comScore Media Metrix Releases February Top 50 Web Rankings and Analysis

Valentine's Day-Driven Increases Seen at Flowers, Gifts and Greetings Sites; Entertainment News Sites Benefit from Oscars Interest

RESTON, VA, March 14, 2007 – comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties and categories for February 2007 and introduced a new suite of metrics based on site “visits.”  The “visits” metric, defined as the number of times a unique person accesses content within a Web entity with breaks between access of at least 30 minutes, is a way of measuring the frequency with which a person views content, thereby illustrating a key component of user engagement.  Included among the new suite of metrics are: total visits, average minutes per visit, average visits per visitor, and average visits per usage day. 

“As technologies like AJAX change the Internet landscape, certain measures of engagement, such as page views, are diminishing in significance for many Web properties,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.  “The introduction of these new metrics based on ‘visits’ provides an alternative for measuring user engagement that tells us how frequently visitors are actually returning to the site to view more content.”

‘Visits’ an Effective Gauge of Frequency

While each of the “visits” metrics offers a different measure of frequency, the “average visits per visitor” is the most illustrative of return visits per unique individual during the course of a month.  Used in concert with the “unique visitors” metric, this measure can help give a more comprehensive view of a site’s performance.

In February, Yahoo! Sites ranked as the top Web property by both unique visitors (128.6 million) and average visits per visitor (28.6).  Despite the congruence between Yahoo! Sites’ rankings, the remaining portions of the top ten rankings show some marked differences between the two metrics:

·          Facebook.com, the 36th most-visited site with 16.7 million unique visitors in February, proved to be one of the most engaging sites, ranking second with 23.6 average visits per visitor during the month. 

·          Microsoft Sites, which ranked behind Time Warner Network and Google Sites in terms of visitors, eclipsed both competitors by ranking third with 21.8 average visits per visitor. 

·          Weatherbug, the 48^th most-visited property, was the fifth-most engaging property (as measured by average visits per visitor); Comcast Corporation, the 33^rd most-visited property, was the eighth most-engaging property; EA Online, the 60^th most-visited property, was the ninth most-engaging property; and Earthlink, the 66^th most visited property, was the tenth most-engaging property.

TABLES 1 & 2

Top 10 Properties by Unique Visitors (000) February 2007  Total U.S.-- Home, Work and University Locations  Source: comScore Media Metrix				Top 10 Properties by Average Visits per Visitor February 2007 Total U.S.-- Home, Work and University Locations  Source: comScore Media Metrix
Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)		Rank	Property	Average Visits/Visitor
	Total Internet Users	175,653			Total Internet Visits	64.2
1	Yahoo! Sites	128,559		1	Yahoo! Sites	28.6
2	Time Warner Network	117,942		2	Facebook.com	23.6
3	Google Sites	114,694		3	Microsoft Sites	21.8
4	Microsoft Sites	114,155		4	Time Warner Network	19.4
5	eBay	79,559		5	Weatherbug Property	17.7
6	Fox Interactive Media	77,969		6	Google Sites	17.7
7	Amazon Sites	48,905		7	Fox Interactive Media	16.9
8	Ask Network	48,722		8	Comcast Corporation	16.9
9	Wikipedia Sites	43,656		9	EA Online	13.6
10	New York Times Digital	39,769		10	Earthlink	12.1

Will You Be My Valentine?

Interest in the Valentine’s Day holiday made Flowers/Gifts/Greetings the top gaining category in terms of visitors in February (up 28 percent overall).  The AmericanGreetings Property led the category with 11.2 million visitors (up 37 percent), followed by Hallmark with 8.6 million visitors (up 54 percent) and FTD.com (the biggest overall gainer) with 3.7 million visitors (up 217 percent). In addition, 1-800-Flowers, the second-biggest gainer overall for the month, jumped 106 percent to 3.5 million visitors; and 123Greetings.com, the fifth-biggest gainer overall, increased 77 percent to 6.2 million visitors.

The Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories category also benefited from the “Season of Love,” growing 10 percent versus January.  Leading the category was RedEnvelope.com with 2.1 million visitors (up 12 percent), Coach.com with 2 million visitors, and Tiffany & Co. with 1.4 million visitors (up 50 percent).

For Your Consideration – the World Wide Web

Visitation to Entertainment-News sites spiked in February due to heavy interest in the annual Academy Awards and the untimely death of model and celebrity Anna Nicole Smith.  Leading the category was TMZ with 8.4 million visitors (up 35 percent), People with 5.5 million visitors (up 42 percent) and TVGuide Online with 4.2 million visitors (up 3 percent).  Other notable gainers included AccessHollywood.com with 1.3 million visitors (up 133 percent), ET Online with 1 million visitors (up 100 percent), Alloy with 5.2 million visitors (up 77 percent) and BBC News-Entertainment with 1.1 million visitors (up 51 percent).

Taxes and Travel Categories Continue to Grow

Visitation to tax sites continued to increase in February, growing 22 percent overall versus January.  Leading the category was IRS.gov with 17.3 million visitors (up 30 percent), TaxACT with 6.4 million visitors (up 56 percent) and H&R Block: Taxes with 4 million visitors (up 1 percent).  In addition, traffic to Intuit.com, developer of finance software packages such as TurboTax, Quicken and QuickBooks, increased 16 percent to 12.3 million visitors.

Travel sites also proved popular in February as consumers planned their spring vacations.  Traffic to the Ground/Cruise travel category increased 11 percent to 11.3 million visitors overall, driven in part by the 43-percent increase to Carnival Cruise Lines (2.4 million visitors), the 74-percent increase to Princess.com (1.1 million visitors), the 123-percent increase to HollandAmerica (737,000 visitors), and the 230-percent increase to BestPriceCruises.com (388,000 visitors).

Top 50 Properties

In February, Yahoo! Sites remained at the number one position, attracting more than 128 million unique visitors, while Google Sites moved up one spot to number three with nearly 115 million unique visitors. Gorilla Nation enjoyed a nine spot jump to number 15, increasing 23 percent from January.  With the onset of tax season, IRS.gov entered the Top 50 Properties ranking in February at number 32, drawing more than 17 million unique visitors.

Top 50 Ad Focus

February saw Advertising.com retain the number one position, again reaching 85 percent of the U.S. online population.  Within the top ten, Casale Media Network gained another spot in the ranking, moving up to number 4, and reaching more than 113 million Americans online.  Precision Click, Undertone Networks, and CNN each gained three spots, claiming positions 16, 34, and 37, respectively.  Finally, Specific Media enjoyed a strong debut in the Ad-Focus ranking at number 12, reaching nearly 91 million Americans online.

 

TABLE 3

Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* February 2007 vs.  January 2007 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
Property	Jan-07  (000)	Feb-07 (000)	Percentage Change	Rank by  Unique Visitors
Total Internet Population	175,559	175,653	0%	N/A
FTD.COM	1,163	3,681	217%	239
1-800-Flowers	1,679	3,460	106%	249
NASCAR.COM	2,418	4,679	93%	194
Alloy	2,920	5,169	77%	170
123GREETINGS.COM	3,500	6,189	77%	146
TaxACT	4,057	6,348	56%	141
Hallmark	5,601	8,608	54%	99
WEBKINZ.COM	2,858	4,380	53%	203
PureVideo Network	3,252	4,725	45%	193
BUY.COM	2,730	3,965	45%	222

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in February 2007.

 

TABLE 4

Top 10 Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors February 2007 vs. January 2007 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Jan-07 (000)	Feb-07 (000)	Percentage Change
Total Internet : Total Audience	175,559	175,653	0%
Flowers/Gifts/Greetings	29,353	37,431	28%
Taxes	22,420	27,257	22%
Ground/Cruise	10,203	11,336	11%
Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories	15,908	17,494	10%
Discussion/Chat	46,758	51,314	10%
Computer Software	30,216	32,506	8%
Entertainment - News	35,484	38,081	7%
Automotive-Manufacturer	23,165	24,610	6%
Genealogy	8,077	8,529	6%
Weather	61,465	64,765	5%

 

TABLE 5

Top 50 Properties February 2007  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	175,653
1	Yahoo! Sites	128,559		26	Bank of America	21,695
2	Time Warner Network	117,942		27	Verizon Communications Corporation	21,265
3	Google Sites	114,694		28	CareerBuilder LLC	20,834
4	Microsoft Sites	114,155		29	Travelport	19,160
5	eBay	79,559		30	Gannett Sites	18,619
6	Fox Interactive Media	77,969		31	Real.com Network	18,032
7	Amazon Sites	48,905		32	IRS.GOV	17,319
8	Ask Network	48,722		33	Comcast Corporation	16,986
9	Wikipedia Sites	43,656		34	Photobucket.com LLC	16,751
10	New York Times Digital	39,769		35	Shopzilla.com Sites	16,744
11	Viacom Digital	39,128		36	FACEBOOK.COM	16,737
12	Weather Channel, The	37,374		37	WebMD Health	16,466
13	Apple Computer, Inc.	36,767		38	E.W. Scripps	16,346
14	CNET Networks	29,881		39	Yellowpages.com Network	16,274
15	Gorilla Nation	29,098		40	CRAIGSLIST.ORG	15,991
16	AT&T, Inc.	27,391		41	Cox Enterprises Inc.	15,709
17	Adobe Sites	26,035		42	Ticketmaster	15,666
18	Wal-Mart	25,125		43	WhitePages	15,314
19	Expedia Inc	25,060		44	Idearc Media	15,236
20	United Online, Inc	24,773		45	ESPN	15,207
21	CBS Corporation	23,045		46	NBC Universal	15,189
22	Target Corporation	23,038		47	iVillage.com: The Womens Network	15,149
23	Monster Worldwide	22,794		48	Weatherbug Property	15,025
24	Lycos, Inc.	22,341		49	JPMorgan Chase Property	14,901
25	Disney Online	21,959		50	Best Buy Sites	14,085

 

 

TABLE 6

Ad Focus Ranking February 2007 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	175,653	100%
1	Advertising.com**	149,094	85%		26	ContextWeb**	44,903	26%
2	ValueClick**	128,754	73%		27	AdDynamix.com**	44,685	25%
3	Yahoo!	126,484	72%		28	EBAY.COM Home Page	44,583	25%
4	Casale Media Network**	113,193	64%		29	CPX Interactive**	43,443	25%
5	Tribal Fusion**	111,285	63%		30	Vibrant Media**	41,413	24%
6	AOL Media Network	108,939	62%		31	YOUTUBE.COM	34,413	20%
7	Google	107,977	61%		32	ABOUT.COM	34,273	20%
8	Vendare NetBlue - TrafficMarketplace**	103,909	59%		33	Interclick**	32,355	18%
9	MSN-Windows Live	96,658	55%		34	Undertone Networks**	28,224	16%
10	Blue Lithium**	92,011	52%		35	WEATHER.COM	27,829	16%
11	DRIVEpm**	91,925	52%		36	Business.com Network	24,665	14%
12	Specific Media**	90,851	52%		37	CNN	22,915	13%
13	24/7 Real Media**	89,750	51%		38	Lycos Network	22,192	13%
14	AOL	88,867	51%		39	Disney Online	21,959	13%
15	YAHOO.COM Home Page	85,892	49%		40	CareerBuilder Network	21,577	12%
16	PrecisionClick**	75,983	43%		41	The WebMD Health Network	19,012	11%
17	Tremor Media	74,944	43%		42	IMDB.COM	18,980	11%
18	EuroClick**	73,620	42%		43	EXPEDIA.COM*	17,745	10%
19	EBAY.COM	71,027	40%		44	Local Media Network	16,866	10%
20	Burst Media**	70,262	40%		45	FACEBOOK.COM	16,737	10%
21	AdBrite**	65,646	37%		46	WEATHER.COM Home Page	16,728	10%
22	MYSPACE.COM	64,443	37%		47	PHOTOBUCKET.COM	15,883	9%
23	Gorilla Nation Media	61,091	35%		48	WhitePages Network	15,289	9%
24	MSN.COM Home Page	51,222	29%		49	SuperPages.com Network	15,225	9%
25	Ask Network	48,722	28%		50	ESPN	15,207	9%

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in February.  For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 72 percent of the more than 175 million Internet users in February. 

* 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 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 used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers – while drawing upon comScore's advanced technologies to address important new industry requirements.  comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

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