RESTON, VA, August 15, 2006 - comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties and categories for July.  Of note were the marked increases to political Web sites ahead of primary season, as well as the effectiveness of summer sweepstakes from McDonalds, Pepsi, Oprah and Publishers Clearing House that drove online traffic.  Most noteworthy, however, was the popularity of online video, which continued to gain steam in July, as Youtube.com broke into the comScore Media Metrix Top 50 for the first time, debuting at number 40 with 16 million visitors, a 20-percent increase versus June.  Video-mania also drove a two-fold increase in traffic to MySpace Videos, which had 20 million visitors, trailing only Yahoo! Video with 21.1 million visitors (up 28-percent from June).

"Consumers clearly view video as one of the most accessible, interesting and entertaining sources of content on the Web," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.  "The trends we're witnessing indicate that online video is emerging from its infancy and entering the mainstream.  Many publishers and advertisers are responding to this trend, which means advertising dollars will continue to migrate online where consumers can be targeted with efficiency."

The Web Plays an Increasingly Important Role in Politics

The25-percent increase in traffic to political Web sites, the largest-gaining category in July, was particularly noteworthy given the recent major upsets in political primaries in Connecticut, Georgia and Michigan. CapitolAdvantage.com, a site dedicated to connecting organizations to national and state elected officials, rated among the top sites in the category with 927,000 visitors, a 4-percent increase from June.  Political news sites also drove category increases, including independent news site Worldnetdaily.com, which increased 22 percent to 500,000 visitors; Voice of America News (voanews.com), which jumped 50 percent to 368,000 visitors; and NationalReview.com, which rose 11 percent to 350,000 visitors.

"The Internet is becoming an important political forum in this country, especially as video and blogging become more prevalent," said Flanagan.  "Politicians recognize the inherent ability of the Internet to connect people and ideas, and it will be interesting to observe activity at political sites as the November elections approach."

Americans Flock to Sweepstakes and Lotto in July

Lotto/Sweepstakes sites enjoyed a surge in traffic in July, rising 19 percent from June to 33.4 million visitors and ranking as the second-fastest growing category for the month.  Some of the more noteworthy summer sweepstakes included:

·          Publishers Clearing House's PCH.com, which led the category with 10 million visitors, a 59-percent increase versus the previous month

·          Piratesatmcd.com, the Pirates of the Caribbean McDonald's sweepstakes site, which saw 3.6 million visitors.  Traffic to the promotional site contributed to an 87-percent increase in traffic to the McDonald's Web property overall, which drew a total of 5 million visitors

·          The Oprah Show Summer Sweepstakes, which gives viewers a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to an Oprah taping and contributed to a 42-percent increase in traffic to Oprah.com (3.7 million visitors) 

·          The Pepsi Street Motion sweepstakes, which resulted in a 434-percent increase to 689,000 visitors to pepsistreetmotion.com

Additionally, the following state lottery sites saw traffic increases in July: CALottery.com (up 18 percent to 1.4 million), FLALottery.com (up 24 percent to 1.4 million), Powerball.com (up 9 percent to 1.4 million), TXLottery.com (up 11 percent to 827,000), OhioLottery.com (up 15 percent to 549,000), IllinoisLottery.com (up 12 percent to 360,000), MOLottery.com (up 18 percent to 360,000), MASSLottery.com (up 36 percent to 359,000) and NC-EducationLottery.org (up 6 percent to 345,000).

Americans Take to the Streets in July

Consumers continued to plan summer vacations throughout the month of July, driving traffic to Car Rental sites.  Category visitation increased 9 percent to 7.1 million visitors, placing it among the top gaining categories for the month. Enterprise led the category with 2.4 million visitors, marking an 8-percent gain versus June, while traffic to Budget.com rose 32 percent to 2.3 million visitors.  Hertz and Avis also experienced gains, up 9 percent to 1.9 million visitors and 1 percent to 1.7 million visitors, respectively.

As Americans prepared for these excursions, sites offering regional and local information saw a 9-percent increase to 97.6 million visitors. Leading the pack was the AOL Local Network, up 3 percent to 59.7 million visitors, followed by the Yahoo! Local Network with 34.3 million visitors (up 2 percent), and Real Cities Network with 28.6 million visitors (up 2 percent).

Real Estate and Moving Sites Attract Attention in July

Despite the sagging housing market, Americans continued to show an interest in real estate, as evidenced by the 7-percent increase in traffic to real estate and moving information sites.  Move Network led the category with 11.2 million visitors, up 5-percent from June.  MSN and AOL Real Estate each experienced impressive gains, with 5.1 million visitors (a 25-percent increase) and 4.2 million visitors (a 43-percent increase), respectively.

Top 50 Properties

Within the Top 50 Properties ranking, Yahoo! Sites retained its number one position, drawing more than 129 million unique visitors in July.  Dell, Facebook.com, JPMorgan Chase, and Overstock.com all re-entered the ranking, each reaching more than 14 million unique visitors.  Finally, ARTISTdirect Network enjoyed an eight-spot increase to number 36, drawing nearly 17 million unique visitors in July. 

Top 50 Ad Focus

Advertising.com remained atop the Ad Focus ranking, reaching more than 84 percent of the 173.2 million Americans online.  Also within the top 10, Tribal Fusion moved up one spot to number five, touching nearly 107 million unique visitors.  Precision Click enjoyed a strong debut in the ranking, entering this month at number 15, while EA Online Games and CNET re-entered the ranking at numbers 47 and 50, respectively.

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

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