comScore Media Metrix Releases Top 50 Web Rankings For May
RESTON, Va., June 15 /PRNewswire/ — 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 Apr-07 May-07 Percentage Rank by Property (000) (000) Change 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 May-07 Percentage (000) (000) 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 15,973 16,867 6 Goods/Accessories 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 Rank Property Unique Visitors Visitors (000) (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 20,956 Network 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 19,826 Network 9 Wikipedia Sites 48,743 34 Gannett Sites 19,262 10 New York Times Digital 43,603 35 ARTISTdirect 19,168 Network 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 17,116 Womens Network 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 23,669 48 NBC Universal 15,682 Corporation 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 Reach Rank Property Unique Reach Visitors % Visitors % (000) (000) Total Internet Users 177,487 100% 1 Advertising.com** 155,258 87% 26 Gorilla Nation 61,266 35% Media 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 52,811 30% Networks** 5 Casale Media 118,593 67% 30 MSN.COM Home Page 50,156 28% Network** 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 – 104,266 59% 34 YOUTUBE.COM 41,035 23% TrafficMarketplace** 10 Specific Media** 100,053 56% 35 Business.com 40,576 23% Network 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 90,974 51% 39 FACEBOOK.COM 26,649 15% Page 15 24/7 Real 87,406 49% 40 Nickelodeon 22,974 13% Media** Kids & Family 16 adconion media 81,119 46% 41 CareerBuilder 22,178 12% group** Network 17 PrecisionClick** 80,311 45% 42 CNN 21,657 12% 18 Tremor Media 76,932 43% 43 IMDB.COM 21,465 12% 19 CPX 76,822 43% 44 Superpages.com 20,956 12% Interactive** Network 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 19,826 11% Network 24 MYSPACE.COM 68,939 39% 49 ARTISTdirect 19,168 11% Network 25 AdDynamix.com** 64,530 36% 50 WhitePages 17,702 10% Network 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, Nestle, MBNA, Starcom USA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/.
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