Duck Duck Go Traffic Daily Average Dec 2018: 31,037,684
=LN(3500000000)/(LN(47,942,069)-LN(31,037,684)) = 4.72 Years to catch up. Assuming steady percentage rate of growth and Google doesn't grow.
In 4.72 years, they would be at 48 * ( 48 / 31 )^4.72 = 378 millions / day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_search_engine#Market_share
If I am reading this correctly, ddg has about one fifth as much marketshare as the second place, which is quite impressive.
Bing has less than 3%, it operates at a loss. Not even MS cares about it and they just keep it around as a part of the technological suite that they have in order to convince the government that they are not a tech monopoly, even though everyone know they are. All big guys do this trick in one way or another.
For that reason I don't think one should compare DDG with anyone but google.
Option 2: Out of all the search engines competing with google, how is ddg positioned? Why is bing only 5 times its size considering it has MS's might behind it? How important is Baidu?
Option 2 undoubtedly makes for more interesting discussion. Also, if Bing is only a distraction/hobby for MS, then alternative options become even more important.
Where are you getting this number? I don’t think it’s even remotely close to this anymore.