RESTON, VA, May 18, 2005 - comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at top online properties and categories.  In April, annual spring events, such as Mother's Day, the opening of the baseball season, and the approaching end of the school year generated traffic increases for a number of properties across a variety of categories.

 

"As temperatures began to rise across the country, Americans turned to the Web to plan for important spring rituals," commented Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix.  "A number of sites associated with spring events, such as Mother's Day, school graduation ceremonies and baseball's opening day, saw significant increases in traffic."

 

Mother's Day Adds Sparkle to Online Jewelry Retailers

Consumers flocked to online stores to purchase gifts in preparation for Mother's Day, making Jewelry, Luxury Goods & Accessories the top-gaining category in April with a 19-percent increase in unique visitors over March (see table 2).  comScore e-commerce research further reported that online spending in the Jewelry & Watches category reached $24.6 million for the week ending April 24 and then increased 13 percent to $27.8 million for the week ending May 1, just one week before Mother's Day. 

 

Americans Seek Updated Messenger, E-Mail Services

E-mail and instant messenger programs soared in April as popular online communication tools were updated and heavily promoted.  Microsoft released a new version of its MSN Messenger program, resulting in a 24-percent increase in unique visitors over March.  Meanwhile, Google's Gmail recorded the highest traffic level measured since its inception, with more than 3.5 million unique visitors during the month. Despite its rapid growth, Gmail still faces steep competition from Yahoo! Mail and MSN Hotmail, which drew 64 million and 43 million users respectively.

 

Music Downloading Services Battle for Supremacy

Extraordinary holiday sales of Apple's iPod digital music player began to take full effect in April as music downloading services jockeyed for position in this rapidly growing market.  MP3.com saw its visitation rise 51 percent following a massive campaign to promote its music store and assure customers that its music was compatible with the iPod.  Adding fuel to the fire was RealNetworks, which announced a product update for its Rhapsody music subscription service.

 

NFL Draft Day, MLB Opening Day Knock Sports Site Traffic Out of the Park

The start of the Major League Baseball season and the National Football League Draft bolstered traffic in the Sports category.  In fact, MLB.com was the top gaining property in April (see table 1) on the strength of a 63-percent increase over March to more than 11.2 million unique visitors.  Meanwhile, the 2005 NFL Draft, held on April 23-24, was one of the most watched in the league's history.  During the two-day draft session, NFL Internet Group sites recorded both a 13-percent increase in unique visitors and an 18-percent rise in page views over the 2004 Draft.

 

Students Turn to the Web as They Look to the Future

As both high school and college graduates plan for life ahead, visitation in the Career Services - Training & Education category reached 8.1 million.  The category's top site was CollegeBoard.com with 2.2 million visitors in April, an 18-percent increase over March.  The organization offers information on member universities and administers the SAT and Advanced Placement programs.  Other players in the Training & Education category include FastWeb with two million visitors in April and PrincetonReview.com, which saw an 18-percent spike in visitation during the month. 

 

comScore Media Metrix Launches Photos Category

The proliferation of digital cameras among American consumers has resulted in growing popularity of sites that allow consumers to manage, share and print their digital images.  With the release of April data, comScore launched the Photos category to track such sites.  More than 43 million consumers, a quarter of all Internet users, visited Photos category sites in April. 

 

Top 50 Properties

The top 10 properties remained the same in April as in March, except for Monster Worldwide, which attracted 1.3 million more visitors and moved five spots to number 10 (see table 3).  With its acquisition of About.com, traffic to New York Times Digital skyrocketed from 8.7 million unique visitors in March to nearly 30 million visitors in April.  As a result, the property jumped 74 spots to finish at number 11 in April's Top 50 Properties.

 

Among sites in both the March and April Top 50 Properties, Ticketmaster had the largest jump, as 13.8 million Americans turned to the site, primarily to research and purchase summer concert and sports tickets.  In total, Ticketmaster has risen an impressive 12 spots over the past two months.  Finally, a six-percent increase in visitation to Classmates.com Sites drove a corresponding five-spot spike to number 32 in April.

 

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

Advertising.com again finished atop the Ad Focus Ranking in April by reaching 78 percent of all Americans online (see table 4), completing 12 consecutive months at number one.  Yahoo! and Fastclick each reached 70 percent of the U.S. online audience to finish at number two and three, respectively.

 

MLB.com had the largest gain of any ranked Ad Focus entity, as the start of the Major League Baseball season spurred a 63-percent month-over-month gain in visitation, which translated into a 30-spot climb to number 48.  Finally, Myspace.com continued its upward trend, with an increase in visitation of 19 percent.  This translated into an 8-spot gain, landing Myspace.com in the Ad Focus ranking for the first time, finishing at number 44.

 

TABLE 1

 

Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* April 2005 vs. March 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
Property	Mar-05 (000)	Apr-05 (000)	Percentage Change	Rank by  Unique Visitors
Total Internet Population	164,263	164,961	0.4%	N/A
MLB.COM	6,885	11,242	63.3%	59
Wikipedia Sites	5,413	7,626	40.9%	100
BBC Sites	6,747	9,387	39.1%	76
SIDESTEP.COM	3,310	4,470	35.0%	184
Forbes Property	4,259	5,485	28.8%	154
LookSmart	3,837	4,697	22.4%	179
NFL Internet Group	6,547	7,898	20.6%	96
Autobytel Inc	5,141	6,158	19.8%	131
SHOP.COM	5,058	5,984	18.3%	135
EVITE.COM	3,303	3,897	18.0%	220

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in April

 

TABLE 2

 

Top Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors April 2005 vs. March 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Mar-05 (000)	Apr-05 (000)	Percentage Change
Total Internet Population	164,263	164,961	0.4%
Retail - Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories	12,185	14,555	19.5%
Services - Instant Messengers	75,753	77,943	2.9%
Travel - Hotels/Resorts	29,527	30,125	2.0%
Entertainment - Music	80,123	81,193	1.3%
Career Services - Training and Education	8,062	8,105	0.5%
Services - e-mail	122,719	123,357	0.5%
Sports	56,698	56,807	0.2%

 

TABLE 3

 

Top 50 Properties April 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)		Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)
	Total Internet Users	164,961
1	Yahoo! Sites	116,321		26	Gannett Sites	18,564
2	Time Warner Network	115,829		27	Infospace Network	17,895
3	MSN-Microsoft Sites	111,519		28	Target Corporation	17,193
4	Google Sites	78,649		29	Bank of America	17,181
5	eBay	63,825		30	CareerBuilder LLC	17,066
6	Ask Jeeves	42,341		31	iVillage.com: The Womens Network	16,497
7	Amazon Sites	39,066		32	Classmates.com Sites	16,421
8	CNET Networks	33,494		33	Comcast Corporation	16,099
9	Viacom Online	32,077		34	ESPN	15,994
10	Monster Worldwide	29,918		35	Apple Computer, Inc.	15,910
11	New York Times Digital	29,762		36	United Online, Inc	15,461
12	Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG)	28,485		37	OVERSTOCK.COM	14,973
13	Verizon Communications Corporation	27,827		38	COOLSAVINGS.COM	14,658
14	Lycos, Inc.	27,326		39	ORBITZ.COM	14,401
15	Intermix Media	26,672		40	News Corp. Online	14,257
16	Weather Channel, The	25,233		41	Shopzilla.com Sites	13,972
17	Vendare Media - New.net Sites	24,180		42	Adobe Sites	13,896
18	AT&T Properties	23,158		43	Ticketmaster	13,832
19	Expedia Travel	22,962		44	Cox Enterprises Inc.	13,424
20	Shopping.com Sites	22,637		45	Sony Online	13,090
21	Real.com Network	22,550		46	Travelocity	12,940
22	Trip Network Inc.	20,979		47	Dell	12,913
23	Wal-Mart	19,736		48	SBC Communications	12,871
24	Gorilla Nation Media	19,087		49	E.W. Scripps	12,843
25	Weatherbug.com Property	18,807		50	Macromedia	12,409

 

 

TABLE 4

 

Ad Focus Ranking April 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix
Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)	Reach %		Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)	Reach %
	Total Internet Users	164,961	100%
1	Advertising.com**	127,976	78%		26	MaxOnline**	20,065	12%
2	Yahoo!	114,803	70%		27	CNET	19,524	12%
3	Fastclick**	114,798	70%		28	CareerBuilder Network	18,956	11%
4	MSN	97,042	59%		29	Netscape	18,761	11%
5	Vendare Media - TrafficMarketplace**	86,680	53%		30	WeatherBug	18,617	11%
6	AOL	85,991	52%		31	Disney Online	17,502	11%
7	GOOGLE.COM	75,915	46%		32	CHEAPTICKETS.COM	16,827	10%
8	Casale Media Network**	75,378	46%		33	iVillage.com: The Womens Network	16,497	10%
9	YAHOO.COM Home Page	72,121	44%		34	Claria Applications	16,416	10%
10	Tribal Fusion**	69,608	42%		35	CLASSMATES.COM	16,415	10%
11	EBAY.COM	60,366	37%		36	REAL.COM	16,090	10%
12	ValueClick Media**	55,665	34%		37	ESPN	15,994	10%
13	MSN.COM Home Page	53,324	32%		38	Travelocity All	15,897	10%
14	BURST! Media**	49,175	30%		39	WebMD Health Network	15,399	9%
15	24/7 Real Media**	46,197	28%		40	SuperPages Network	14,507	9%
16	Ask Jeeves	42,341	26%		41	ORBITZ.COM	14,401	9%
17	Business.com Network	35,403	21%		42	MONSTER.COM	14,147	9%
18	EBAY.COM Home Page	34,590	21%		43	ClickAgents Network**	13,524	8%
19	Lycos Network	27,176	16%		44	MYSPACE.COM	13,499	8%
20	MSNBC	26,588	16%		45	EA Online Syndicated Games	13,484	8%
21	Vendare Media - New.net Sites	24,180	15%		46	TICKETMASTER.COM	13,028	8%
22	WEATHER.COM	23,610	14%		47	EA Online Games	12,044	7%
23	AOL Business Network	23,599	14%		48	MLB.COM	11,242	7%
24	Expedia Travel	22,962	14%		49	FOX Sports on MSN	11,237	7%
25	CNN	20,904	13%		50	IMDB.COM	11,179	7%

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that views a particular entity at least once in April.  For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 70 percent of the over 164 million Internet users in April.  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.

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