Bing is on a roll with updates for the summer. Yesterday, we reported on the search engine's revamped iPhone app, and last night it unveiled its new entertainment section. The new portion of the site offers music lyrics and streaming, a collection of online games, a detailed list of TV episodes available to watch on the web, and improved movie-going resources.
The updates are in response to trends Bing has been seeing on the web. "In the field of entertainment, 76 percent of people use search to help find and navigate their entertainment options online, but only 10 percent say they have a trusted place to go," writes Bing's senior VP, Yusuf Mehdi. By becoming a one-stop shop for a variety of entertainment needs, Bing likely hopes that users will stick around more and become loyal to the site.
Adding lyrics to the site is an example of how Bing is trying to cater to users. Bing found that over 70 percent of people look for lyrics online, so it implemented an easy way for users to find lyrics without hunting and pecking across a variety of sites. It licensed over 5 million songs for full-length streaming via Microsoft's Zune service, although users will only be able to listen to a full song once. After the initial full-length play, users will hear a 30 second clip of the song and will be directed to purchase the track from Zune, iTunes, or Amazon's MP3 store. The site also offers band tour date information as well as photos and video.
In terms of games, Bing has added detailed information for over 35,000 video games and has made over 100 casual games available for instant-play within your web browser.
According to Mehdi, over 60 percent of people have used a search engine to find a TV episode online, and more than 30 percent of people watch all of their TV content online. To better serve those users, Bing has added a comprehensive listing of television content on the web (over 1,500 shows and thousands of episodes), as well as guide information to help plan traditional TV viewing. Bing now rounds up relevant information for movie searches as well, including links to trailers and photos, as well as reviews from your friends on social networks.