London, UK, November 1, 2006 - comScore Networks, a leader in measuring the digital age, today revealed the top European Internet properties for September, based on data collected through its comScore World Metrix audience ratings service.  Highlights for the month include:

 

·        Wikipedia, a Top 10 European site, and YouTube, the well-publicized acquisition target of Google, both gained 18 percent versus August.  Wikipedia attracted 59.9 million European visitors in September, and YouTube had 27.4 million visitors.

 

·        As the school year opened across Europe, traffic to education sites gained 11 percent, led by Answers.com with 5 million European visitors (up 4 percent versus August), BBC Learning with 2.2 million visitors (up 97 percent), and MSN Encarta with 2.1 million visitors (up 33 percent).

 

·        Traffic to government sites increased 6 percent, highlighting the move of government information online in Europe.  The category was led by Europa.eu with 4.4 million visitors (up 42 percent), NIH with 3.9 million visitors (up 16 percent), NHS.UK with 3.4 million visitors (up 3 percent), and Direct.gov.uk with 2.9 million visitors (up 23 percent).

 

·        As was the case in the U.S., the gambling category experienced gains in Europe (up 3 percent in September versus August).  Leading the category were Cassava Enterprises (which includes 888 Holdings) with 6.9 million visitors (up 9 percent versus August) and PartyGaming with 4.1 million visitors (up 16 percent versus August). It should be noted that these increases occurred prior to the passing of anti-online gambling legislation in the U.S. in October that has many wondering about the future of many of these sites. 

 

·        Traffic to apparel sites increased slightly in September (up 3 percent) as Europeans updated their fall wardrobes via the Internet.  Leading the category was La Redoute with 7.5 million visitors (unchanged from the month prior), followed by Neckermann.de with 6.2 million visitors (up 13 percent), Quelle.de with 6 million visitors (up 19 percent), and 3 Suisses with 4.9 million visitors (up 44 percent).

 

Top European Sites

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! Sites retained their rankings as the top three properties among European Internet users, with each remaining relatively flat versus August.  Of the top 10 European sites, Wikipedia saw the greatest gains during September, rising18 percent to 59.9 million visitors.

 

Top 10 Online Properties by European Unique Visitors, Age 15+* September 2006  Total Europe - Home and Work Locations Source: comScore World Metrix
	Aug-06 (000)	Sept.-06 (000)	Percentage Change
Total European Internet Audience, Age 15+	215,887	216,197	0%
Google Sites	159,632	160,805	1%
Microsoft Sites	144,806	146,102	1%
Yahoo! Sites	99,116	100,018	1%
eBay	88,810	90,145	2%
Time Warner Network	60,371	60,838	1%
Wikipedia Sites	50,877	59,947	18%
Amazon Sites	42,563	42,699	0%
France Telecom**	27,577	32,339	17%
Adobe Sites	31,350	32,104	2%
Ask Network	30,461	30,107	-1%

* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

** Percentage increase due to the inclusion of additional entities associated with rebranding efforts.

 

About comScore World Metrix

comScore World Metrix is the first service to continuously measure and report online behaviour on a world-wide basis,  providing  visitation metrics and demographic characteristics for Web site audiences around the world.  With active representation of countries that comprise the vast majority of the global Internet population, World Metrix provides its clients with worldwide Internet population estimates and harmonized online performance metrics based on a consistent methodology across all countries.  More than 100 clients subscribe to comScore's World Metrix service, including 8 of the top 10 interactive advertising agencies.

 

About comScore Networks
comScore Networks is a global leader in measuring the digital age. 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 behaviour, 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 behaviour 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, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia.  For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.   

 

 

 

Contact:
Andrew Lipsman
comScore Networks
(312) 775-6510
press@comscore.com