RESTON, VA, September 19, 2005 - Americans seeking online news and information about Hurricane Katrina went straight to the source, dramatically increasing visitation to New Orleans' local media outlets in August, according to the monthly analysis of online activity released today by comScore Media Metrix.

 

NOLA.com, the Web home of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper owned by Advance Publications, saw its traffic increase by 277 percent from July to 1.7 million visitors in August.  Meanwhile, New Orleans' CBS affiliate WWL-TV, owned by Belo Corporation, saw visitation to its site, WWLTV.com, increase by 258 percent to 878,000 for the month. 

 

"Sites with specific local content rarely see this kind of growth, but the Internet allowed the entire nation to access information straight from the epicenter of the disaster," said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix.  "This pattern underscores the continuing concern and support that all Americans have expressed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina." 

 

During August 2005, more than 39 percent of NOLA.com's 1.7 million visitors came from the South Central regions, which contain eight states including Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.  This means that well over half of the remaining traffic to NOLA.com originated in other parts of the country safely located outside the storm's path.  The Pacific region accounted for 10 percent of NOLA.com visitors, while the upper Midwest states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin collectively contributed 11 percent of the site's audience. 

 

Around The Web

 

Back To School, Back To The Web - Three of the top ten gaining categories in August were related to career and education information as students returned to school during the month. Career Services & Development - Education & Training was the highest gaining category in August, up 17 percent from July to 8.8 million visitors.  Overall, more than 84 million people visited sites in the Education category in August, up 9 percent from July.  Standout sites within these categories include CollegeBoard.com (2 million visitors, 23 percent gain), FastWeb (1.9 million visitors, 19 percent gain), and GreatSchools.net (3.2 million visitors, 67 percent gain).

 

Football Season Tackles Web Audience - The kickoff of both college and professional football seasons in August was reflected in Web traffic, helping the Sports category climb 6 percent to reach 60.9 million visitors.  As fans prepared for the season by viewing fantasy football information and team schedules, the NFL Internet Group posted a 74-percent gain in visitation to reach 12.6 million visitors online, making it the Internet's top-gaining property in August.  College gridiron enthusiasts sought news on their favorite teams as well as merchandise at sites including College Sports TV, which saw traffic increase by more than 40 percent over July with 5.3 million August visitors.   

 

Wireless Wonders  - The recently combined Sprint Nextel Corporation made a splash in its monthly debut as a combined property by welcoming 13.8 million visitors in August, following the completion of a merger that brought together two of the nation's telecommunications giants.  One of its top competitors, Cingular Wireless, made its own waves by offering free phones to new service plan subscribers.  Thanks in major part to this promotion, Cingular's parent company AT&T Properties received 25.3 million visitors, a 27-percent gain over July. 

 

Movers and Shakers

 

McAfee.com Sites - The provider of anti-virus software was a popular online destination as the Zotob and Mytob worms rattled the Internet community.  McAfee saw its visitation increase by 40 percent in August to 4.9 million visitors. 

 

ImageShack.us - This service that provides images for blogs, message boards, and photo sharing was visited by 5.1 million Americans in August, up 36 percent from July.  ImageShack is popular among the growing crowd of MySpace users.  In August, 1.8 million visitors came to ImageShack from MySpace.

 

United Airlines - The world's second-largest air carrier saw a 17-percent ascent in August to reach 6.6 million visitors.  Consumers were drawn to United's "Fall Sale" featuring reduced airfares to many destinations, including Cancun, Mexico. 

 

Staples.com Sites - A new-look website and the back-to-school shopping crush helped this office retailer crack the top ten gaining properties.  Staples.com Sites were visited by 6 million consumers in August, a 17-percent increase over July.  

 

TABLE 1

 

Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* August 2005 vs. July 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
Property	July-05 (000)	Aug-05 (000)	Percentage Change	Rank by  Unique Visitors
Total Internet Population	167,444	168,482	1%	N/A
NFL Internet Group	7,224	12,562	74%	104
McAfee.com Sites	3,536	4,942	40%	225
CSTV: College Sports TV	3,777	5,277	40%	204
ImageShack.us	3,717	5,070	36%	213
Advance Publications, Inc.	4,837	6,454	33%	164
AT&T Properties	19,881	25,331	27%	25
Belo	3,196	4,068	27%	248
Providian Financial	4,330	5,203	20%	181
Staples.com Sites	5,105	5,978	17%	151
United Airlines	5,641	6,582	17%	136

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in August 2005

 

  TABLE 2

 

Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors August 2005 vs. July 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
	July-05 (000)	Aug-05 (000)	Percentage Change
Total Internet Population	167,444	168,482	1%
Career Services and Development - Training and Education	7,477	8,756	17%
Hobbies & Lifestyles - Food	10,410	12,003	15%
Education	77,109	84,208	9%
Retail - Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories	11,746	12,764	9%
Retail - Sports/Outdoor	21,180	22,986	9%
Directories/Resources - Reference	58,313	62,694	8%
Auctions	64,416	68,911	7%
Career Services and Development - Career Resources	30,815	32,909	7%
Retail - Health Care	18,741	19,914	6%
Sports	57,362	60,917	6%

 

 

TABLE 3

 

Top 50 Properties
August 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	168,482
1	Yahoo! Sites	121,962		26	Gorilla Nation Media	20,778
2	Time Warner Network	118,911		27	Gannett Sites	19,988
3	MSN-Microsoft Sites	114,622		28	Bank of America	19,768
4	Google Sites	85,658		29	Apple Computer, Inc.	18,141
5	eBay	66,693		30	Weatherbug Property	17,998
6	Amazon Sites	42,906		31	OVERSTOCK.COM	17,807
7	Ask Jeeves	40,084		32	Infospace Network	17,182
8	Viacom Online	39,809		33	Comcast Corporation	16,740
9	United Online, Inc	33,448		34	Shopzilla.com Sites	16,681
10	Verizon Communications Corporation	32,968		35	ESPN	16,633
11	Expedia, Inc.	32,479		36	E.W. Scripps	15,468
12	New York Times Digital	31,977		37	Earthlink	15,361
13	CNET Networks	30,813		38	ORBITZ.COM	15,309
14	Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG)	30,760		39	Dell	15,033
15	Vendare Media	30,224		40	CareerBuilder LLC	14,666
16	Monster Worldwide	29,736		41	Cox Enterprises Inc.	14,513
17	Weather Channel, The	27,136		42	iVillage.com: The Womens Network	14,329
18	Lycos, Inc.	26,297		43	Ticketmaster	14,043
19	AT&T Properties	25,331		44	Sprint Nextel Corporation	13,756
20	Wal-Mart	22,767		45	Capital One	13,629
21	Target Corporation	22,000		46	Sony Online	13,565
22	MYSPACE.COM	21,819		47	Adobe Sites	13,519
23	Shopping.com Sites	21,645		48	Sears Sites	13,392
24	Real.com Network	21,464		49	Travelocity	13,152
25	Trip Network Inc.	20,798		50	JPMorgan Chase Property	13,060

 

 

TABLE 4

 

 

 

Ad Focus Ranking
Unique Visitors (000)
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
August 2005
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)	Reach %		Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000) )	Reach %
	Total Internet Users	168,482	100%
1	Advertising.com**	136,249	81%		26	Lycos Network	26,212	16%
2	Yahoo!	119,379	71%		27	WEATHER.COM	25,388	15%
3	Fastclick**	117,337	70%		28	CNN	23,084	14%
4	AOL Media Network	112,372	67%		29	MYSPACE.COM	21,819	13%
5	MSN	99,782	59%		30	CLASSMATES.COM	21,358	13%
6	AOL	88,153	52%		31	Disney Online	19,311	11%
7	Vendare Media - TrafficMarketplace**	83,794	50%		32	WeatherBug	17,674	10%
8	GOOGLE.COM*	82,564	49%		33	SuperPages Network	17,310	10%
9	Casale Media Network**	77,545	46%		34	CareerBuilder Network	17,094	10%
10	YAHOO.COM Home Page	77,415	46%		35	ESPN	16,633	10%
11	Tribal Fusion**	76,427	45%		36	REAL.COM	16,317	10%
12	AdDynamix.com**	73,552	44%		37	CHEAPTICKETS.COM	15,726	9%
13	ValueClick Media**	64,068	38%		38	MONSTER.COM	15,528	9%
14	EBAY.COM	62,728	37%		39	Travelocity All	15,439	9%
15	24/7 Real Media**	60,308	36%		40	ORBITZ.COM	15,309	9%
16	Gorilla Nation Media Network	58,075	34%		41	WebMD Health Network	15,202	9%
17	MSN.COM Home Page	53,946	32%		42	MaxOnline**	15,085	9%
18	BURST! Media**	53,691	32%		43	CNET	14,661	9%
19	Ask Jeeves	40,084	24%		44	COOLSAVINGS.COM Total Activity	14,482	9%
20	EBAY.COM Home Page	39,560	23%		45	iVillage.com: The Womens Network	14,329	9%
21	Expedia	32,479	19%		46	IMDB.COM	13,200	8%
22	Business.com Network	30,905	18%		47	Netscape	12,815	8%
23	Vendare Media	30,224	18%		48	WhitePages Network	12,814	8%
24	MSNBC	28,513	17%		49	TICKETMASTER.COM	12,710	8%
25	ABOUT.COM	26,811	16%		50	FOX Sports on MSN	12,647	8%

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that views a particular entity at least once in July.  For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 71 percent of the over 168 million Internet users in August.  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

comScore Networks provides unparalleled insight into consumer behavior and attitudes. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore explicit 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 patent-pending 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,  Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Nestlé, Bank of America, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, GlaxoSmithKline and Orbitz.  For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

 

 

Contact:
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comScore Networks
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