Google's Chrome Launch Ignites Browser Buzz

Written by Nielsen

September 17th 2008 - New York Google’s Chrome Browser Attracts Nearly Two Million U.S. Visitors During First Week of Availability, Nielsen Online Reports Chrome Launch Ignites Browser Buzz Nielsen Online, a service of the Nielsen Company, today reported that between Sept. 1 and Sept. 7, 2008, more than 1.9 million unique visitors in the U.S., 73 percent of them male, visited the “Thank You” page associated with Google Chrome, Google’s new Web browser. Nearly 1.4 percent of all U.S. users who went online during the week from home or work visited the page, which typically indicates a download. In addition, consumers immediately – and in great numbers – took to the blogosphere to discuss the new offering, Men dominated traffic to the Chrome “Thank You” page, with males 35-49 accounting for 39 percent of overall traffic. Female visitors were more likely to be in the 18-34 age group. Online Buzz Buzz about Chrome spiked on Sept. 2nd, the first day of availability, and peaked the following day, with 0.92 percent of online consumer discussion, outpacing buzz about competitor browsers: Firefox (0.4 percent), Internet Explorer (0.2 percent), Safari (0.09 percent) and Opera (0.07 percent). “The interest in all things ‘Google’ was apparent in the online discussion surrounding the somewhat unexpected Chrome launch,” said Jon Stewart, research director, technology and search, Nielsen Online. “The browser was mentioned in nearly one percent of all online discussions the day after its launch – a respectable slightly-more-than-half of what the highly anticipated iPhone 3G generated when it launched earlier this summer.”