comScore Media Metrix Releases December Top 50 Web Rankings and Analysis;

Increases Seen at Tax, Luxury Goods, Postage and E-Card Sites

RESTON, VA, January 16, 2007 – comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties and categories for December 2006.  The month was dominated by pre-holiday shopping as nine of the top 10 gaining categories during the month were retail-oriented, led by luxury goods, postage, and e-cards. Overall non-travel (retail) e-commerce spending increased 26 percent this holiday season versus 2005 to a record-setting $24.6 billion.  Amid the holiday frenzy, Americans also began to focus on tax planning, as evidenced by a 17-percent increase in visitation to the Tax category versus November,  The Tax category rose to 7.5 million visitors, led by IRS.gov with 4.4 million visitors (up 25 percent).

“Consumers gave e-tailers reason to celebrate during December, with huge increases in e-commerce spending and visitation,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.  “Experiencing 26 percent growth, e-commerce was certainly retail’s bright spot this holiday season.”   

Shopping, Shopping and More Shopping

Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories was the top gaining category in December (see Table 2), growing 21-percent for the second consecutive month to 21.9 million visitors.  Redenvolope.com led the category with 2.9 million visitors (up 19 percent), followed by Coach.com with 2.9 million visitors (up 25 percent), and Zales.com with 2 million visitors (up 45 percent).  The biggest gainer in the category was Fossil.com, which rose 56-percent to 663,000 visitors.

Other top gaining retail categories included:

·          Shipping, up 19 percent overall to 34.6 million visitors.  UPS Sites led the category with 17.4 million visitors (up 26 percent), followed by USPS.com with 15.9 million visitors (up 21 percent), and Fedex.com with 11.3 million visitors (up 15 percent).
 

·          E-cards, up 15 percent overall to 45.1 million visitors.  AmericanGreetings Property led the E-card category with 12 million visitors, followed by Hallmark.com with 8.1 million visitors (up 24 percent) and Evite.com with 7.3 million visitors (up 4 percent).  123Greetings.com was the Web’s second fastest gaining site overall, rising 82-percent to 7.1 million visitors (see Table 1).

·          Sports/Outdoor, up 15 percent overall to 32.6 million visitors.  Foot Locker Sites led the category with 4.7 million visitors (up 30 percent), followed by eBay Sports U.S. with 4.3 million visitors (up 7 percent), and Cabelas Inc. with 3.8 million visitors (up 4 percent).  CBSSportsStore.com experienced the highest gains within the Sports/Outdoor category, increasing 71-percent to 576,000 visitors.

·          Retail-Food, up 11 percent overall to 17.2 million visitors.  Omahasteaks.com led the category in visitation and growth rate, with 2.1 million visitors (up 157 percent), followed by Papajohnsonline.com with 1.4 million visitors (up 33 percent), and Cooking.com with 1.2 million visitors.

·          Retail-Movies, up 11 percent overall with 28.2 million visitors.  Netflix.com led the category with 10.1 million visitors (up 2 percent), followed by Blockbuster Inc. with 6.4 million visitors (up 21 percent), and Columbia House Sites with 4.1 million visitors (up 7 percent).  Flixster.com was the top gaining site in the Retail-Movies category, jumping 124-percent to 1 million visitors.

·          Retail-Music, up 10 percent overall to 29 million visitors.  Barnes & Noble led the category with 8.8 million visitors (up 34 percent), followed by BMG Music Service with 4.4 million visitors (up 1 percent), and CDUniverse.com with 3.1 million visitors (up 7 percent).  Trans World Entertainment was the top gaining site in the category, up 71 percent to 1.1 million visitors.

·          Computer Hardware, up 9 percent overall to 66 million visitors.  Apple Computer, Inc. led the category with 39.4 million visitors (up 17 percent), followed by Hewlett Packard with 14 million visitors (up 7 percent), and Dell with 13 million visitors.  4Inkjets.com was the top gaining site in the Computer Hardware category, surging 247 percent to 1.2 million visitors.

·          Apparel, up 8 percent overall to 61.9 million visitors.  Limitedbrands led the category with 11.9 million visitors (up 26 percent), followed by OldNavy.com with 6.9 million visitors (up 13 percent), and Nordstrom.com with 5.9 million visitors (up 17 percent).  Finishline.com was the fastest growing site in the category, rising 33 percent to 2.1 million visitors.

Top 50 Properties

In December, Yahoo! Sites retained its number one ranking with more than 131 million unique visitors, while Amazon Sites and Viacom Digital each moved up one spot to rank seventh and tenth, respectively.  The holiday season saw Best Buy Sites jump nine spots, attracting more than 24 million unique visitors, and both UPS Sites and Toysrus Sites entered the Top 50, ranking 36^th and 49^th, respectively.  Also entering the ranking this month were Yellowpages.com Network, drawing just over 16 million visitors, and JPMorgan Chase Property with just over 15 million visitors.

Top 50 Ad Focus

December saw Advertising.com retain its number one position in the Ad-Focus Ranking, reaching more than 149 million Americans online. AOL Media Network inched up a spot to rank fifth, connecting with 64 percent of the U.S. online population, while Blue Lithium moved up three positions to rank seventh.  DRIVEpm and Facebook.com both enjoyed large increases, each gaining six spots in the ranking 15^th and 38^th, respectively.  Finally, WhitePages Network, Photobucket.com, and ARTISTdirect Network all re-entered the Top 50 Ad Focus in December, ranking 43^rd, 45^th, and 49^th, respectively.

TABLE 1

Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* December 2006 vs. November 2006 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
Property	Nov-06 (000)	Dec-06 (000)	Percentage Change	Rank by  Unique Visitors
Total Internet Population	173,686	174,199	0%	N/A
RDA Digital Network	1,978	9,441	377%	94
123GREETINGS.COM	3,889	7,090	82%	137
Borders Group, Inc.	2,127	3,745	76%	248
OfficeMax	3,090	5,130	66%	184
Yellowpages.com Network	10,742	16,168	51%	45
Coca-Cola Company	2,630	3,937	50%	237
The Away Network	2,702	3,839	42%	244
LOCAL.COM	6,093	8,585	41%	110
Primedia Inc.	6,613	8,913	35%	104
Barnes & Noble	6,584	8,834	34%	106

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

 

TABLE 2

Top 10 Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors December 2006 vs. November 2006 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Nov-06 (000)	Dec-06 (000)	Percentage Change
Total Internet : Total Audience	173,686	174,199	0%
Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories	18,134	21,903	21%
Shipping	29,125	34,640	19%
Taxes	6,403	7,505	17%
e-cards	39,317	45,132	15%
Sports/Outdoor	28,455	32,623	15%
Retail - Food	15,470	17,174	11%
Retail - Movies	25,421	28,173	11%
Retail - Music	26,316	28,975	10%
Computer Hardware	60,380	65,938	9%
Apparel	57,132	61,855	8%

 

 

TABLE 3

Top 50 Properties December 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	174,199
1	Yahoo! Sites	131,443		26	Shopzilla.com Sites	22,902
2	Time Warner Network	120,980		27	Bank of America	22,674
3	Microsoft Sites	116,506		28	Lycos, Inc.	22,598
4	Google Sites	112,845		29	Sears Sites	22,229
5	eBay	84,266		30	Real.com Network	20,663
6	Fox Interactive Media	73,273		31	Expedia Inc	19,429
7	Amazon Sites	56,766		32	FACEBOOK.COM	19,105
8	Ask Network	55,572		33	OVERSTOCK.COM	18,874
9	Wal-Mart	44,120		34	Comcast Corporation	18,716
10	Viacom Digital	40,042		35	Gannett Sites	18,167
11	Apple Computer, Inc.	39,416		36	UPS Sites	17,386
12	New York Times Digital	39,242		37	ESPN	17,095
13	Wikipedia Sites	38,585		38	Circuit City Stores, Inc.	16,960
14	Verizon Communications Corp.	34,481		39	JCPenney Sites	16,933
15	Target Corporation	34,325		40	Photobucket.com LLC	16,735
16	Weather Channel, The	32,606		41	WhitePages	16,688
17	CNET Networks	31,969		42	E.W. Scripps	16,235
18	Adobe Sites	25,851		43	Yellowpages.com Network	16,168
19	Gorilla Nation Media	25,449		44	NFL Internet Group	16,051
20	Disney Online	25,049		45	Weatherbug Property	16,006
21	Best Buy Sites	24,674		46	USPS.COM	15,922
22	AT&T, Inc.	23,833		47	ARTISTdirect Network	15,484
23	United Online, Inc	23,290		48	EA Online	15,300
24	CBS Corporation	23,164		49	Toysrus Sites	15,237
25	Monster Worldwide	23,078		50	JPMorgan Chase Property	15,051

 

 

TABLE 4

 

Ad Focus Ranking December 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	174,199	100%
1	Advertising.com**	149,103	86%		26	MSN.COM Home Page	51,152	29%
2	ValueClick**	132,159	76%		27	EBAY.COM Home Page	47,478	27%
3	Yahoo!	129,876	75%		28	ContextWeb**	47,462	27%
4	Tribal Fusion**	122,191	70%		29	Vibrant Media**	41,928	24%
5	AOL Media Network	111,614	64%		30	ABOUT.COM	34,517	20%
6	Casale Media Network**	111,510	64%		31	Undertone Networks**	32,276	19%
7	Blue Lithium**	108,458	62%		32	YOUTUBE.COM	29,597	17%
8	Vendare NetBlue - TrafficMarketplace**	108,457	62%		33	Business.com Network	26,852	15%
9	Google	106,382	61%		34	Disney Online	25,049	14%
10	MSN-Windows Live	97,681	56%		35	Lycos Network	22,432	13%
11	Burst Media**	94,534	54%		36	WEATHER.COM	21,947	13%
12	24/7 Real Media**	93,358	54%		37	CNN	19,481	11%
13	AOL	92,021	53%		38	FACEBOOK.COM	19,105	11%
14	YAHOO.COM Home Page	88,756	51%		39	GameDaily Custom Network	18,708	11%
15	DRIVEpm**	83,495	48%		40	IMDB.COM	18,238	10%
16	EBAY.COM	76,035	44%		41	The WebMD Health Network	17,183	10%
17	Tremor Media	69,266	40%		42	ESPN	17,095	10%
18	AdBrite**	68,644	39%		43	WhitePages Network	16,628	10%
19	PrecisionClick**	66,704	38%		44	REAL.COM*	16,249	9%
20	Gorilla Nation Media Network	63,260	36%		45	PHOTOBUCKET.COM	15,988	9%
21	MYSPACE.COM	60,887	35%		46	BIZRATE.COM	15,940	9%
22	EuroClick**	60,565	35%		47	SuperPages	15,861	9%
23	Ask Network	55,572	32%		48	WeatherBug	15,491	9%
24	AdDynamix.com**	53,135	31%		49	ARTISTdirect Network	15,484	9%
25	CPX Interactive**	51,497	30%		50	EA Online Syndicated Games	15,343	9%

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 75 percent of the more than 174 million Internet users in December. 

* 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 – 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 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 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 Expedia.  For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

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