comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for January 2009
RESTON, Va., Feb 19, 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 January 2009 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The Tax category led as the top-gaining category as January marked the beginning of tax season, while Job Search, Government and travel-related sites also witnessed strong gains.
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"January has once again seen seasonal gains in the tax, career and travel categories, reflecting the typical American's tendency to plan for the New Year," commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "This month also saw Facebook break into the Top 10 Properties ranking for the first time, reminding us that 2009 will likely continue to see growth in the adoption and usage of social media."
Traffic to Tax Sites Surges as Season Begins
January marked the beginning of tax season driving millions of Americans to the Tax category in preparation of filing their 2008 returns. The category witnessed a 176-percent gain to 24.7 million visitors, making it the top-gaining category for the month.
Career and Job Search Sites Gain as Job Losses Mount
January has historically been a strong month for career sites as the beginning of the New Year causes many Americans to reconsider their current career trajectory and future goals. However, the surge in visitors this January also reflects the millions of lost jobs across the nation, resulting in significant increases to both the Job Search category (up 42 percent to 26.7 million visitors) and Career Resources category (up 26 percent to 48.9 million visitors).
The Job Search category was led by CareerBuilder.com Job Search with 12.2 million visitors (up 34 percent versus December), Monster.com Job Search with 9.5 million visitors (up 42 percent), and Yahoo! HotJobs Job Search with 7.7 million visitors (up 38 percent).
Taxes, Unemployment and Salmonella Scare Drive Growth at Government Sites
Government sites grew 11 percent in January to nearly 90 million visitors, with tax preparation, unemployment benefits, a new Presidential administration, and the peanut butter salmonella warning all contributing to the category's gains. IRS.gov led the category with 14.7 million visitors, an increase of 240 percent from the previous month, as Americans prepared to file their 2008 tax returns. Millions of Americans affected by the economy sought information on unemployment benefits and other government assistance, propelling gains at several state government sites, including CA.gov (up 10 percent to 7.6 million visitors), State.TX.US (up 14 percent to 4.4 million visitors), and State.NY.US (up 17 percent to 3.5 million visitors).
Other gainers in the Government category included FDA.gov, the Web site for the Food and Drug Administration, which grew 277 percent to 3.8 million visitors as news broke of a salmonella outbreak involving peanut butter products, and WhiteHouse.gov, the official online home of the new Presidential administration, which jumped 197 percent to 3.7 million visitors as new President Barack Obama was sworn into office on January 20.
Travel Sites Gain in January as Americans Plan Spring Travel
Several travel subcategories witnessed strong gains in January as Americans looked for late-season winter travel deals and began planning their spring travel. Travel - Ground/Cruise sites jumped 46 percent to 13 million visitors, led by Vacations to Go.com Sites with 3.6 million visitors, while Travel - Hotels/Resorts grew 12 percent to 30 million visitors, led by Disney Travel with 4.8 million visitors. Travel - Online Travel Agents climbed 10 percent to nearly 40 million visitors, with Expedia Inc. ranking atop the category with 22.7 million visitors.
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites continued to lead as the most visited property in January with 151 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 146.1 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 125.6 million visitors. Facebook climbed one spot to capture the #10 position with 57.2 million visitors, marking the first time in its history that Facebook has reached the Top 10.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Platform-A led the January Ad Focus ranking, reaching 91 percent of the nearly 192 million Americans online. Yahoo! Network ranked second, reaching 86 percent, while ValueClick Networks captured the third position with an 84-percent reach. Traffic Marketplace moved up one position in the ranking to #5 reaching 77 percent, while Tribal Fusion jumped three spots to #8 with a 75-percent reach.
TABLE 1
comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique
Visitors* (U.S.)
January 2009 vs. December 2008
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Rank by
Unique
Dec-08 Jan-09 % Change Visitors
Total Internet :
Total Audience 190,650 191,863 1 N/A
TaxACT 549 5,883 972 205
H&R Block 1,611 6,073 277 196
IRS.GOV 4,313 14,663 240 69
Intuit 6,139 16,172 163 60
Oprah.com 2,539 5,077 100 232
Gamevance.com 6,644 12,170 83 91
Usmagazine.com 3,117 5,057 62 234
ABC.com 5,496 8,760 59 126
ED.gov 4,469 7,080 58 163
Indeed 5,167 7,541 46 157
* Ranking based on the top 250 properties in January 2009.
TABLE 2
comScore Top 10 Gaining Site Categories* by Percentage Change in Unique
Visitors (U.S.)
January 2009 vs. December 2008
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Dec-08 Jan-09 % Change
Total Internet : Total Audience 190,650 191,863 1
Business/Finance - Taxes 8,935 24,703 176
Travel - Ground/Cruise 8,942 13,028 46
Career Services & Development
- Job Search 18,826 26,702 42
Career Services & Development
- Career Resources 38,911 48,900 26
Retail - Computer Software 30,186 37,545 24
News/Information - Politics 11,992 13,710 14
Travel - Hotels/Resorts 26,671 29,976 12
Government 80,564 89,662 11
Travel - Online Travel Agents 35,565 38,973 10
Business/Finance - Online Trading 10,758 11,743 9
* Beginning with January 2009 comScore Media Metrix data, each media
entity in comScore's Client Focused Dictionary can only be classified
into one content category and subcategory.
TABLE 3
comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.)
January 2009
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Unique Unique
Visitors Visitors
Rank Property (000) Rank Property (000)
Total Internet :
Total Audience 191,863
1 Google Sites 151,010 26 Target Corporation 28,628
2 Yahoo! Sites 146,131 27 Time Warner -
Excluding AOL 27,209
3 Microsoft Sites 125,568 28 Weatherbug Property 26,944
4 AOL LLC 108,441 29 Bank of America 26,322
5 Fox Interactive Media 90,510 30 United Online, Inc 26,048
6 Ask Network 74,742 31 Gorilla Nation 25,585
7 eBay 72,160 32 AT&T, Inc. 25,574
8 Amazon Sites 64,768 33 Answers.com Sites 25,563
9 Wikimedia Foundation
Sites 62,737 34 Demand Media 25,447
10 FACEBOOK.COM 57,232 35 CareerBuilder LLC 24,750
11 Glam Media 55,293 36 Everyday Health 24,717
12 Turner Network 54,877 37 Shopzilla.com Sites 24,097
13 Apple Inc. 54,194 38 Photobucket.com LLC 23,928
14 CBS Corporation 53,539 39 WordPress 23,730
15 New York Times Digital 49,110 40 Real.com Network 23,359
16 Viacom Digital 46,510 41 Expedia Inc 22,703
17 Weather Channel, The 40,056 42 JPMorgan Chase
Property 22,399
18 craigslist, inc. 39,437 43 Monster Worldwide 22,244
19 AT&T Interactive Network 38,184 44 Gannett Sites 21,829
20 Adobe Sites 35,315 45 WorldNow - ABC Owned
Sites 21,586
21 Comcast Corporation 33,940 46 WebMD Health 21,185
22 Wal-Mart 33,513 47 iVillage.com: The
Womens Network 21,002
23 Superpages.com Network 32,558 48 NBC Universal 20,974
24 Verizon Communications
Corporation 32,412 49 WhitePages 19,351
25 Disney Online 30,345 50 ESPN 19,266
TABLE 4
comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.)
January 2009
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Unique Unique
Visitors Reach Visitors Reach
Rank Property (000) % Rank Property (000) %
Total Internet :
Total Audience 191,863 100%
1 Platform-A** 174,586 91% 26 AdBrite** 89,649 47%
2 Yahoo! Network** 164,712 86% 27 YOUTUBE.COM 82,772 43%
3 ValueClick 28 Centro - Potential
Networks** 160,261 84% Reach 81,559 43%
4 Google Ad Network** 158,481 83% 29 Vibrant Media** 79,908 42%
5 Traffic
Marketplace** 146,903 77% 30 MYSPACE.COM* 75,639 39%
6 Yahoo! Sites 146,131 76% 31 NNN Total
Newspapers: U.S. 74,800 39%
7 Specific Media** 145,929 76% 32 Ask Network 74,742 39%
8 Tribal Fusion** 143,869 75% 33 Pulse 360** 71,075 37%
9 Google 143,116 75% 34 Gorilla Nation Media
- Potential Reach 68,684 36%
10 24/7 Real Media** 141,604 74% 35 IAC Ad Solutions -
Potential Reach 66,759 35%
11 Tremor Media -
Potential Reach 136,867 71% 36 Undertone Networks** 66,083 34%
12 Casale Media -
MediaNet** 136,772 71% 37 Career Ad Network** 65,936 34%
13 Turn, Inc** 132,949 69% 38 ITN Digital Networks
- Potential Reach 65,705 34%
14 Adconion Media
Group** 130,717 68% 39 Kontera** 64,928 34%
15 interCLICK** 126,706 66% 40 TattoMedia** 61,677 32%
16 CPX Interactive** 125,764 66% 41 IB Local Network 58,414 30%
17 DRIVEpm** 125,255 65% 42 EBAY.COM 57,520 30%
18 ADSDAQ by
ContextWeb** 121,022 63% 43 Adify** 57,380 30%
19 Revenue Science** 114,122 59% 44 FACEBOOK.COM 57,232 30%
20 Digital Broadcasting
Group (DBG) -
Potential Reach 111,698 58% 45 MSN.COM Home Page 56,481 29%
21 MSN-Windows Live 111,695 58% 46 Glam Media 55,293 29%
22 Collective Network**111,322 58% 47 AMAZON.COM 54,562 28%
23 Burst Media** 109,043 57% 48 NNN Top 25 52,326 27%
24 AOL Media Network 108,441 57% 49 Business.com
Network 51,586 27%
25 BrightRoll Video 50 QuadrantONE -
Network - Potential Potential Reach 47,754 25%
Reach 98,179 51%
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in January. For instance, Yahoo! Sites was seen by 76 percent of the nearly 192 million Internet users in January.
* 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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