14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft recently introduced the Bing summer update to its search/decision engine, boosting the experience related to entertainment for users. A new entertainment vertical is now live, allowing customers to explore music, gaming, movies and TV information in-depth. Microsoft notes that 76% of people that turn to search engines in order to explore entertainment options online get the same overload experience as people performing generic queries, with just 10% indicating that they have a trusted online destination.
One aspect of the evolution involves making Bing a centralized location for finding lyrics online. In this regard, in addition to answering music-related queries, Microsoft’s search/decision engine is set up to allow 70% of users that look for lyrics online to get what they’re searching for as fast as possible.
“We didn’t stop at lyrics. In addition to the full Bing answers experience where you can get photos, videos, and even tour dates for your favorite acts, we partnered with our friends at Zune, and are now able to offer full-length streaming for more than 5 million songs. You get a single play of every song in this 5 million song catalog, and after that 30 second previews. So you can really get into the music you love. When it’s time to buy, we’ll offer you the ability to purchase and download songs from Zune, iTunes and Amazon.com MP3,” revealed Yusuf Mehdi, Senior Vice President, Bing.
According to Microsoft, detailed information on over 35,000 games will be available to users through Bing. This includes not only online shops and reviews, but also cheats and walkthroughs, as well as destinations for casual games. No less than 100 of the most popular games will be available right from Bing from Microsoft Games.
“With Bing, we’ve brought together a very comprehensive collection of full length TV episodes and visually organized them so it’s easy to find what you are looking for and start watching. With thousands of episodes from over 1500 shows including lots of HD content, watching your favorite shows online is easier than ever before,” Mehdi added.
The Redmond company estimates that 90% of people use search engines to find information about titles they want to watch. Bing will now offer answers on movie dates, theater information, reviews, etc. “Bing brings together all of the information and tools you need to get to the movie stress free and have a great night out. Reviews from the pros, real time Twitter and Facebook sentiment, real time traffic information and directions, nearby restaurants and even parking information from Bing Maps make it simple to spend less time searching and more time doing,” Mehdi said. “All of this cool stuff is going live right now, with the exception of the TV listings, which will be along in a couple of weeks, and the music playback will ramp up over the next few days.”