Bing reaches 140 million daily active users, with AI integration and DMA as the key factors

Bing continues its upward trajectory, and there are no signs of slowing down! Microsoft’s native search engine, Bing, has now crossed 140 mission daily active users, a 40 million increase over the last reported figures of 100 million.

The details were brought to the public domain by Michael Schechter, VP at Bing, in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Schechter went on to confirm that the information was first shared by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and is included in the transcripts for the earnings call.

AI integration and the DMA push Bing’s user adoption

Bing has witnessed a series of changes in recent years, starting with the release of Bing Chat after the AI integration. It was later renamed as Copilot, Microsoft’s flagship AI chatbot, now also available in Windows.

AI remains one of the key factors behind an increase in Bing users. A year ago, Bing was the only prominent search engine offering the capabilities, and even today, there is not much competition out there. Microsoft is leading the AI race by a significant margin!

Also, the DMA (Digital Markets Act) in the European Union boosted Bing’s user adoption. DMA required Google to let users switch browsers or search engines, and as soon as they got the option, many moved to Microsoft Edge and Bing, respectively. Browsers like Opera also reported an increase in downloads post-DMA.

Microsoft Edge and Bing were exempted from DMA as they were not the dominant players and only had a small market share.

Besides, an existing deal between Google and Apple kept Bing out of the picture. Previously, Microsoft had blamed Google for the failed Bing deal with Apple, citing a previous $10 billion agreement between the two, even as the Redmond-based tech giant was willing to pay 100% of the search engine’s revenue to Apple.

Challenges await Bing as it takes on Google

The road ahead for Bing doesn’t look that easy. Even though the search engine has amassed 140 million daily active users, it doesn’t stand a chance against Google.

According to Statcounter’s data, Google dominates 91.37% of the market, while Bing stands at a feeble 3.37%. Taking on Google will prove to be a monumental task and will take several years!

Although Microsoft’s AI investments are bound to augment Bing’s user adoption, Google won’t sit back. It will integrate similar features into the search engine and offer a more user-oriented experience in a bid to minimize the impact of DMA.

Only time will tell whether Bing will be able to surpass Google in terms of market share, but based on the present situation, even the thought seems too far-fetched!

However, these figures look promising, as Microsoft plans to increase spending on AI, acquire companies, and collaborate with giants worldwide. The AI push even helped Microsoft Azure compete with AWS and Google Cloud.

Do you think Bing users will continue to increase, or will the growth stabilize over time? Share with our readers in the comments section.