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May 11, 2006

Americans Head to the Web in Droves to Research Real Estate and Gas Prices in April

RESTON, VA, May 11, 2006 - comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at top online properties and categories. Among the notable trends during April were the marked increases in traffic to real estate sites, which grew 12 percent from the previous month and 23 percent in the past year.  Homestore.com Network and MSN Real Estate led the category with 11.1 and 5.8 million visitors, respectively.   

 

"Americans' interest in real estate sites ballooned recently, due to the general angst in the real estate market and also because of some Web site innovations within the category. While visitation is up 23 percent versus year ago, the most significant gains have occurred during the past few months," said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix.  "With the Fed raising rates and inventories on the rise, potential buyers and sellers are looking to the Internet to assess the current housing landscape.  Zillow.com, which debuted in February, is already generating high traffic (2.3 million visitors in April) by providing consumers a way to compare real estate properties and obtain in-depth information without the assistance of an agent.  Category gains may be symptomatic of a larger trend in real estate - and the Web in general - where the idea of 'consumer control' over information is causing significant shifts in shopping behavior. " 

 

Americans' nesting instinct was also evidenced by the increase in traffic to home improvement/ home furnishing sites, which, in aggregate, experienced a 12-percent increase in April versus the prior month.   Two bricks-and-mortar home improvement giants benefited from this interest online:  The Home Depot, Inc. Sites experienced a 10-percent gain versus March with 10.8 million visitors, while Lowes.com rose 15 percent, to 8.3 million visitors.

 

Monitoring the "Gas Gouge" Online

Another noteworthy trend borne out online in April was Americans' intense interest in tracking ever-rising gas prices. Gasbuddy Organization, which includes Gasbuddy.com, where consumers can search for the best local gas rates, saw visitor numbers more than triple in April compared to the previous month (from 755,000 to 2.3 million).  In addition, Fueleconomy.gov, the site operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, saw an increase of 172 percent from March to April.

 

Other Gainers

Seasonal spikes were evident in April among religion, retail gifts and flowers, and retail healthcare sites, as seen below in Table 2.  Also notable was the 66-percent increase (versus March) in traffic to Technorati.com, the self-proclaimed "authority on... weblogs," as well as increases to MLB.com (58 percent) and NFL Internet Group (29 percent), most likely attributable to the start of the baseball season and the NFL Draft, respectively.  Finally, Japanese auto makers Toyota and Honda both showed significant traffic gains, up 49 and 33 percent, respectively during April.

 

Top 50 Properties

In April, Yahoo! Sites retained its ranking as the number one property in the U.S. with 128 million visitors, while MSN-Microsoft Sites regained its number two position, attracting more than 120 million visitors.  On a worldwide basis, MSN-Microsoft Sites ranked highest in unique visitors in March, followed by Google and Yahoo! Sites, according to comScore's World Metrix, which was previewed for the first time last week. 

 

Wikipedia Sites enjoyed another strong month in the U.S., reaching number 13 in the April ranking with a 17-percent increase compared to March.  On a global basis, Wikipedia Sites ranked 7th in the March World Metrix report.

 

Domestically, the Real.com Network jumped nine spots to number 24 in April, drawing more than 23 million visitors, a 25-percent increase from March.  On a global basis, the Real.com Network ranked number 13, according to comScore World Metrix.

 

"It is interesting to see the global relationship of the top U.S. Web properties," commented Mr. Daboll. "As the share of the U.S. audience continues to become a smaller percentage of the global universe, it is critically important to understand not only how sites rank domestically, but also how they perform with audiences around the world.  Importantly, World Metrix is the only source for this information."

 

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

In April, Advertising.com extended its reach to more than 83 percent of Americans online to retail the number one position for the 24th consecutive month.  WebMD Health Network moved up five spots to number 30, reaching more than 5 million more Americans in April than in March.  Tremor Network entered the Ad Focus ranking for the first time at number 15, reaching 40 percent of the U.S. population online.

 

TABLE 1

 

Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*

April 2006 vs. March 2006

Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users

Source: comScore Media Metrix

Property

Mar-06

(000)

Apr-06

(000)

Percentage

Change

Rank by

 Unique Visitors

Total Internet Population

171,421

171,690

0%

N/A

TECHNORATI.COM

2,742

4,538

66%

200

MLB.COM

7,932

12,557

58%

62

The Mozilla Organization

4,219

6,603

57%

142

Toyota

3,510

5,228

49%

169

BIDZ.COM

2,562

3,701

44%

233

Hallmark

6,749

9,545

41%

90

Honda

3,720

4,962

33%

178

NFL Internet Group

7,240

9,313

29%

93

Real.com Network

18,920

23,571

25%

24

Shop.com Sites

7,720

9,613

25%

88

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in April 2006.

 

TABLE 2

 

Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors

April 2006 vs. March 2006

Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users

Source: comScore Media Metrix

 

Mar-06

(000)

Apr-06

(000)

Percentage Change

Total Internet Population

171,421

171,690

0%

Religion

16,350

24,276

48%

Retail - Health Care

19,640

24,391

24%

Incentives

14,206

16,835

19%

Retail - Flowers/Gifts/Greetings

30,085

35,473

18%

Hobbies/Lifestyle - Food

34,604

40,081

16%

e-cards

34,899

39,540

13%

Real Estate

37,989

42,675

12%

Retail - Food

12,123

13,596

12%

Hobbies/Lifestyle - Home

38,088

42,695

12%

Retail - Mall

30,281

33,923

12%

 

 

TABLE 3

 

Top 50 Properties

April 2006 

Total U.S. Home, Work and University Locations 

Unique Visitors (000)

Source: comScore Media Metrix 

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors

(000)

 

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors

 (000)

 

Total Internet Users

171,690

 

 

 

 

1

Yahoo! Sites

128,073

 

26

Lycos, Inc.

23,289

2

MSN-Microsoft Sites

120,261

 

27

Bank of America

22,873

3

Time Warner Network

119,171

 

28

Disney Online

22,112

4

Google Sites

108,534

 

29

CBS Corporation

22,044

5

eBay

75,952

 

30

CareerBuilder LLC

20,919

6

Ask Network

53,767

 

31

Gannett Sites

20,902

7

Amazon Sites

48,371

 

32

Shopzilla.com Sites

20,130

8

MYSPACE.COM

48,033

 

33

ESPN

17,524

9

New York Times Digital

39,435

 

34

News Corp. Online

17,205

10

Verizon Communications Corporation

35,123

 

35

E.W. Scripps

16,892

11

Weather Channel, The

35,083

 

36

Comcast Corporation

16,743

12

United Online, Inc

30,563

 

37

Cox Enterprises Inc.

16,688

13

Wikipedia Sites

29,921

 

38

Trip Network Inc.

16,296

14

CNET Networks

29,905

 

39

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

15,976

15

Apple Computer, Inc.

28,826

 

40

Weatherbug Property

15,835

16

Monster Worldwide

28,439

 

41

WhitePages

15,270

17

Viacom Online

28,248

 

42

ORBITZ.COM

15,197

18

Adobe Sites

27,946

 

43

ARTISTdirect Network

14,905

19

Expedia Inc

27,319

 

44

Ticketmaster

14,853

20

AT&T, Inc.

25,543

 

45

Citysearch

14,800

21

Wal-Mart

24,528

 

46

Infospace Network

14,752

22

Vendare Media

24,229

 

47

WebMD Health

14,569

23

Gorilla Nation Media

24,099

 

48

Dell

13,918

24

Real.com Network

23,571

 

49

UPS Sites

13,725

25

Target Corporation

23,499

 

50

OVERSTOCK.COM

13,610

 





TABLE 4

 

Ad Focus Ranking April 2006 

Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations 

Unique Visitors (000) 

Source: comScore Media Metrix 

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Reach %

 

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Reach %

 

Total Internet Users

171,690

100%

 

 

 

 

 

1

Advertising.com**

142,812

83%

 

26

MSNBC

27,771

16%

2

Yahoo!

125,176

73%

 

27

Business.com Network

27,587

16%

3

ValueClick**

121,793

71%

 

28

WEATHER.COM

26,825

16%

4

AOL Media Network

112,457

66%

 

29

Vendare Media

24,229

14%

5

Google

104,454

61%

 

30

WebMD Health Network

23,900

14%

6

MSN

102,083

59%

 

31

Lycos Network

23,204

14%

7

Casale Media Network**

98,831

58%

 

32

Disney Online

22,112

13%

8

Tribal Fusion**

98,198

57%

 

33

CareerBuilder Network

21,766

13%

9

Vendare Media - TrafficMarketplace**

93,115

54%

 

34

CNN

21,023

12%

10

AOL

86,998

51%

 

35

EXPEDIA.COM*

19,266

11%

11

24/7 Real Media**

82,776

48%

 

36

IMDB.COM

18,623

11%

12

YAHOO.COM Home Page

82,034

48%

 

37

SuperPages Network

17,716

10%

13

Burst Media**

76,338

44%

 

38

ESPN

17,524

10%

14

DrivePM**

69,014

40%

 

39

REAL.COM*

17,390

10%

15

Tremor Network

68,924

40%

 

40

CLASSMATES.COM

17,360

10%

16

EBAY.COM

67,993

40%

 

41

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

15,976

9%

17

Blue Lithium**

60,278

35%

 

42

WeatherBug

15,552

9%

18

Gorilla Nation Media Network

60,201

35%

 

43

Travelocity All

15,363

9%

19

MSN.COM Home Page

55,632

32%

 

44

WhitePages Network

15,198

9%

20

Ask Network

53,767

31%

 

45

ORBITZ.COM

15,197

9%

21

MYSPACE.COM

48,033

28%

 

46

ARTISTdirect Network

14,905

9%

22

AdDynamix.com**

38,865

23%

 

47

CITYSEARCH.COM*

14,657

9%

23

Vibrant Media**

38,703

23%

 

48

BIZRATE.COM

14,500

8%

24

EBAY.COM Home Page

38,499

22%

 

49

MONSTER.COM*

14,154

8%

25

ABOUT.COM

34,720

20%

 

50

FOX Sports on MSN

14,127

8%

 


Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in April.  For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 73 percent of the more than 171 million Internet users in April. 

* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.

** Denotes an advertising network. 

 

About comScore Media Metrix

comScore Media Metrix, a division of comScore Networks, provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report - with unmatched accuracy - details of online media usage, visitor demographics and online buying power for the home, work and university audiences across local U.S. markets and across the globe.  comScore Media Metrix continues the tradition of quality and innovation established by its Media Metrix syndicated Internet ratings - long recognized as the currency in online media measurement among financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers - while drawing upon comScore's advanced technologies to address important new industry requirements.  All comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

 

About comScore Networks

comScore Networks provides unparalleled insight into consumer behavior and attitudes. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore explicit permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes.  comScore consultants apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI.  comScore services are used by global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia.  For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

 


Contact:
Andrew Lipsman
comScore Networks
(312) 775-6510
press@comscore.com