Results of the antivirus market research

Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

American IT company OPSWAT has published the results of the market research of antiviruses, clients for instant messaging (IM clients), as well as operating systems for the second quarter of this year.

OPSWAT claims that the data it collects can be considered representative on a global scale, because they were obtained through the company's own utilities that are used both in business - and home users around the world. During the installation process of OPSWAT software, a special report is generated at the user's request, which is then sent to the company's servers. In this way, 43,000 unique records were collected and processed by computer users from around the world.

The collected data displays statistics on the use of antivirus software, instant messaging programs, and operating systems of the Windows family for the period from March 23 to May 15, 2011.

The market of antivirus software

Antivirus vendors (global statistics)

Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

The companies AVAST Software and AVG Technologies share the first place in the rating of manufacturers of security products with indicators of 12.37% each. At the same time, AVAST lost 3.82% of the market compared to the previous quarter. The third and fourth places are occupied by Avira and Microsoft with indicators of 12.29% and 11.24% respectively.

Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

Microsoft raised its rating by approximately 4% compared to the previous quarter. It is most likely that such a sharp jump was made possible thanks to the spread of Microsoft Security Essentials through the Windows Update service, as well as the close integration of this anti-virus software with other services of Windows operating systems. Do not forget that MSE is completely free for owners of licensed Microsoft operating systems. The fifth line of the rating is taken by ESET company with almost unchanged result in 9.98% of the market for anti-malware protection.

Antivirus vendors (North America)

Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

The "hit parade" of antivirus software vendors in the North American market is slightly different from the global market.

Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

First place was taken by Microsoft with a market share of 17.07%. Over the past quarter, this newcomer to the security software market has been able to increase its share of an impressive ~ 7%, thus wrapping Symantec, the leader of the previous quarter, which is now at the third step with a rate of 14.47%. The second place belongs to the company AVG with the indicator of 15.63%.

Using antivirus software

In the global market of antivirus products, data from 62 security software vendors were collected and analyzed. The top five manufacturers control 58.25% of antivirus products around the world. In the North American market, the indicators are slightly different: among the 51 antivirus vendors, the top five controls 62.80% of the antivirus market.

Free antivirus software products occupy the top lines of the rating, both in the global market - and in the North American market. They can also be seen at the top of the ranking of antivirus vendors in both markets. The three most popular antivirus products on the global market, and the North American market are also correlated with a high rating of their manufacturers.

The rating of antivirus products on the global market, and the North American market is as follows.

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Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

Windows operating systems market

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Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

According to the latest data provided by the report , Windows 7 continues to conquer US users: in the last quarter, this operating system managed to increase its market share by 7% among residents of North America. The market share of Windows Vista in the last quarter fell sharply: it was previously installed at 20.31% of computers in North America, and as of the end of spring it is used by only 6.62% of PC owners. Quite curiously, but over the last quarter , Windows XP has managed to increase its rating by more than 6%, and now the share of this OS is more than 50% in the North American market.

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Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

As for the global computer market, Windows XP has also increased its results, although not so much. Just behind the ten-year "legend" is Windows 7, which also showed a good positive growth in the number of users on the global operating system market. Windows Vista closes the top three with the least comforting result: only 4.72% of PC owners still use this OS, and their number continues to decline.

Market of clients for instant messaging (IM clients)

To study this market, in addition to the method described at the beginning of the article, the method of sampling from the registries of search engines was also used. This allowed to get a more accurate picture of the use of popular clients for instant messaging.

Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

However strange it might seem, the statistics given to a Russian-speaking Internet user, but globally, the IM client market differs significantly from what most Russian-speaking users of the Global Network are used to.

So, the first place in the global market for IM clients with a huge gap from the closest competitors is Windows Live Messenger with a market share of 40.67%. The second place is firmly held by the recent acquisition of Redmond - Skype, which has 27.39% of users. Closes the top three leaders of Yahoo! Messenger with 15.11% of users. Our common Google Talk and ICQ clients boast only 3.56% and 2.01% of users, respectively.

In addition to the collected statistics on the use of IM clients, OPSWAT also collected statistics that indicate whether the client installed on the IM client computer was running while collecting statistical data. Interestingly, among the North American and European users of IM clients, 32.65% of users had at least one of the IM clients installed.

Результаты исследования рынка антивирусов

Studies show that the top three leaders in the IM client rating control over 80% of this market. This figure does not include the share of "web instant messengers," such as a Google or Facebook web chat, which can be used by a significantly larger number of computer users than using IM clients.

The document with the original of the research report is available for download to all comers.