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Jun 15, 2007

comScore Media Metrix Releases Top 50 Web Rankings for May

comScore Media Metrix Releases Top 50 Web Rankings for MayRESTON, VA, June 15, 2007 – comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties for May 2007, which saw traffic increase to movie-related sites as the summer movie season kicked off, political sites with the presidential debates fueling interest, and e-commerce sites as consumers shopped for and purchased Mother’s Day gifts.

“With this year’s impressive lineup of big-money summer blockbusters, it’s no surprise that Americans flocked to movie sites in May,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.  “Whether searching for show-times or reviews, purchasing movie tickets or buying DVDs, the Internet is playing an increasingly significant role in the promulgation of movie information and monetization of the industry.”

Summer Movie Season Kickoff Heats Up Web Traffic in May

The launch of summer movie season saw traffic increase to several movie-related sites over the month. The tickets category gained 12 percent versus April to 40.8 million visitors, buoyed by strong growth at MovieTickets.com (up 55 percent to 5 million visitors) and Fandango.com (up 50 percent to 7 million visitors). The retail movies category experienced a 7-percent increase to 27.6 million visitors, while movie social networking site Flixster.com saw its traffic surge 65 percent to 4.5 million visitors.

Political Sites Get Boost from the Debates 

With both Republican and Democratic presidential debates swinging into action, the politics category saw a 17-percent increase to 9 million visitors in May, making it the top-gaining category overall for the month.  Traffic to Politico.com, which sponsored the Republican Presidential debate on May 3, jumped 162 percent for the month to 648,000 visitors, while MoveOn.org’s traffic surged 246 percent to 689,000 visitors due in large part to an online petition against gas price increases.  Several presidential candidate websites also saw their traffic increase, led by BarackObama.com (up 13 percent to 298,000 visitors) and HillaryClinton.com (up 3 percent to 217,000 visitors).

Remembering Mom Brings Traffic to Gift Websites in May

Whether searching for that perfect gift for Mom or buying it online, Mother’s Day fueled growth in several online retail categories.  The flowers, gifts & greetings category saw an 11-percent increase to 35.6 million visitors, led by a 365-percent surge at Trilegiant Corporation sites, which includes 1-800-FLOWERS.com, to 5 million visitors. The jewelry, luxury goods & accessories category rounded out the top ten gaining properties for the month with a 6-percent increase to 16.9 million visitors.

Planning for Summer Vacations Sparks Traffic to Travel Sites

With summer vacation plans looming, travel categories saw an increase in traffic during May. The travel information category grew 7 percent to 42 million visitors, led by Yahoo! Travel with 9.9 million visitors (up 7 percent), TripAdvisor.com with 6.5 million visitors (up 8 percent), and the Travel Ad Network with 6 million visitors (up 23 percent). The car rental category also experienced gains, climbing 6 percent to 6.2 million visitors. The category was led by Avis Budget Group with 2.6 million visitors (up 19 percent), Enterprise.com with 2.4 million visitors (up 9 percent), and Hertz with 1.7 million visitors (up 7 percent).

Top 50 Properties

In May, Yahoo! Sites and Time Warner Network remained in the number one and two positions, respectively.  Both Amazon Sites and Ask Network gained one position within the top ten, each attracting more than 50 million visitors in May. ARTISTdirect Network, a group of sites featuring multi-media music content, enjoyed a 13-percent increase in visitors and gained six spots in the ranking, while Yellowpages.com Network increased by 11 percent to secure the number 33 spot.  Photobucket.com LLC moved up four positions to number 29, drawing more than 21 million visitors.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

Advertising.com reached 87 percent of Americans online in May, keeping it atop the Ad Focus Ranking. Within the top ten, Yahoo! inched up a spot to number two, and Blue Lithium moved up two positions from number eight.  Centro entered the ranking at number 20, reaching 42 percent of the U.S. online population, while Undertone Networks enjoyed a nine spot jump to number 29, more than doubling its reach.

TABLE 1

Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*

May 2007 vs. April 2007

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

Source: comScore Media Metrix

Property

Apr-07

 (000)

 May-07 (000)

Percentage

Change

Rank by

 Unique Visitors

Total Internet Population

178,079

177,487

0

N/A

Trilegiant Corporation

1,072

4,978

365

192

Mars, Inc.

2,605

4,575

76

201

MANIATV.COM

2,729

4,590

68

200

FLIXSTER.COM

2,742

4,516

65

204

FANDANGO.COM

4,703

7,041

50

135

TOPTVBYTES.COM

2,971

4,402

48

210

ABC.COM

9,887

14,643

48

54

SNOPES.COM

3,909

5,535

42

172

Glam Media

12,221

17,299

42

42

SLIDE.COM

4,708

6,262

33

155

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in May 2007

TABLE 2


Top 10 Gaining Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors

May 2007 vs. April 2007

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

Source: comScore Media Metrix

 

Apr-07

 (000)

 May-07 (000)

Percentage Change

Total Internet : Total Audience

178,079

177,487

0

Politics

7,755

9,056

17

Tickets

36,323

40,844

12

Flowers/Gifts/Greetings

32,025

35,625

11

Training and Education

9,462

10,384

10

Retail - Movies

25,704

27,559

7

Classifieds

38,864

41,599

7

Travel - Information

39,524

42,154

7

Car Rental

5,829

6,197

6

Teens

30,071

31,885

6

Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories

15,973

16,867

6

 


 TABLE 3

Top 50 Properties

 

 

May 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

177,487

 

1

Yahoo! Sites

130,526

 

26

United Online, Inc

21,430

2

Time Warner Network

122,659

 

27

Bank of America

21,414

3

Google Sites

120,010

 

28

CareerBuilder LLC

21,266

4

Microsoft Sites

113,916

 

29

Photobucket.com LLC

21,168

5

Fox Interactive Media

82,260

 

30

Superpages.com Network

20,956

6

eBay

79,428

 

31

CRAIGSLIST.ORG

20,581

7

Amazon Sites

51,567

 

32

Disney Online

20,127

8

Ask Network

50,068

 

33

Yellowpages.com Network

19,826

9

Wikipedia Sites

48,743

 

34

Gannett Sites

19,262

10

New York Times Digital

43,603

 

35

ARTISTdirect Network

19,168

11

Apple Inc.

41,909

 

36

Shopzilla.com Sites

19,137

12

Viacom Digital

40,462

 

37

Travelport

18,973

13

Weather Channel, The

38,496

 

38

Real.com Network

18,684

14

CNET Networks

30,954

 

39

Comcast Corporation

17,860

15

Gorilla Nation

29,547

 

40

WhitePages

17,741

16

Adobe Sites

28,458

 

41

ESPN

17,572

17

Wal-Mart

27,796

 

42

Glam Media

17,299

18

AT&T, Inc.

26,975

 

43

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

17,116

19

FACEBOOK.COM

26,649

 

44

WebMD Health

16,578

20

Target Corporation

26,013

 

45

Cox Enterprises Inc.

16,185

21

Expedia Inc

25,212

 

46

USPS.COM

16,063

22

Monster Worldwide

24,879

 

47

Weatherbug Property

15,714

23

Verizon Communications Corporation

23,669

 

48

NBC Universal

15,682

24

CBS Corporation

21,951

 

49

Ticketmaster

15,382

25

Lycos Sites

21,540

 

50

Oversee.net Network

15,172


TABLE 4

Ad Focus Ranking

 

 

May 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

177,487

100%

 

 

 

1

Advertising.com**

155,258

87%

 

26

Gorilla Nation Media

61,266

35%

2

Yahoo!

129,287

73%

 

27

Vibrant Media**

56,169

32%

3

ValueClick**

129,034

73%

 

28

ContextWeb**

54,514

31%

4

Tribal Fusion**

120,987

68%

 

29

Undertone Networks**

52,811

30%

5

Casale Media Network**

118,593

67%

 

30

MSN.COM Home Page

50,156

28%

6

Blue Lithium**

116,612

66%

 

31

Ask Network

50,068

28%

7

Google

113,854

64%

 

32

EBAY.COM Home Page

46,891

26%

8

AOL Media Network

113,759

64%

 

33

Interclick**

42,786

24%

9

Connexus - TrafficMarketplace**

104,266

59%

 

34

YOUTUBE.COM

41,035

23%

10

Specific Media**

100,053

56%

 

35

Business.com Network

40,576

23%

11

MSN-Windows Live

98,625

56%

 

36

ABOUT.COM

38,348

22%

12

DRIVEpm**

92,196

52%

 

37

Real Cities Network

28,885

16%

13

AOL

91,597

52%

 

38

WEATHER.COM

28,445

16%

14

YAHOO.COM Home Page

90,974

51%

 

39

FACEBOOK.COM

26,649

15%

15

24/7 Real Media**

87,406

49%

 

40

Nickelodeon Kids & Family

22,974

13%

16

adconion media group**

81,119

46%

 

41

CareerBuilder Network

22,178

12%

17

PrecisionClick**

80,311

45%

 

42

CNN

21,657

12%

18

Tremor Media

76,932

43%

 

43

IMDB.COM

21,465

12%

19

CPX Interactive**

76,822

43%

 

44

Superpages.com Network

20,956

12%

20

Centro

75,307

42%

 

45

Lycos Network

20,737

12%

21

Burst Media**

71,864

40%

 

46

Disney Online

20,127

11%

22

EBAY.COM

71,508

40%

 

47

PHOTOBUCKET.COM

20,068

11%

23

AdBrite**

69,390

39%

 

48

Yellowpages.com Network

19,826

11%

24

MYSPACE.COM

68,939

39%

 

49

ARTISTdirect Network

19,168

11%

25

AdDynamix.com**

64,530

36%

 

50

WhitePages Network

17,702

10%

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

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

** Denotes an advertising network. 


About comScore Media Metrix

comScore Media Metrix, a division of comScore, Inc., provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report 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 used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers – while drawing upon comScore's advanced technologies to address important new industry requirements.  comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. 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 700 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Starcom USA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia.  For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.


Contact:
Andrew Lipsman
Senior Analyst
comScore, Inc.
312-775-6510
press@comscore.com