RESTON, VA, January 17, 2006 – comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at top online properties and categories.  As anticipated, holiday-related sites garnered strong traffic in December, with the strongest gains realized by shipping sites, jewelry/ luxury goods providers and retail – music outlets.  December also saw a rise in visitation to multi-media content. 

“Consumers once again turned to the Internet in December to aid them in all aspects of their holiday celebrations,” said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix. “From purchasing and shipping gifts, to sending holiday greetings and finding recipes for holiday meals, Americans utilized the Web to aid in their holiday planning and preparations.”

AROUND THE WEB

Shipping – Traffic to shipping sites grew 31 percent over a year ago showing the largest growth of any category in December.  UPS Sites led the category with 18.6 million visitors (up 42 percent), followed by USPS.com with 15.2 million visitors (up 45 percent), and FedEx.com with 11.4 million visitors (up 35 percent). Stamps.com, a site that allows consumers to print their own stamps from a home printer, also generated a 35 percent increase in December, thanks in part to a feature that allows customers to personalize stamps by uploading their favorite photos.

Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories – After a strong November, the Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories category demonstrated continued momentum, showing a 22 percent gain in unique visitors during December.  RedEnvelope.com also achieved significant growth in December, drawing 2.4 million unique visitors, up 62 percent versus the prior month.  Consumers’ increased comfort in purchasing high-ticket items online this year also drove significant growth for online high-end retailers including Tiffany & Co. (2 million visitors, up 47 percent), Kay Jewelers (1 million visitors, up 63 percent), and BurberryUSAOnline.com (313,000 visitors, up 128 percent).

Retail Music – Online music retail concluded a strong 2005 with a 22 percent increase in December, compared to the previous month.  Barnes & Noble led the category with 9.5 million visitors, up 33 percent from November. Ranking a close second in the category, iTunes drew 9.3 million visitors (also up 33 percent), as iTunes gift certificates proved to be a popular gift this holiday season.  Some retailers even found success piggybacking on the iPod/iTunes phenomenon.  Soundsgood.com, an audiobook retailer, almost certainly benefited from the combined popularity of portable digital media players and the tradition of holiday book-gifting, as it drew 1 million visitors in December (up 144 percent).

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Spreading goodwill over the Internet during the holidays had a decidedly viral effect, as evidenced by the tremendous December growth in several sites devoted to multimedia content.  Sites normally garnering very modest traffic saw visitation explode virtually overnight as friends and family members alike forwarded greetings, spoofs and humorous short videos.

·          Powerpres.com – Animated holiday greetings on Powerpres.com, featuring colorful characters like a car-driving elephant and a drum-playing penguin, drove 6.4 million visitors to the site. The viral nature of these greetings fueled an astounding increase over the 31,000 unique visitors that frequented the site in November.

·          ToonedIn.com – Multimedia site ToonedIn.com attracted 6.6 million visitors in December, driven by humorous “shorts” and trailers including seasonal offerings.

·          JacquieLawson.com – Jacquie Lawson’s animated e-cards were a holiday hit once again as her site drew 6.4 million visitors in December (up 202 percent).  A seasonal favorite for years,Jacquie debuted several new e-cards this December, including ones entitled “The 12 Days of Christmas,” “The Christmas Fishbowl,” and “White Winter.”

·          MLB.com – Rumors of trades involving big-name players during Major League Baseball’s annual “Winter Meetings,” where front office executive meet to discuss trades and other personnel decisions, drew 6.8 million visitors to MLB.com, marking a 51 percent increase over the previous month.

Table 1

Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* December 2005 vs. November 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
Property	Nov-05 (000)	Dec-05 (000)	Percentage Change	Rank by  Unique Visitors
Total Internet Population	169,747	170,285	0	N/A
Powerpres.com	31	6,404	20,409	135
Blastcomm.com	20	3,710	18,243	225
Toonedin.com	169	6,601	3,817	131
Jacquielawson.com	2,115	6,388	202	136
Registrydefender.com	1,167	3,324	185	244
Nestle	3,380	6,638	96	130
Forbes Property	5,391	10,552	96	74
Adobe Sites	12,171	22,600	86	26
Roxio, Inc	2,824	4,388	55	189
MLB.com	4,511	6,822	51	127

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in December 2005.

 

TABLE 2

Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors December 2005 vs. November 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Nov-05 (000)	Dec-05 (000)	Percentage Change
Total Internet Population	169,747	170,285	0
Shipping	27,246	35,617	31
Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories	16,426	20,076	22
Retail - Music	28,584	34,751	22
Multimedia	63,734	77,118	21
Taxes	6,152	7,385	20
Gay/Lesbian	1,526	1,778	17
Sports/Outdoor	24,474	28,072	15
Mall	35,551	40,751	15
Consumer Electronics	54,967	62,049	13
Books	58,197	65,672	13

TABLE 3

Top 50 Properties
December 2005
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		170,285
1	Yahoo! Sites		127,132		26	Adobe Sites	22,600
2	MSN-Microsoft Sites		116,665		27	Expedia Inc	22,316
3	Time Warner Network		116,381		28	Gorilla Nation Media	22,232
4	Google Sites		93,124		29	Sears Sites	21,386
5	eBay		74,814		30	Real.com Network	21,233
6	Amazon Sites		57,604		31	Bank of America	20,546
7	Ask Jeeves		42,440		32	Gannett Sites	18,871
8	Wal-Mart		38,069		33	UPS Sites	18,687
9	Viacom Online		36,728		34	Circuit City Stores, Inc.	17,648
10	New York Times Digital		34,335		35	JCPenney Sites	17,610
11	Myspace.com		32,209		36	Trip Network Inc.	17,563
12	Verizon Communications Corp.		32,063		37	Wikipedia Sites	17,296
13	CNET Networks		31,407		38	Comcast Corporation	16,908
14	Target Corporation		31,178		39	E.W. Scripps	16,686
15	Weather Channel, The		30,512		40	Weatherbug Property	16,490
16	Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG)		29,939		41	Dell	16,403
17	Apple Computer, Inc.		27,906		42	Citysearch	15,924
18	United Online, Inc		27,906		43	ESPN	15,871
19	AT&T, Inc.		26,109		44	USPS.com	15,222
20	Vendare Media		24,706		45	WhitePages	15,002
21	Lycos, Inc.		24,672		46	Infospace Network	14,671
22	Monster Worldwide		24,443		47	NFL Internet Group	14,526
23	Best Buy Sites		23,976		48	Earthlink	14,482
24	Shopzilla.com Sites		23,172		49	Hewlett Packard	13,784
25	Overstock.com		22,917		50	AmericanGreetings Property	13,620

 

TABLE 4

Ad Focus Ranking
December 2005
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	170,285	100%
1	Advertising.com**	134,139	79%		26	Weather.com	28,164	17%
2	Yahoo!	124,597	73%		27	Vendare Media	24,706	15%
3	AOL Media Network	108,946	64%		28	Lycos Network	24,571	14%
4	Fastclick**	106,741	63%		29	MSNBC	24,391	14%
5	MSN	101,622	60%		30	Expedia Inc	22,316	13%
6	AOL	86,775	51%		31	CNN	19,472	11%
7	Google	86,461	51%		32	Disney Online	18,318	11%
8	Tribal Fusion**	81,383	48%		33	Bizrate.com	16,413	10%
9	Casale Media Network**	81,114	48%		34	WeatherBug	16,114	9%
10	Vendare Media - TrafficMarketplace**	80,125	47%		35	ESPN	15,871	9%
11	Yahoo.com Home Page	78,500	46%		36	CNET	15,836	9%
12	Blue Lithium**	72,605	43%		37	Classmates.com	15,816	9%
13	ValueClick Media**	65,296	38%		38	Citysearch.com	15,815	9%
14	Ebay.com	64,869	38%		39	IMDB.com	15,742	9%
15	24/7 Real Media**	64,716	38%		40	Mamma Media Solutions**	15,106	9%
16	BURST! Media**	62,539	37%		41	WhitePages Network	14,962	9%
17	Gorilla Nation Media Network	62,065	36%		42	Real.com	14,840	9%
18	MSN.com Home Page	53,857	32%		43	SuperPages Network	14,806	9%
19	Ask Jeeves	42,440	25%		44	Coolsavings.com Total Activity	14,314	8%
20	Ebay.com Home Page	40,530	24%		45	FOX Sports on MSN	14,234	8%
21	AdDynamix.com**	40,352	24%		46	MaxOnline**	14,198	8%
22	Vibrant Media**	34,764	20%		47	Cheaptickets.com	14,155	8%
23	Myspace.com	32,209	19%		48	Whitepages.com	13,988	8%
24	Business.com Network	30,488	18%		49	CareerBuilder Network	13,436	8%
25	About.com	29,942	18%		50	iVillage.com: The Womens Network	13,082	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 December.  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

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