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Apr 26, 2007

Shifts in Ad Focus Rankings in March Provide Interesting Precursor to the Google-Doubleclick Merger

Shifts in Ad Focus Rankings in March Provide Interesting Precursor to the Google-Doubleclick Merger

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

Social Networking Sites Experience Interesting Gains in March; Spring Brings Americans to Home Improvement, Real Estate and Automotive Sites

RESTON, VA, April 26, 2007 – comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties and categories for March 2007.  Among the significant changes seen during the month was a shift at the top of the Ad Focus ranking (seen in Table 4 below), with Yahoo! jumping one spot to claim the number two position, as Advertising.com remained in the lead.  Unique to comScore, the Ad Focus ranking lists the top ad-focused sites and networks in order of audience size. 

 

“Shifts at the top of our Ad Focus ranking come at an interesting time with Google’s recent announcement that it would be acquiring Doubleclick,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “As advertising networks cont inue to compete for online ad dollars, there is sure to be increased attention on which ones are reaching the widest audience.”

 

Other March highlights include increased traffic to home improvement, real estate, and automotive resource sites, as well as Major League Baseball’s official site, MLB.com, which saw an increase of 47 percent versus February to 8.2 million visitors.  Those looking to both make and save money in March flocked to lotto and coupon sites, and Coca-Cola’s “My Coke Rewards” promotion spurred a 40-percent increase to the Coca-Cola Company property, which saw nearly 5 million visitors in March.  Finally, several key players in the social networking space experienced gains in March, as did teen community sites, including several featuring prom-related content.

 

Key Social Networking and Video Sites Post Gains

One of the top-gaining social networking sites in March was Facebook.com, which surged 25 percent —and eight spots in the Top 50 ranking — to nearly 21 million visitors.  Other notable gainers in the social networking/ video-sharing space included Xanga.com, which grew 60 percent versus February to 6 million visitors, and Reunion.com, which grew 30 percent to 7.9 million visitors.  Heavy Networks was the month’s top gaining property, up 100 percent to 6.8 million visitors, driven in large part by a popular video spoof featuring Pamela Anderson as a cartoon superhero, while traffic to video site Metacafe surged 40 percent to 5.6 million visitors

 

Prom Season Makes an Impact in Traffic to Teen Sites

Prom season had an impact on Community-Teen sites, which represented the fastest-gaining category in March, jumping 25 percent versus the previous month.  Promspot.com increased 520 percent to 174,000 visitors, while Promadvice.com increased 168 percent to 117,000 visitors.  Other leaders in the category included Lycos Angelfire with 7.1 million visitors (up 2 percent), Alloy with 5.6 million visitors (up 9 percent), and Neopets.com with 4.3 million visitors (up 15 percent).

 

Home Improvement, Real Estate and Automotive Sites Also Gain in March

The beginning of spring had Americans pondering major lifestyle improvements and purchases.  Real estate sites experienced a 13-percent overall increase in March, led by Move Network with 9.3 million visitors (up 21 percent), MSN Real Estate with 4.1 million visitors (up 92 percent), and Homegain.com with 3.8 million visitors (up 15 percent).  Americans were also focused on home improvement, as evidenced by the 9-percent gain to the Hobbies/Lifestyle - Home category, led by The Home Depot Inc. with 9.9 million visitors (up 5 percent), Move Network with 9.3 million visitors (up 21 percent) and Lowes.com with 7.7 million visitors (up 11 percent).  In addition, Meredith Corporation was a top gainer this month (up 33 percent to 6.6 million visitors), driven largely by increases in traffic to the Better Homes and Gardens site, BHG.com. 

 

Automotive resource sites also caught the attention of Americans in March.  eBay Motors U.S. led the category with 15.3 million visitors (up 21 percent), followed by AutoTrader with 6.3 million visitors (up 4 percent) and KBB.com (Kelley Blue Book) with 6 million visitors (up 7 percent).

 

Win Some, Save Some

With the April tax filing deadline looming and Americans looking for ways to fatten their pockets, traffic to both Lotto/Sweepstakes and Coupon sites increased in March.  The Web site for Publishers Clearing House, PCH.com, led the Lotto/Sweepstakes category with 6.8 million visitors, followed by ePrize.net with 4.4 million visitors (up 20 percent) and PrizeAmerica.com with 2.7 million visitors (up 166 percent).  State lottery sites garnering the most visitation for the month were CALottery.com with 2.2 million visitors (up 22 percent), NYLottery.org with 1.6 million visitors, MegaMillions.com with 1.5 million visitors (up 104 percent), Powerball.com with 1.4 million visitors (up 71 percent), and FLALottery.com with 1.3 million visitors (up 3 percent).

 

Similarly, coupon sites achieved substantial gains in March, as the category grew 10 percent.  CoolSavings.com led the category with 6.2 million visitors (up 20 percent), followed by Eversave.com with 5.9 million visitors (up 20 percent) and Coupons.com with 3.5 million visitors (up 31 percent).

 

Top 50 Properties

In the March Top 50 Properties Ranking, Yahoo! Sites remained at number one, while Microsoft Sites gained one spot, capturing the number three position.  Wikipedia Sites also moved up a spot to number eight with more than 47 million unique visitors in March.  Beyond the top ten, Idearc Media enjoyed a 43-percent increase in claiming the number 27 spot. Other top movers included Facebook.com, which gained eight spots to number 28, and ESPN, jumped 12 positions to number 33 with 19 million visitors, attracting heavy interest with its NCAA tournament coverage.

 

Top 50 Ad Focus

Within the Ad Focus Ranking, March saw Advertising.com reach 86 percent of the U.S. online population, while Yahoo! inched up a spot to claim the number two position.  Nickelodeon Kids & Family and Yellowpages.com Network both moved into the ranking in March, reaching 12 percent and 10 percent of the U.S. online population, respectively.  Finally, CPX Interactive jumped eleven positions to number 18 in the ranking, reaching more than 76 million Americans.

 

TABLE 1

 

Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*

March 2007 vs. February 2007

Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users

Source: comScore Media Metrix

Property

Feb-07

 (000)

 Mar-07 (000)

Percentage

Change

Rank by

 Unique Visitors

Total Internet Population

175,653

177,372

1%

N/A

Heavy Networks

3,391

6,766

100

136

XANGA.COM

3,754

6,021

60

158

MLB.COM*

5,581

8,203

47

106

Idearc Media

15,236

21,727

43

27

Metacafe

4,009

5,626

40

171

Coca-Cola Company

3,543

4,953

40

189

CITY-DATA.COM

2,714

3,716

37

248

Meredith Corporation

4,934

6,555

33

142

NetShelter Branded Network (NSBN)

3,973

5,232

32

181

REUNION.COM

6,083

7,891

30

115

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in March 2007.

 

TABLE 2

 


Top 10 Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors

March 2007 vs. February 2007

Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users

Source: comScore Media Metrix

 

Feb-07

(000)

Mar-07

(000)

Percentage Change

Total Internet : Total Audience

175,653

177,372

1%

Teens

22,912

28,741

25%

Genealogy

8,529

10,178

19%

Health Care

19,809

22,354

13%

Real Estate

36,930

41,653

13%

Lotto/Sweepstakes

26,349

29,349

11%

Coupons

19,205

21,212

10%

Car Rental

5,377

5,937

10%

Resources

40,646

44,576

10%

Home

36,647

39,928

9%

Mall

27,356

29,640

8%

 

 

TABLE 3

 

Top 50 Properties

March 2007 

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

177,372

 

 

 

 

1

Yahoo! Sites

131,227

 

26

Bank of America

21,848

2

Time Warner Network

123,321

 

27

Idearc Media

21,727

3

Microsoft Sites

118,716

 

28

FACEBOOK.COM

20,896

4

Google Sites

118,492

 

29

CareerBuilder LLC

20,823

5

eBay

80,154

 

30

Gannett Sites

20,724

6

Fox Interactive Media

80,098

 

31

Disney Online

20,183

7

Amazon Sites

49,980

 

32

Travelport

19,925

8

Wikipedia Sites

47,011

 

33

ESPN

19,199

9

Ask Network

46,346

 

34

Real.com Network

18,988

10

New York Times Digital

41,464

 

35

Comcast Corporation

18,342

11

Viacom Digital

39,724

 

36

Yellowpages.com Network

18,122

12

Apple Computer, Inc.

37,736

 

37

Photobucket.com LLC

17,978

13

Weather Channel, The

36,189

 

38

WebMD Health

17,801

14

CNET Networks

30,984

 

39

CRAIGSLIST.ORG

17,793

15

Gorilla Nation

28,852

 

40

Shopzilla.com Sites

17,532

16

AT&T, Inc.

27,349

 

41

WhitePages

17,212

17

Expedia Inc

27,039

 

42

E.W. Scripps

16,343

18

Adobe Sites

26,842

 

43

Cox Enterprises Inc.

16,187

19

CBS Corporation

26,815

 

44

NBC Universal

15,902

20

Wal-Mart

25,679

 

45

Ticketmaster

15,810

21

Target Corporation

25,123

 

46

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

15,536

22

United Online, Inc

24,277

 

47

Weatherbug Property

15,474

23

Monster Worldwide

23,515

 

48

Citysearch

15,000

24

Verizon Communications Corporation

23,251

 

49

USPS.COM

14,993

25

Lycos, Inc.

22,387

 

50

ARTISTdirect Network

14,677

 


 

TABLE 4

 

Ad Focus Ranking

March 2007

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

177,372

100%

 

 

 

 

 

1

Advertising.com**

153,345

86%

 

26

ContextWeb**

54,415

31%

2

Yahoo!

129,557

73%

 

27

MSN.COM Home Page

49,899

28%

3

ValueClick**

129,229

73%

 

28

EBAY.COM Home Page

46,409

26%

4

Casale Media Network**

117,621

66%

 

29

Ask Network

46,346

26%

5

Tribal Fusion**

116,027

65%

 

30

Vibrant Media**

44,823

25%

6

AOL Media Network

114,160

64%

 

31

Business.com Network

41,513

23%

7

Google

111,677

63%

 

32

YOUTUBE.COM

36,494

21%

8

Vendare NetBlue - TrafficMarketplace**

109,187

62%

 

33

ABOUT.COM

36,040

20%

9

Blue Lithium**

108,259

61%

 

34

Interclick**

35,521

20%

10

MSN-Windows Live

100,382

57%

 

35

WEATHER.COM

25,851

15%

11

Specific Media**

97,537

55%

 

36

Undertone Networks**

23,501

13%

12

AOL

93,427

53%

 

37

CNN

22,482

13%

13

DRIVEpm**

90,271

51%

 

38

Nickelodeon Kids & Family

22,125

12%

14

24/7 Real Media**

89,745

51%

 

39

Lycos Network

22,041

12%

15

YAHOO.COM Home Page

87,379

49%

 

40

SuperPages.com Network

21,702

12%

16

EuroClick**

86,506

49%

 

41

CareerBuilder Network

21,601

12%

17

Tremor Media

76,709

43%

 

42

FACEBOOK.COM

20,896

12%

18

CPX Interactive**

76,581

43%

 

43

The WebMD Health Network

20,429

12%

19

Burst Media**

72,191

41%

 

44

Disney Online

20,183

11%

20

EBAY.COM

71,263

40%

 

45

IMDB.COM

19,594

11%

21

PrecisionClick**

68,578

39%

 

46

EXPEDIA.COM*

19,326

11%

22

MYSPACE.COM

66,298

37%

 

47

ESPN

19,199

11%

23

AdBrite**

66,050

37%

 

48

Yellowpages.com Network

18,122

10%

24

AdDynamix.com**

60,971

34%

 

49

PHOTOBUCKET.COM

17,282

10%

25

Gorilla Nation Media

60,813

34%

 

50

WhitePages Network

17,146

10%

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in March.  For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 73 percent of the more than 177 million Internet users in March. 

* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.

** Denotes an advertising network.