of the world’s

best known brands in high tech manufacturing, financial services,

electronics, media and publishing and consumer packaged goods, such as

Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, iVillage – a

division of NBC Universal, and AIG among others. For more information on

Covario, call 858.397.1500 or visit http://www.covario.com.