Audience Recommendations for Every Vertical
Yahoo! Sites Maintains Commanding Lead in Japanese Market
TOKYO, JAPAN, March 28, 2008 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its February 2008 rankings of the largest and fastest-growing Internet properties and site categories in Japan, based on data from the Comscore World Metrix audience measurement service. Valentine’s Day prompted growth in the retail-food and fragrances/cosmetics categories as women sent gifts to men to celebrate the holiday, while the government category grew as people prepared for tax season.
Mozilla was the fastest growing site in Japan, as it was in many countries around the world, due to the release of their updated Firefox browser. Traditionally February is a month when many musicians release new albums in Japan, leading several music information sites to experience increases, including Utapmap.com, Oricon.co.jp, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Yahoo! Sites continued their strong lead as the top web property in the Japanese market.
“Valentine’s Day has traditionally been celebrated in Japan with the women giving men gifts, especially chocolates, a practice that is slightly different from other parts of the world,” said Maru Sato, Managing Director of Comscore Japan. “As a result, traffic to retail-food sites saw a sharp increase for the month as people took advantage of the convenience of online shopping and ordering.”
Top Gaining Site Categories for February 2008
Top Gaining Site Categories by Number of Unique Japanese Visitors February 2008 vs. January 2007Age 15+ Home and Work Locations* Source: Comscore World Metrix
Site Category
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Jan-2008
Feb-2008
% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience
54,544
54,395
0
Retail - Food
1,677
1,991
19
Fragrances/Cosmetics
4,133
4,682
13
Lotto/Sweepstakes
1,608
1,817
Government
9,488
10,349
9
Job Search
4,660
5,036
8
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top Gaining Properties for February 2008
Top 10 Gaining Properties by Number of Japanese Unique Visitors* February 2008 vs. January 2008Age 15+ Home and Work Locations** Source: Comscore World Metrix
Property
The Mozilla Organization
2,005
2,738
37
COOKPAD.COM
2,218
2,948
33
Nissan
2,016
2,617
30
UTAMAP.COM
2,330
2,858
23
ORICON.CO.JP
5,520
6,404
16
IZA.NE.JP
6,279
7,148
14
Japan Airlines
2,322
2,622
BLOGMURA.COM
2,530
2,849
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
3,122
3,484
12
DAILYMOTION.COM
2,844
3,100
*Ranking based on the top 100 Japanese properties in February 2008.
** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top 25 Properties for February 2008
Top 25 Properties by Number of Japanese Unique Visitors* February 2008 vs. January 2008Age 15+ Home and Work Locations** Source: Comscore World Metrix
Feb-08Rank
Jan-08 Rank
Total Unique Visitors (000) Feb-08
N/A
1
Yahoo! Sites
42,906
2
Google Sites
33,250
3
Rakuten Inc
29,405
4
Microsoft Sites
28,958
5
6
FC2 inc.
27,550
NTT Group
26,580
7
10
GMO Internet Group
23,433
Livedoor
22,219
Nifty Corporation
22,185
Wikipedia Sites
20,906
11
Amazon Sites
18,124
Apple Inc.
15,941
NEC Corporation
15,381
15
Sony Online
15,217
Sakura Internet
15,166
Excite Japan
14,807
17
AMEBLO.JP
14,219
18
Internet Initiative Japan
12,848
KDDI Corporation
12,565
20
MIXI, Inc.
12,382
21
Hatena
12,224
22
SEESAA.NET
11,684
NICOVIDEO.JP
10,492
24
TRACKWORD.NET
10,288
25
DTIBLOG.COM
8,461
About Comscore Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate
PressBill DaddiDaddi Brand Communications646-370-1341press@comscore.com