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Dec 11, 2007

Retail Holiday E-Commerce Spending Hits $4.6 Billion During Week Ending December 9, Nears $19 Billion for the Season

RESTON, Va., Dec 11, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an update of holiday season e-commerce spending for the first 39 days (November 1 - December 9) of the November - December 2007 holiday season. Nearly $19 billion has been spent online during the season-to-date, marking an 18-percent gain versus the corresponding days last year. Thursday, December 6 recorded $803 million in online sales, up 28 percent versus year ago, making it the heaviest online spending day in history.

    2007 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2006
    Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
    Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
    Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
    Source: comScore, Inc.
                                                       Billions ($)
                                                                        Pct
    Holiday Season to Date                     2006        2007        Change
    November 1 - December 9                   $15.94      $18.79         18%
    Week Ending December 9                     $3.86       $4.64         20%
    Thanksgiving Day (November 22)             $0.21       $0.27         29%
    "Black Friday" (November 23)               $0.43       $0.53         22%
    "Cyber Monday" (November 26)               $0.61       $0.73         21%
    Heaviest Spending Day to Date
     Thursday, December 6                      $0.63       $0.80         28%

    * Corresponding Shopping Days, Not Calendar Days



"This past week was very strong for online retailers as consumers spent more than $4.6 billion online, up 20 percent versus year ago, making it the heaviest week of the holiday season to date," said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni. "Consumers seemingly restrained their early November holiday spending in the hopes of catching some attractive late-season deals, so we expect that the current week will outperform the past week as the heaviest of the season."

    Some additional findings during the most recent week:
    --  Consumer electronics experienced a strong week of online sales, up 43
        percent versus year ago, outpacing its 23-percent growth rate during
        the season-to-date.
    --  Event tickets also had a particularly strong week, gaining 70 percent
        versus the corresponding period last year.
    --  Apparel outperformed its season-to-date growth rate of 16 percent with
        a 22-percent gain during the most recent week.
    --  Toy sales saw just a 3-percent growth rate during the past week,
        lowering its growth for the season to date to 14 percent.


Online Retail Spending Peaks Mid-Day

During this year's holiday season, online spending has peaked during the middle of the day, driven by the heavy influence of shopping from work, with work buying accounting for 45 percent of all e-commerce dollars spent this holiday season. More than half of all online dollars were spent between the hours of 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, with the heaviest spending (26.9 percent) occurring during the 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM time segment. Nearly 10 percent of online spending occurred between 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM, making them the peak individual hour segments during the day.

    Retail E-Commerce Dollar Spending by Daypart
    Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
    Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
    November 1 - December 9, 2007
    Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
    Source: comScore, Inc.
                                                                    Share of
                                                                      Dollar
    Daypart* Segment                                                 Spending
    12:00 AM - 3:00 AM                                                 1.9%
    3:00 AM - 6:00 AM                                                  0.7%
    6:00 AM - 9:00 AM                                                  7.3%
    9:00 AM - 12:00 PM                                                25.7%
    12:00 PM - 3:00 PM                                                26.9%
    3:00 PM - 6:00 PM                                                 18.7%
    6:00 PM - 9:00 PM                                                 10.3%
    9:00 PM - 12:00 AM                                                 8.5%

    *Dayparts are normalized to Internet users' respective local time zones



    Weekly Online Holiday Retail Sales

    (Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071211/AQTU194)

Please contact press@comscore.com to receive the data behind the above for use in graphical representation.


    comScore 2007 Retail E-Commerce Forecast

    Online Non-Travel (Retail) Holiday Consumer Spending
    Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
    Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
    Source: comScore, Inc.
                                                      Billions ($)
                                                                       Pct
                                               2006        2007       Change
    January - October                          $77.5      $93.6         21%
    Holiday Season (Nov-Dec)                   $24.6      $29.5*        20%*

    *comScore forecast



About comScore

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. 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 analysts 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 more than 800 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestle, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com.

SOURCE comScore, Inc.

http://www.comscore.com

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