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.