It was neither Shah Rukh Khan nor Aamir Khan that Indians searched most on Google for many years. In fact, they searched Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif most for almost six years.
Indians search more of Bollywood content on Google, if the Google trends for different years are any indication.
While releasing the trend report in 2008 (or Zeitgeist as it was mentioned then), Google said it was a look at the year through the collective eyes of Indian users on the web. Though the ‘top 10’ lists of categories of search have been changing for different years, Bollywood content has been a regular phenomenon.
Coming back to actors, Just like film awards, Google has been releasing trend reports in two different categories – ‘most searched: Bollywood actor male’ and ‘most searched: Bollywood actor female’ – since 2013.
Katrina and Salman figured in among the top 10 trends in various categories for six years. In 2012, both of them did not figure in top 10.
Unlike Salman, Shah Rukh could not make it to the top list in successive years. In 2008, Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan had made it to the top 10 list of Bollywood celebrities on Google search. Other stars like Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor and Sunny Leone, also held their sway.
Global phenomenonPakistan, Bangladesh and the UAE also consume more Bollywood content on the net.
In the UAE, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra were among the trending people during 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Bollywood names such as late Jiah Khan, Sharadha Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Suraj Pancholi, and Aditya Roy Kapoor; as well as movies such as Chennai Express and Aashiqui 2, trended in Bangladesh and Pakistan in 2013. Dhoom 3, which was released in December 2013, was among the trending searches in Pakistan for 2014, along with television show Big Boss 8.