London, U.K., December 29, 2006 - comScore Networks, a leader in measuring the digital age, today revealed the top U.K. Internet properties for November, based on data collected through its comScore World Metrix audience ratings service.  Microsoft Sites ranked as the most-visited Web property in the U.K. in November, followed closely by Google Sites. 

 

Top 20 Online Properties by U.K. Unique Visitors, Age 15+ November 2006  Total U.K. - Home and Work Locations* Source: comScore World Metrix
	Oct.-06 (000)	Nov.-06 (000)	Percentage Change
Total U.K. Internet Audience, Age 15+	29,553	29,498	0%
Microsoft Sites	24,798	24,976	1%
Google Sites	24,816	24,911	0%
eBay	19,905	20,686	4%
Yahoo! Sites	19,474	19,862	2%
BBC Sites	16,339	16,386	0%
Amazon Sites	12,386	13,648	10%
Time Warner Network	12,990	12,977	0%
Ask Network	11,771	11,790	0%
Fox Interactive Media	9,245	10,005	8%
Wikipedia Sites	8,630	9,297	8%
GUS	6,993	8,652	24%
Apple Computer, Inc.	7,528	7,984	6%
YOUTUBE.COM	7,252	7,942	10%
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB)	7,604	7,759	2%
Tesco Stores	6,674	7,459	12%
DMGT	7,958	7,420	-7%
CNET Networks	6,879	7,298	6%
France Telecom	6,906	7,149	4%
MULTIMAP.COM	6,964	6,712	-4%
NTL	6,663	6,376	-4%

* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

 

"Clearly, Google and Microsoft are locked in a battle to be the most visited site in the U.K.  As expected, due to the holiday shopping season, the sites posting the strongest gains versus last month were predominantly online retailers, with GUS (Argus) leading the pack, up 24 percent from October to November," said Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe.

 

Holiday Season Draws Online Shoppers to Retail Sites

Once again, retail sites dominated the list of top 20 gaining sites in the U.K., representing three-quarters of the list in November.  In fact, 12 of the top 13 gainers were shopping sites, led by Boots Plc with 2.7 million visitors (a 65-percent increase) and ToysRus Sites with 2.6 million visitors (a 63-percent increase).  Reappearing on the top list of gainers for the second consecutive month were:

 

·          HMV with 3.3 million visitors (a 37-percent increase)

·          Woolworths Group plc with 3.5 million visitors (a 36-percent increase)

·          Play.com Sites with 4.6 million visitors (a 27-percent increase)

·          Marks&Spencer with 3.1 million visitors (a 27-percent increase)

·          Wal-Mart with 2.9 million visitors (a 26-percent increase)

·          Littlewoods Shop Direct Group with 4.6 million visitors (a 17 percent increase)

 

The top gaining property in November was Deutsche Telekom (driven by its T-Mobile ISP service), with 3.9 million visitors (an 89-percent increase).

 

Top 20 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in U.K. Unique Visitors* November 2006 vs. October 2006 Total U.K. Visitors, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations** Source: comScore World Metrix
	Oct.-06 (000)	Nov.-06 (000)	Percentage Change
Total U.K. Internet Audience, Age 15+	29,553	29,498	0%
Deutsche Telekom	2,106	3,943	87%
Boots Plc	1,649	2,725	65%
Toysrus Sites	1,604	2,611	63%
HMV	2,380	3,262	37%
Woolworths Group plc	2,602	3,542	36%
John Lewis Partnership	2,151	2,893	35%
Dixons Stores Group	4,177	5,393	29%
Play.com Sites	3,639	4,627	27%
Marks&Spencer	2,445	3,106	27%
Wal-Mart	2,277	2,870	26%
GUS	6,993	8,652	24%
Arcadia Group Limited	1,867	2,300	23%
Ticketmaster	2,704	3,261	21%
NATIONALLOTTERY.CO.UK	4,361	5,222	20%
Littlewoods Shop Direct Group	3,888	4,555	17%
Netsolut	1,804	2,097	16%
Sony Online	2,840	3,279	15%
Kingfisher	3,815	4,315	13%
ITV Sites	3,818	4,285	12%
NEXT Group	3,150	3,528	12%

*Ranking based on the top 100 U.K. properties in November 2006.

** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

 

About comScore World Metrix

comScore World Metrix is the first service to continuously measure and report online behaviour on a world-wide basis, providing visitation metrics and demographic characteristics for Web site audiences around the world.  With active representation of countries that comprise the vast majority of the global Internet population, World Metrix provides its clients with worldwide Internet population estimates and harmonized online performance metrics based on a consistent methodology across all countries.  More than 100 clients subscribe to comScore's World Metrix service, including 8 of the top 10 interactive advertising agencies.

 

About comScore Networks
comScore Networks is a global leader in measuring the digital age. 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 behaviour, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panellists 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 behaviour 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 Expedia.  For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.   

 

Contact:
Michael Rubin
Analyst
comScore Networks
(312) 775-6538
press@comscore.com