Comscore MMX Announces Top 50 U.S. Internet Property Rankings for January 2004

On America’s Mind in January: Taxes, Politics and Diets

RESTON, Va. Feb. 17, 2004 – Comscore MMX today announced the Top 50 U.S. Internet Properties for the month of January 2004. In January, the total U.S. Internet population totaled 152.4 million users who spent an average of 28.9 hours online, an increase of 5 percent versus December. In January, tax, politics, diet and travel sites dominated the top-gaining properties and categories.

“Consumer behavior followed patterns that we’ve seen for several years and have come to expect, reflecting the official kickoff of the tax season and the unofficial start of the diet season,” said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of Comscore MMX. “But we also saw the effects of the Democratic primaries and unique news events, underscoring the degree to which the Web has become a natural extension and barometer of everyday life.”

Top 50 Properties
Six properties entered the Comscore MMX Top 50 Properties in January (see table 1). New partnerships with AOL and MSN helped CareerBuilder add 8 million unique visitors in January, propelling it nearly 60 spots to the number 25 position. Partly driven by travel industry seasonality, Travelocity and Trip Network joined market leaders Expedia and Orbitz in January’s Top 50. Other entrants to the Top 50 included E.W. Scripps, Adobe Sites and the MyFamily Network.

Of the properties in both the December and January Top 50 rankings, Gorilla Nation Media saw the largest gain, adding more than 4 million unique visitors to its network in January, primarily though the acquisition of CheatPlanet.com traffic. Other big gainers included Expedia, Orbitz and Gannett Sites, which moved up 16, 13 and 9 spots, respectively.

Tax, Politics and Diet Sites Dominate the Top Gaining Properties and Categories
This month, the top-gaining categories and properties were driven upward by a number of factors, including the kickoff of the tax season, the Democratic primaries and the close of the December holidays.

With W2 forms finding their way to millions of American mailboxes, it is no surprise that the Taxes category was the top gainer in January (see table 2). The category grew by 166 percent versus December and 9 percent versus year-ago levels. IRS.gov nearly tripled versus December to 10.5 million unique visitors as citizens braced themselves to view tax tables and schedules at the category’s largest site. HRBlock.com grew by a stunning 1,077 percent versus December, making it the month’s top gaining property (see table 3).

Recent research from Comscore Survey Solutions (see http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=414) has validated that political Web sites have a significant impact on Americans’ pre-election attitudes and behaviors. With the Democratic primary race heating up, the January Comscore MMX data confirm the scale of the audience that is open to this growing online influence.

In January, the Politics category drew 14 million visitors, representing an increase of 76 percent and making it the second largest gaining category. The increase was driven by gains at all major campaign sites, as well as AOL’s launch of ElectionGuide04.com, which drew 3.8 million unique visitors in January. Although Howard Dean’s campaign took a decidedly unfavorable turn in January, 729,000 visitors to DeanforAmerica.com helped the governor continue to hold the lead among Democratic candidate Web sites. Next in line were JohnKerry.com, Clark04.com and JohnEdwards2004.com with 496,000 unique visitors, 403,000 unique visitors and 298,000 unique visitors, respectively.

Whether determined to make good on their New Year’s resolutions or just to shed a few pounds gained over the holidays, Americans continued a January tradition of visiting diet sites in droves, driving the Health-Information category up by 19 percent versus December. eDiets.com, the category leader, drew 7.9 million unique visitors, an increase of 82 percent versus December. Other diet- and fitness-focused sites also saw substantial gains, including MensHealth.com (388 percent), Weight Watchers International (116 percent) and Atkins.com (80 percent).

The Classifieds and Careers categories both benefited from the growth of two major players: CareerBuilder and HotJobs. CareerBuilder grew by 8 million visitors or 110 percent in January, largely as a result of partnerships with AOL and MSN. HotJobs saw growth of 43 percent driven primarily by its $20,000 “signing bonus” sweepstakes promotion.

Both the Hotel/Resorts and Car Rental sub-categories saw seasonal jumps in visitors from December to January, as Web users began the process of planning spring and summer travel. Fresh from spending time with family over the December holidays, 12.5 million Americans turned to the Genealogy category to research their family history, an increase of more than 21 percent versus December.

Aside from IRS.gov, two other government sites ranked among the top ten gaining properties. The Mars rover mission and President Bush’s plans to send astronauts to the moon again launched NASA.gov into orbit with 6.1 million unique visitors, an increase of more than 150 percent versus the previous month. With the No Child Left Behind Act discussed in the media and President Bush’s State of the Union address, Ed.gov, the Web site of the U.S. Department of Education, jumped 72 percent to take the number 10 position.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Introduced in October 2003, Comscore MMX Ad Focus reporting provides a unique ranking of top Web entities that are supported in whole or in part by online advertising.

The composition of the top ten Ad Focus entities remained constant from December to January (see table 4), and half of these entities grew at a faster pace than the total Internet population (reflected in improved levels of reach). In addition, a 2-percent bump in unique visitors pushed MaxOnline into the top five Ad Focus entities for January. Finally, interest in a series of winter storms helped propel Weather.com up five positions to number 28 in the Ad Focus ranking.

TABLE 1

Top 50 Properties
January 2004
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: Comscore MMX

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors
(000)

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Total Internet Users

152,443

1

Yahoo! Sites

110,821

26

Ask Jeeves

15,597

2

MSN-Microsoft Sites

109,113

27

Weatherbug.com Property

15,311

3

Time Warner Network

107,977

28

SBC Communications

15,066

4

eBay

72,561

29

Cox Enterprises Inc.

14,740

5

Google Sites

60,463

30

Sony Online

14,712

6

Terra Lycos

48,335

31

Wal-Mart

14,631

7

About/Primedia

41,385

32

AT&T Properties

14,219

8

Amazon Sites

38,179

33

Gannett Sites

13,982

9

Viacom Online

26,494

34

Classmates.com Sites

13,917

10

Weather Channel, The

24,699

35

E.W. Scripps

13,633

11

Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG)

24,109

36

AmericanGreetings Property

13,421

12

Excite Network

23,791

37

eUniverse Network

13,332

13

CNET Networks

23,207

38

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

13,237

14

Verizon Communications Corporation

21,570

39

Adobe Sites

12,945

15

Real.com Network

21,473

40

United Online, Inc

12,882

16

Symantec

20,992

41

Dell

12,822

17

Tickle, Inc.

19,334

42

Travelocity

12,491

18

Gorilla Nation Media

18,128

43

Vivendi-Universal Sites

12,157

19

Monster Property

17,946

44

NFL Internet Group

11,658

20

Shopping.com Sites

17,295

45

MyFamily Network

11,570

21

InfoSpace Network

16,689

46

Trip Network Inc.

11,476

22

EA Online

16,647

47

Comcast Corporation

11,430

23

ORBITZ.COM

16,154

48

News Corp. Online

11,365

24

Expedia Travel

16,091

49

Womensforum Sites

11,214

25

CareerBuilder, Inc.

15,611

50

Hewlett Packard

11,068

TABLE 2

Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors
January 2004 vs. December 2003
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
Source: Comscore MMX

Dec-03(000)

Jan-04(000)

Percent Change

Total Internet Users

152,109

152,443

0.2%

Business/Finance-Taxes

6,937

18,426

165.6%

News/Information-Politics

7,870

13,973

77.5%

Directories/Resources-Classifieds

25,003

35,119

40.5%

Careers

35,022

43,679

24.7%

Travel-Hotels/Resorts

15,694

19,326

23.1%

Genealogy

10,289

12,489

21.4%

Health-Information

35,163

41,968

19.4%

Real Estate

25,708

30,420

18.3%

Hobbies/Lifestyles-Home

28,657

32,841

14.6%

Travel-Car Rental

3,530

4,003

13.4%

TABLE 3

Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percent Change in Unique Visitors*
January 2004 vs. December 2003
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
Source: Comscore MMX

Property

Dec-03
(000)

Jan-04
(000)

Percent
Change

Rank by
Unique Visitors

Total Internet Users

152,109

152,443

0.2%

N/A

HRBLOCK.COM

329

3,874

1077.4%

177

ARTISTdirect Sites

1,487

6,342

326.4%

103

IRS.GOV

3,524

10,511

198.2%

53

HOMEGAIN.COM

1,319

3,359

154.6%

204

NASA.GOV

2,425

6,115

152.2%

110

Weight Watchers International

2,330

5,033

116.0%

136

CareerBuilder, Inc.

7,429

15,611

110.1%

25

Intuit

4,659

9,452

102.9%

60

EDIETS.COM

4,317

7,873

82.4%

73

ED.GOV

3,090

5,309

71.8%

132

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in January

TABLE 4

Ad Focus Ranking
Unique Visitors (000)|
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
January 2004

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors
(000)

Reach %

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Reach %

Total Internet Users

152,443

100.0%

1

Yahoo!

107,913

70.8%

26

My Yahoo!

24,805

16.3%

2

Advertising.com**

107,346

70.4%

27

Excite Network

23,791

15.6%

3

MSN

98,326

64.5%

28

WEATHER.COM

23,707

15.6%

4

YAHOO.COM Home Page

71,687

47.0%

29

Yahoo! News

23,308

15.3%

5

MaxOnline**

59,265

38.9%

30

AOL Prop News

23,067

15.1%

6

Yahoo! Search

59,070

38.7%

31

ABOUT.COM

22,688

14.9%

7

GOOGLE.COM

58,634

38.5%

32

AOL.COM Home Page

21,842

14.3%

8

MaxOnline Network**

55,480

36.4%

33

Real.com Media Sites

21,462

14.1%

9

MSN.COM Home Page

53,593

35.2%

34

CNN

21,249

13.9%

10

Yahoo! Mail

53,249

34.9%

35

Yahoo! Messenger

20,998

13.8%

11

MSN Search

50,788

33.3%

36

REAL.COM

20,346

13.3%

12

AOL Proprietary

49,675

32.6%

37

Yahoo! Get Local

20,215

13.3%

13

MSN Hotmail

47,838

31.4%

38

BURST! Media Youths and Students**

19,894

13.0%

14

ValueClick Network**

47,799

31.4%

39

GATOR.COM

19,874

13.0%

15

Lycos

45,947

30.1%

40

Gator Sites

19,874

13.0%

16

AOL Prop Email

41,016

26.9%

41

Tickle, Inc.

19,334

12.7%

17

BURST! Media**

38,312

25.1%

42

TICKLE.COM

19,284

12.6%

18

Claria

36,137

23.7%

43

AOL Prop Personal Finance

19,252

12.6%

19

Yahoo! Geocities

34,461

22.6%

44

Yahoo! Messenger (App)

18,905

12.4%

20

AOL Prop Search

34,308

22.5%

45

Yahoo! Shopping

18,530

12.2%

21

24/7 Real Media**

33,455

21.9%

46

Netscape

18,474

12.1%

22

GATOR (App)

32,912

21.6%

47

ClickAgents Network**

18,401

12.1%

23

MAPQUEST.COM

27,421

18.0%

48

EA Online Syndicated Games

18,126

11.9%

24

AOL Prop Instant Message

26,182

17.2%

49

Monster Network

17,946

11.8%

25

MSN Messenger Service

25,168

16.5%

50

AOL Prop Member Directory

17,667

11.6%

**Indicates that this entity is an advertising network.

About Comscore MMX
Comscore MMX, a division of Comscore Networks, provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report – with unmatched accuracy - 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 MMX continues the tradition of quality and innovation established by its MMX syndicated Internet ratings - long recognized as the currency in online media measurement among financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers - while drawing upon Comscore's advanced technologies to address important new industry requirements. All Comscore MMX syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About Comscore Networks
Comscore Networks provides unparalleled insight into consumer behavior. This capability is based on a representative cross-section of more than 1.5 million global Internet users who have given Comscore explicit permission to confidentially capture their Web-wide browsing, buying and other transaction behavior, including offline purchasing. Through its patent-pending technology, Comscore measures what matters across the entire spectrum of surfing and buying behavior. This deep knowledge of customers and competitors helps clients design more powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. Comscore services are used by global leaders such as Microsoft, The Newspaper Association of America, Knight Ridder Digital, Best Buy, Verizon, Nestlé, Wells Fargo & Company, GlaxoSmithKline, and Orbitz. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

Press
Bill Daddi
Daddi Brand Communications
646-370-1341
press@comscore.com

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