LONDON, Aug 28, 2007 (PR Newswire Europe via COMTEX News Network) --

Summer Holiday Season Boosts Traffic to Cinema and Holiday Sites

comScore (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its report on the top U.K. Internet properties and top gaining properties for July, based on data collected through the comScore World Metrix audience ratings service.

The study showed that despite the onset of the summer holiday season -- a time which has traditionally seen day-to-day media consumption decrease as people leave their homes and offices in search of the summer sun -- the total U.K. online population reached its highest ever figure in July, with 31.8 million unique visitors.

Google was the U.K.'s most visited property, attracting 28.2 million unique visitors -- an 89 percent reach of the total online population. It was followed by Microsoft Sites, which attracted 26.9 million unique visitors -- a reach of 85 percent.

Online retail properties eBay and Amazon also ranked amongst the U.K.'s largest sites, with 22.1 million and 12.5 million unique visitors respectively.

Top 10 U.K. Online Properties
    Ranked by U.K. Unique Visitors
    July 2007 vs. June 2007
    Total U.K., Age 15+ -- Home and Work Locations(i)
    Source: comScore World Metrix
                                        Total Unique Visitors (000)
                                  June            July
             Property             2007            2007       % Change
    Total UK Internet Audience   31,669          31,791          0 %
    Google Sites                 27,718          28,151          2 %
    Microsoft Sites              26,760          26,947          1 %
    eBay                         22,052          22,079          0 %
    Yahoo! Sites                 20,706          20,760          0 %
    BBC Sites                    18,865          18,921          0 %
    Ask Network                  14,135          14,598          3 %
    Time Warner Network          13,857          14,934          8 %
    Fox Interactive Media        13,200          13,215          0 %
    Amazon Sites                 12,542          12,472         -1 %
    Wikipedia Sites              12,213          11,699         -4 %

    (i) Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or
        access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Coinciding with the school summer holidays, cinema site Odeon.co.uk was the top gaining property in July. The site grew from 1.8 to 2.6 million unique visitors -- a 49 percent increase.

This was followed by the fastest growing of three holiday booking properties, lastminute.com, which experienced a 30 percent increase to reach 5.2 million unique visitors. Cheapflights Sites grew by 22 percent to 2.8 million unique visitors, while First Choice Holidays PLC grew 19 percent to 3.6 million.

Bob Ivins, EVP of International Markets at comScore, observed, "The success of travel and holiday sites mirrors the seasonal trends in the offline world, with July being a popular month for holiday, retail and entertainment sites. However, with the weather in the UK being so poor this summer it's clear that -- for domestic recreation activities at least -- people have been surfing the Internet for indoor entertainment, hence the growth in traffic to cinema site Odeon.co.uk."

A number of online retail sites also experienced growth in July. Helped in large part by the launch of the outlet's new catalogue, traffic to the NEXT Group property grew by 18 percent to 3.9 million unique visitors. Play.com and Dixons Stores Group experienced similar growth, reaching 4.8 million and 4.7 million unique visitors respectively.

Social networking site Facebook.com proved to be the U.K.'s third fastest growing site in July, increasing traffic by 26 percent to reach 7.6 million unique visitors. The site has grown by 366 percent since the beginning of the year to become the U.K.'s third largest social networking site, behind Bebo and MySpace.

Top 10 fastest gaining U.K. Online Properties
    Ranked by U.K. Unique Visitors
    July 2007 vs. June 2007
    Total U.K., Age 15+ -- Home and Work Locations(i)
    Source: comScore World Metrix
                                         Total Unique Visitors (000)
                                    June          July
              Property              2007          2007       % Change
    Total UK Internet Audience     31,669        31,791          0 %
    ODEON.CO.UK                     1,752         2,618         49 %
    Lastminute.com Sites            3,978         5,172         30 %
    FACEBOOK.COM                    6,012         7,604         26 %
    Cheapflights Sites              2,293         2,801         22 %
    Disney Online                   2,624         3,190         22 %
    First Choice Holidays PLC       3,016         3,592         19 %
    Play.com Sites                  4,006         4,753         19 %
    NEXT Group                      3,273         3,851         18 %
    Dixons Stores Group             4,040         4,712         17 %
    WordPress                       2,342         2,716         16 %

    (i) Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or
        access from mobile phones or PDAs.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore 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 analysts 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 more than 700 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestle, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com

Web site: http://www.comscore.com

Jamie Gavin of comScore, +44-0-207-099-1775, worldpress@comscore.com

Copyright (C) 2007 PR Newswire Europe

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