comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for April
RESTON, Va., May 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — comScore, Inc. , a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for April 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. April saw Google Sites attain the number one spot in the Top 50 U.S. Properties ranking for the first time in its history with a total audience of more than 141 million visitors. Content categories showing gains in April included job search, career resources, and television sites.
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“April was a very active month. Google took the top property position, thanks to continued search growth and rapid growth at YouTube,” commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “The significant traffic growth at tax sites, which began in January, reached a crescendo by the tax filing deadline on April 15 as taxpayers sought information, forms, and online filing facilities. The return of the network television programs after the writers strike sent fans to a variety of sites to get information on their favorite shows, catch up on episodes they may have missed, get refreshed on plotlines, and to stream new episodes.”
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites captured the top position in the Top Properties ranking for the first time, reaching 141 million Americans in April. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 140.6 million visitors, followed by Microsoft Sites with 121.2 million visitors. Superpages.com Network and CareerBuilder LLC both jumped eight spots in the ranking to positions 18 and 30, respectively.
Deadline Drives Traffic to Tax Sites
Americans racing to file their taxes by April 15 propelled gains at several tax-related sites. IRS.gov grew 35 percent to 23.4 million visitors, ranking as one of the top-gaining properties for the month. Intuit rose 11 percent to 13.3 million visitors, while TaxACT drew 5.2 million visitors and H&R Block attracted 4.2 million visitors.
Job Search and Career Sites Experience Gains Fueled by Graduates and the Economy
Job search and career resource sites both experienced gains in April, as impending college graduations and an uncertain economy had Americans taking steps to control their careers. The job search category grew 5 percent increase to 17.2 million visitors, led by gains at Indeed.com Job Search (up 10 percent to 4.7 million visitors), SimplyHired.com Sites (up 29 percent to 3 million visitors), and AOL Find a Job by CareerBuilder.com Job Search (up 22 percent to 1.4 million visitors). The career resources category saw a 3-percent increase during the month to 44 million visitors, led by CareerBuilder LLC with 23.9 million visitors.
Television Sites Gain as New Episodes Air
With the writers strike resolved, many television shows finally returned to the airwaves in April with new episodes, causing the TV category to increase 4 percent to 93.2 million visitors. Yahoo! TV led the category with 15.6 million visitors, a 38-percent increase versus the previous month, followed by AOL Television with 12.5 million visitors and MySpace TV with 12 million visitors. Significant gains were also achieved by MSN TV (up 21 percent to 11.7 million visitors) and ABC.com (up 18 percent to 9 million visitors).
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Platform-A continued to lead the Ad Focus ranking, reaching 89 percent of the more than 190 million Americans online in April. Turn, Inc. jumped 10 positions to #32, reaching 32 percent of the online population. National Newspaper Network introduced two Ad Focus entities in April, NNN Top 25 and NNN Top 10, which entered the rankings at position 40 and 50, respectively.
TABLE 1 comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.) April 2008 vs. March 2008 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix Total Unique Visitors (000) Rank by Unique Mar-08 Apr-08 % Change Visitors Total Internet : Total Audience 188,010 190,728 1 N/A PlayList.com 5,548 7,632 38 137 MLB.com 9,799 13,318 36 76 IRS.gov 17,311 23,354 35 34 TheStreet.com Sites 3,733 4,667 25 238 Chrysler LLC 4,167 5,149 24 209 CondeNast Publications – CondeNet Network 8,760 10,563 21 97 Lowes.com 8,728 10,445 20 99 Womensforum.com Sites 6,150 7,252 18 149 Yum! Brands Inc. 4,109 4,845 18 224 ABC.com 7,667 9,032 18 111 * Ranking based on the top 250 properties in April 2008 TABLE 2 comScore Top 10 Gaining Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.) April 2008 vs. March 2008 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix Total Unique Visitors (000) Mar-08 Apr-08 % Change Total Internet : Total Audience 188,010 190,728 1 Pharmacy 16,730 18,105 8 Retail – Food 15,097 16,234 8 Fragrances/Cosmetics 18,266 19,574 7 Job Search 16,384 17,175 5 Community – Women 78,030 81,487 4 Entertainment – TV 89,590 93,222 4 Business/Finance – News/Research 61,549 64,043 4 Career Resources 42,562 43,997 3 Hobbies/Lifestyle – Home 44,349 45,526 3 Car Rental 6,125 6,287 3 TABLE 3 comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.) April 2008 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Unique Visitors (000) Source: comScore Media Metrix Unique Unique Rank Property Visitors Visitors (000) Rank Property (000) Total Internet: Total Audience 190,728 1 Google Sites 141,080 26 Disney Online 25,171 2 Yahoo! Sites 140,613 27 Shopzilla.com Sites 25,154 3 Microsoft Sites 121,213 28 Gorilla Nation 25,045 4 AOL LLC 111,277 29 Comcast Corporation 24,192 5 Fox Interactive Media 87,527 30 CareerBuilder LLC 23,942 6 eBay 80,903 31 Bank of America 23,906 7 Wikipedia Sites 58,812 32 United Online, Inc 23,824 8 Amazon Sites 58,057 33 Expedia Inc 23,531 9 Ask Network 54,086 34 IRS.gov 23,354 10 Time Warner – Excluding AOL 52,544 35 Yellowpages.com Network 23,168 11 Apple Inc. 47,849 36 Gannett Sites 23,128 12 New York Times Digital 47,250 37 Photobucket.com LLC 22,551 13 Viacom Digital 44,772 38 ESPN 21,423 14 Facebook.com 35,652 39 Monster Worldwide 20,860 15 Weather Channel, The 34,913 40 iVillage.com: The Womens Network 19,955 16 Glam Media 34,684 41 WebMD Health 19,852 17 CNET Networks 32,370 42 Atrinsic, Inc. 19,792 18 Superpages.com Network 30,564 43 Demand Media 19,758 19 Adobe Sites 30,557 44 Real.com Network 19,291 20 craigslist, inc. 30,344 45 E.W. Scripps 19,263 21 AT&T, Inc. 29,863 46 WordPress 18,570 22 Wal-Mart 29,221 47 Cox Enterprises Inc. 18,404 23 Target Corporation 29,082 48 Answers.com Sites 18,109 24 Verizon Communications Corporation 27,748 49 NBC Universal 17,692 25 CBS Corporation 25,286 50 WorldNow – ABC Owned Sites 17,564 TABLE 4 comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.) April 2008 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Unique Visitors (000) Source: comScore Media Metrix Unique Unique Visitors Reach Visitors Reach Rank Property (000) % Rank Property (000) % Total Internet : Total Audience 190,728 100.0 1 Platform-A** 170,508 89% 26 MySpace.com* 72,214 38% 2 Advertising.com**167,749 88% 27 CPX Interactive**69,178 36% 3 Yahoo! Network** 160,206 84% 28 eBay.com 66,588 35% 4 Google Ad Network** 155,882 82% 29 Ybrant/AdDynamix Network** 66,341 35% 5 Specific Media** 144,773 76% 30 YouTube.com 66,236 35% 6 ValueClick Networks** 140,930 74% 31 Gorilla Nation Media 66,009 35% 7 Yahoo! 138,912 73% 32 Turn, Inc** 60,617 32% 8 Tribal Fusion** 135,113 71% 33 Quigo** 60,347 32% 9 Google 133,528 70% 34 MSN.COM Home Page 57,301 30% 10 Casale Media Network** 127,184 67% 35 Ask Network 54,086 28% 11 DRIVEpm** 119,595 63% 36 Kontera** 52,159 27% 12 adconion media group** 117,965 62% 37 Real Cities Network 48,015 25% 13 Traffic Marketplace** 114,682 60% 38 MapQuest 47,535 25% 14 AOL Media Network 111,277 58% 39 Amazon.com 47,274 25% 15 interCLICK** 107,961 57% 40 NNN Top 25 47,153 25% 16 MSN-Windows Live 107,336 56% 41 IB Local Network 46,827 25% 17 Tremor Media – Media Partners 101,929 53% 42 PrecisionClick** 45,622 24% 18 24/7 Real Media** 99,959 52% 43 Business.com Network 44,304 23% 19 ADSDAQ by ContextWeb** 93,815 49% 44 Vizi Inc** 44,127 23% 20 Burst Media** 89,670 47% 45 YuMe Video Network 43,137 23% 21 Collective Media** 88,279 46% 46 eBay.com Home Page 40,511 21% 22 AdBrite** 81,838 43% 47 About 40,346 21% 23 Centro 80,258 42% 48 IACAS Network 39,286 21% 24 Undertone Networks** 72,940 38% 49 The Nabbr Network – Exclusive Media Partners 38,575 20% 25 Vibrant Media** 72,351 38% 50 NNN Top 10 37,211 20% Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in April. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 73 percent of the more than 190 million Internet users in April. * Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities. ** Denotes an advertising network. About comScore Media Metrix
comScore Media Metrix 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 reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.
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