comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for December 2008
RESTON, Va., Jan 15, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ --
comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for December 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The holiday shopping season drove increased traffic to retail sites as consumers browsed merchandise and sought deals online. Shipping and Weather sites also saw gains as Americans eagerly anticipated the arrival of their packages and holiday guests.
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"The holiday shopping season continued to be the main driver of online activity in December, with retail sites being the primary beneficiaries," commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "While enticing discounts and incentives were enough to attract holiday shoppers to browse online, consumers did not open their wallets as they have in past years as online sales declined 3 percent versus last year amid the tougher economic climate."
Retail Sites Realize Seasonal Traffic Gains Despite Soft Online Holiday Sales
Traffic to retail sites grew in December as consumers searched for holiday gifts and discounts. Retail - Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories surged 30 percent to 25 million visitors to rank as the top-gaining category for the month.
Retail - Sports/Outdoor sites also posted strong growth for the month increasing 24 percent to more than 38 million visitors. The top ten sites in the category all witnessed double-digit increases, including DicksSportingGoods.com (up 57 percent to 4.8 million visitors) and SportsAuthority.com (up 61 percent to 3.3 million visitors).
Other retail categories among the top-ten included Retail - Music (up 24 percent to 26 million visitors), Retail - Flowers/Gifts/Greeting (up 17 percent to 45.7 million visitors) and Retail - Computer Software (up 14 percent to 30.2 million visitors).
Shipping Category Surges as Consumers Rush to Send Holiday Gifts
Traffic to shipping sites climbed 27 percent to nearly 40 million visitors in December as Americans raced to ensure delivery of their packages in time for the holidays. The category was led by UPS Sites with 21.6 million visitors (up 47 percent from the previous month), which also ranked as one of the top- gaining properties in December. USPS.com captured the second position with 16.6 million visitors (up 28 percent), followed by FedEx with 13.4 million visitors (up 38 percent).
Severe Winter Conditions Drive Visitors to Weather Sites
Wintry weather blasted much of the country during December, resulting in holiday travel delays and cancellations. The Weather category grew 17 percent to 76.8 million visitors as Americans sought weather updates. The Weather Channel led the category with 41.5 million visitors (up 28 percent), followed by Weatherbug Property with 27.1 million visitors (up 10 percent), and Yahoo! Weather with 14.3 million visitors (up 36 percent).
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites continued to lead as the most visited property in December with 149 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 145.7 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 125.4 million visitors. Facebook and Apple Inc. both climbed two spots to #11 and #12, respectively. The holiday shopping season caused sharp increases at several retail-related properties including Shopzilla.com Sites (up six spots to #27), Best Buy Sites (up 10 spots to #30), and JCPenney Sites (up eight spots to #42).
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Platform-A led the December Ad Focus ranking, reaching 91 percent of the 190.7 million Americans online. Yahoo! Network ranked second, reaching 87 percent, while ValueClick Networks captured the third position with an 84- percent reach. Adconion Media Group moved up three spots in the ranking to #9, Amazon.com moved up three spots to #37, and ITN Digital Networks - Potential Reach moved up five spots to #40.
TABLE 1
comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique
Visitors* (U.S.)
December 2008 vs. November 2008
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Nov-08 Dec-08 % Change Rank by Unique Visitors
Total Internet :
Total Audience 190,775 190,650 0 N/A
FRONTIERNET.NET 2,450 6,504 165 190
Fantasy Sports
Ventures 5,818 10,414 79 109
WUNDERGROUND.COM 3,054 5,097 67 237
Borders Group, Inc. 4,055 6,541 61 185
PYZAM.COM 4,080 6,476 59 191
UPS Sites 14,691 21,628 47 44
Xacti Corporation 5,117 7,501 47 152
MERCHANTCIRCLE.COM 4,309 6,247 45 199
Barnes & Noble 8,420 12,021 43 96
Jango Music Network 4,654 6,512 40 189
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in December 2008
TABLE 2
comScore Top 10 Gaining Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors
(U.S.)
December 2008 vs. November 2008
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Nov-08 Dec-08 % Change
Total Internet : Total Audience 190,775 190,650 0
Retail - Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories 19,210 24,988 30
Shipping 29,781 37,924 27
Retail - Sports/Outdoor 30,891 38,356 24
Retail - Music 21,023 26,004 24
e-cards 34,266 41,453 21
Humor 28,649 33,623 17
Weather 65,500 76,797 17
Retail - Flowers/Gifts/Greetings 39,110 45,653 17
Pharmacy 18,277 20,940 15
Retail - Computer Software 26,498 30,186 14
TABLE 3
comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.)
December 2008
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Rank Property Unique Visitors Rank Property Unique Visitors
(000) (000)
Total Internet :
Total Audience 190,650
1 Google Sites 149,027 26 Disney Online 30,782
2 Yahoo! Sites 145,708 27 Shopzilla.com Sites 29,410
3 Microsoft Sites 125,351 28 Superpages.com Network 28,854
4 AOL LLC 109,879 29 AT&T, Inc. 28,807
5 Fox Interactive
Media 89,225 30 Best Buy Sites 27,730
6 eBay 77,885 31 Bank of America 27,599
7 Ask Network 73,267 32 Sears Sites 27,462
8 Amazon Sites 71,431 33 Weatherbug Property 27,100
9 Glam Media 61,129 34 Everyday Health 26,701
10 Wikimedia
Foundation Sites 58,302 35 United Online, Inc 24,593
11 FACEBOOK.COM 54,552 36 Gorilla Nation 24,482
12 Apple Inc. 53,652 37 WordPress 24,199
13 CBS Corporation 52,806 38 Demand Media 23,759
14 Wal-Mart 49,405 39 Photobucket.com LLC 23,543
15 Turner Network 48,505 40 Answers.com Sites 23,530
16 Viacom Digital 46,312 41 Real.com Network 22,700
17 New York Times
Digital 46,270 42 JCPenney Sites 22,254
18 Target
Corporation 45,089 43 JPMorgan Chase Property 22,181
19 Weather Channel,
The 41,503 44 UPS Sites 21,628
20 craigslist, inc. 36,977 45 The Mozilla Organization 21,332
21 AT&T Interactive
Network 35,967 46 WhitePages 21,200
22 Adobe Sites 34,401 47 Gannett Sites 21,138
23 Time Warner -
Excluding AOL 32,975 48 iVillage.com: The
Womens Network 20,612
24 Verizon
Communications
Corporation 31,832 49 WorldNow - ABC
Owned Sites 20,356
25 Comcast
Corporation 31,306 50 ESPN 20,316
TABLE 4
comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.)
December 2008
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Rank Property Unique Reach % Rank Property Unique Reach %
Visitors Visitors
(000) (000)
Total Internet :
Total Audience 190,650 100%
1 Platform-A** 173,804 91% 26 YOUTUBE.COM 81,926 43%
2 Yahoo! Network** 165,879 87% 27 Centro - Potential
Reach 79,294 42%
3 ValueClick
Networks** 159,420 84% 28 Undertone
Networks** 79,259 42%
4 Google Ad
Network** 157,131 82% 29 Vibrant
Media** 78,370 41%
5 Specific Media** 153,079 80% 30 MYSPACE.COM* 75,909 40%
6 Traffic
Marketplace** 147,024 77% 31 Ask Network 73,267 38%
7 Yahoo! Sites 145,708 76% 32 NNN Total
Newspapers:
U.S. 72,178 38%
8 24/7 Real Media** 142,448 75% 33 IAC Ad
Solutions -
Potential
Reach 69,839 37%
9 Adconion Media
Group** 142,133 75% 34 Gorilla Nation
Media - Potential
Reach 69,676 37%
10 Google 141,044 74% 35 EBAY.COM 62,738 33%
11 Tribal Fusion** 139,778 73% 36 Kontera** 62,340 33%
12 Tremor Media -
Potential Reach 137,407 72% 37 AMAZON.COM 62,081 33%
13 interCLICK** 137,076 72% 38 Glam Media 61,129 32%
14 Casale Media -
MediaNet** 136,806 72% 39 Pulse 360** 60,834 32%
15 Collective
Network** 126,294 66% 40 ITN Digital
Networks -
Potential
Reach 60,060 32%
16 Revenue Science** 126,261 66% 41 MSN.COM Home
Page 56,543 30%
17 DRIVEpm** 126,158 66% 42 TattoMedia** 56,284 30%
18 Turn, Inc** 123,150 65% 43 FACEBOOK.COM 54,552 29%
19 CPX Interactive** 118,305 62% 44 IB Local
Network 53,461 28%
20 ADSDAQ by
ContextWeb** 117,025 61% 45 NNN Top 25 49,520 26%
21 BrightRoll Video
Network -
Potential Reach 114,333 60% 46 Adify** 48,974 26%
22 Burst Media** 112,601 59% 47 Business.com
Network 47,695 25%
23 MSN-Windows Live 112,223 59% 48 WALMART.COM 46,049 24%
24 AOL Media Network 109,879 58% 49 YuMe Video
Network -
Potential
Reach 45,860 24%
25 AdBrite** 87,826 46% 50 QuadrantONE
- Potential
Reach 44,940 24%
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in December. For instance, Yahoo! Sites were seen by 76 percent of the nearly 191 million Internet users in December.
* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.
** Denotes an advertising network.
About comScore Media Metrix
comScore Media Metrix provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report 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 reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.
About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
SOURCE comScore, Inc.
http://www.comscore.com
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