RESTON, VA, Feb. 13, 2006 - comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at top online properties and categories.   The desire to kick off the New Year on the right foot drove traffic to sites in the Taxes, Career, Travel and Health categories.

 

"The beginning of the year typically marks a time of optimism as people recommit themselves to achieving their New Year's resolutions, and many turn to the Internet for assistance in planning and executing these goals," said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix. "Rather than procrastinate until April, many Americans went online in January to file their taxes.  Some decided it was time to shed those excess holiday pounds with assistance from online health resources, while others sought assistance with job changes or used the Internet to snag late-winter vacation deals."

 

Tax Forms Send Early Filers to the Web in January

 

With W-2 forms in hand, many Americans turned to the Web to get an early jump on preparing and filing their 2005 tax returns.  The Taxes category yielded the highest gains in this month's ranking of the top gaining properties, drawing nearly 23 million visitors - an increase of 215 percent compared to December (see table 2). Visitation to the Taxes category has also seen year-over-year growth due to seasonality, increasing 13 percent from January 2005 levels.

 

The top gaining property in January was HRBlock.com with 4.3 million visitors, an increase of 171 percent compared to December (see table 1).  IRS.gov saw traffic increase 186 percent to 11.5 million visitors, making this the sixth highest gaining property for the month. A 700-percent increase in visitors to TurboTax.com propelled Intuit up 198 percent, making it January's fifth largest gaining property.

 New Year - New Job

The start of the New Year often serves as a wake up call to people unhappy with their current job situation, and January 2005 was no different. Traffic to the Career Services and Development category jumped 26 percent to 50 million visitors.  Category growth was fueled by three Career Services subcategories, which qualified for this month's ranking of the top gaining properties. All subcategories benefited from significant television advertising: the Career-Job Search subcategory rose 42 percent, Career Resources increased 35 percent and traffic to the Career - Training and Education subcategory was up 18 percent.

Traffic at category leader CareerBuilder climbed 74 percent over the prior month to 21.2 million visitors yielding the largest gains in total visitors for the month.  Monster.com saw a 38 percent increase to 14.5 million visitors, while Yahoo! Hot Jobs rose 19 percent to 8.5 million visitors.

Online Weight Loss Solutions Peak in January

The ever-popular New Year's resolution to get in shape caused seasonal traffic spikes to sites in the Health category.  eDiets, the top online dieting resource, more than doubled its traffic from the previous month, drawing 5.6 million visitors.  Weight Watchers International also showed strong gains, attracting 4.7 million visitors, an increase of 90 percent compared to December. Increased visitation to the Health - Information subcategory (up 17 percent) secured a spot on the list of top gaining categories in January.

Consumers Look for Travel Deals to Beat Winter Doldrums

Cheap last-minute travel deals and planning spring travel destinations drew 73.9 million visitors to the Travel category in January. Two of January's top ten gaining categories were Travel subcategories.  Travel - Ground/Cruise ranked as the fourth fastest-growing category with nearly 10 million unique visitors, up 26 percent over December due to the numerous last-minute winter vacation deals offered.  Heavy promotions of discounted cruises helped VacationsToGo.com draw 2.3 million visitors to the site, a 51 percent increase.  Carnival Cruises attracted 2 million visitors with similar promotions, marking a 40 percent compared to December.Traffic to the Online Travel Agents subcategory gained 17 percent to 54 million visitors.  Among the largest sites in this category, Travelocity saw the biggest gain, with traffic jumping 38 percent to 13 million visitors. Other top gaining sites include; Expedia.com (up 16 percent to 25.8 million visitors), Trip Network (up 22 percent to 21.5 million visitors), Orbitz.com (up 29 percent to 13.2 million visitors) and Priceline.com (up 22 percent to 9.7 million visitors).

Top 50 Properties

The top three properties remained unchanged from December 2005 to January 2006, with Yahoo! maintaining its position at number one (see table 3).  MySpace.com continued its ascent into the top ten, attracting more than 35 million unique visitors, marking a 10 percent increase compared to December.  Recent promotional efforts by Career Resource sites Monster Worldwide and CareerBuilder LLC helped both properties increase visitation this month. Monster Worldwide jumped eight spots to number 14, while CareerBuilder LLC entered the top 50 with a 27^th place ranking.  Travel sites also experienced a strong month as consumers took advantage of last-minute winter vacation deals.  Expedia Inc. moved up to number 19, drawing just under 26 million unique visitors, while Trip Network, Inc. increased visitors by 22 percent to more than 21 million.  Travelocity also entered the ranking, attracting more than 13 million unique visitors in January.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

January saw few changes in the Ad Focus Ranking.  Advertising.com retained its number one spot for the 21^st consecutive month, reaching 81 percent of all Americans online (see table 4).  In the Career Resource subcategory, CareerBuilder Network jumped 18 spots to number 31, reaching more than 22 million Americans online, while Monster.com re-entered the ranking for the first time since August at number 48.  CheapTickets.com climbed 12 spots to number 35, reaching 10 percent of the online population.

TABLE 1

Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* January 2006 vs. December 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
Property	Dec-05 (000)	Jan-06 (000)	Percentage Change	Rank by  Unique Visitors
Total Internet Population	170,285	170,797	0%	N/A
HRBlock.com	530	4,327	717%	197
Subway	592	4,742	701%	178
XS.to	1,110	4,739	327%	179
DoNotCall.gov	1,093	4,114	276%	203
Intuit	3,179	9,476	198%	79
IRS.gov	4,020	11,511	186%	63
FrontierNet.net	2,071	4,405	113%	195
eDiets	2,709	5,629	108%	144
Weight Watchers International	2,484	4,720	90%	182
ED.gov	3,498	6,425	84%	131

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

TABLE 2

Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors January 2006 vs. December 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Dec-05 (000)	Jan-06 (000)	Percentage Change
Total Internet Population	170,285	170,797	0%
Taxes	7,385	23,244	215%
Career - Job Search	10,830	15,340	42%
Career Resources	27,253	36,814	35%
Travel - Ground/Cruise	7,889	9,967	26%
Career Services and Development	39,626	49,824	26%
Lotto/Sweepstakes	22,048	27,114	23%
Career - Training and Education	7,804	9,172	18%
Real Estate	29,695	34,785	17%
Health - Information	43,458	50,839	17%
Online Travel Agents	45,786	53,501	17%

 

 

TABLE 3

 

Top 50 Properties January 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	170,797
1	Yahoo! Sites	126,224		26	Trip Network Inc.	21,499
2	MSN-Microsoft Sites	115,736		27	CareerBuilder LLC	21,247
3	Time Warner Network	115,501		28	Target Corporation	20,805
4	Google Sites	94,016		29	Shopzilla.com Sites	20,552
5	eBay	69,765		30	Real.com Network	19,796
6	Amazon Sites	47,576		31	Gannett Sites	19,337
7	Ask Jeeves	43,362		32	E.W. Scripps	18,764
8	MYSPACE.COM	35,579		33	Wikipedia Sites	18,298
9	New York Times Digital	34,892		34	Comcast Corporation	16,893
10	Viacom Online	34,838		35	Citysearch	16,736
11	Verizon Communications Corporation	33,971		36	ESPN	16,685
12	Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG)	33,090		37	OVERSTOCK.COM	15,997
13	CNET Networks	29,516		38	Weatherbug Property	15,722
14	Monster Worldwide	27,283		39	Cox Enterprises Inc.	15,148
15	Apple Computer, Inc.	27,137		40	Earthlink	14,595
16	United Online, Inc	27,016		41	iVillage.com: The Womens Network	14,474
17	Vendare Media	26,645		42	NFL Internet Group	14,462
18	Weather Channel, The	25,979		43	Infospace Network	14,401
19	Expedia Inc	25,820		44	USPS.COM	14,318
20	Adobe Sites	24,757		45	Dell	14,252
21	AT&T, Inc.	24,749		46	UPS Sites	13,614
22	Lycos, Inc.	24,123		47	WhitePages	13,504
23	Wal-Mart	23,286		48	WebMD	13,442
24	Bank of America	23,238		49	Travelocity	13,412
25	Gorilla Nation Media	21,993		50	Best Buy Sites	13,392

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 4

 

 

Ad Focus Ranking January 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	170,797	100%
1	Advertising.com**	138,824	81%		26	Expedia Inc	25,820	15%
2	Yahoo!	124,055	73%		27	Lycos Network	24,028	14%
3	Valueclick Media/Fastclick**	112,687	66%		28	WEATHER.COM	23,621	14%
4	AOL Media Network	108,611	64%		29	CareerBuilder Network	22,552	13%
5	MSN	98,877	58%		30	CNN	21,848	13%
6	Google	86,413	51%		31	Disney Online	19,240	11%
7	AOL	86,149	50%		32	AdDynamix.com**	19,194	11%
8	Casale Media Network**	82,235	48%		33	CHEAPTICKETS.COM	17,692	10%
9	Vendare Media - TrafficMarketplace**	82,171	48%		34	ESPN	16,685	10%
10	Tribal Fusion**	81,463	48%		35	CITYSEARCH.COM*	16,584	10%
11	YAHOO.COM Home Page	77,748	46%		36	WebMD Health Network	16,357	10%
12	24/7 Real Media**	70,172	41%		37	IMDB.COM	16,318	10%
13	BURST! Media**	61,634	36%		38	Mamma Media Solutions**	15,784	9%
14	EBAY.COM	60,212	35%		39	SuperPages Network	15,723	9%
15	Blue Lithium**	59,891	35%		40	Travelocity All	15,715	9%
16	Gorilla Nation Media Network	56,924	33%		41	FOX Sports on MSN	15,620	9%
17	MSN.COM Home Page	54,436	32%		42	WeatherBug	15,531	9%
18	Ask Jeeves	43,362	25%		43	CLASSMATES.COM	14,799	9%
19	EBAY.COM Home Page	36,726	22%		44	CNET	14,736	9%
20	MYSPACE.COM	35,579	21%		45	iVillage.com: The Womens Network	14,474	8%
21	Vibrant Media**	35,140	21%		46	MONSTER.COM*	14,408	8%
22	ABOUT.COM	30,303	18%		47	BIZRATE.COM	14,126	8%
23	Business.com Network	27,792	16%		48	REAL.COM*	14,113	8%
24	Vendare Media	26,645	16%		49	WhitePages Network	13,465	8%
25	MSNBC	26,527	16%		50	ORBITZ.COM	13,176	8%

 

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in December.  For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 73 percent of the more than 170 million Internet users in January.  The notation "**" indicates that the entity is 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.

 

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