Yahoo!'s market share in the top U.S. categories

In television, Yahoo! TV didn't fair as well and actually lost market share, down by 9%. Who gained market share? MSN surged to first place with a 36% growth and ABC had a whopping 78% increase, which took it from last place to 4th. The probable reason cited is hit shows, which was certainly the case with ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" and "Grey's Anatomy" sites.

Entertainment and general news sites traffic also increased in September. The entertainment sector include sites such as Emmy Awards or Vanityfair where Yahoo! doesn't have a presence. In news, however, Yahoo! News again led the pack with 35.8 million visitors, followed by MSNBC with 27.3 million visitors and CNN with 24.4 million visitors. I don't have the percent change from August.

As for Internet search, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) site didn't fare as well both losing 0.6% market share in September. Google, on the other hand, continued to gain share (1%) as did Ask.com (0.3%). Time Warner remained the same. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) now holds 45.1% of the market, Yahoo! 28.1%, Microsoft 11.9%, Ask.com 5.8% and finally Time Warner 5.6%.

Finally, in September, Yahoo! retained its position as number one, attracting nearly 130 million unique visitors.

Following the latest financial results from Google and Yahoo! it is interesting to note two things: 1) Google's absence in any category other than search. 2) Yahoo!'s perceived strength, its verticals, its strong market presence continues, although it should constantly keep on its toes.