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Feb 13, 2006

Americans' Resolutions Reflected Online With Taxes, Careers, Travel and Health Top of Mind

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 27th 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 21st 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.

 

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 Orbitz.  For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

 

 


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