The Comscore 2008 Digital Year in Review Report Highlights Key U.S. Digital Marketing Trends of the Past Year

Understanding the Landscape Vital to Digital Marketing Success in 2009

RESTON, VA, February 2, 2009 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a new report, The Comscore 2008 Digital Year in Review, which recaps key trends in U.S. digital marketing for the year. The comprehensive report highlights the key trends in several areas of digital marketing, including e-commerce, top-growing sites and site categories, search, online video, online advertising and mobile, and how digital marketers can capitalize on these trends in 2009.

To download a free copy of The Comscore 2008 Digital Year in Review report, please visit: http://www.comscore.com/2008-digital-review/

Job Search Leads as the Top-Gaining Site Category for 2008 in Tough Economic Environment

One of the trends that heavily affected U.S. Internet usage in 2008 was the economic meltdown, with several of the top gaining site categories reflecting the current environment. Notably, the Job Search category ranked as the top-gaining site category for the year, up 51 percent to nearly 19 million visitors in December 2008, as the millions of Americans affected by the deteriorating job market sought online job resources for assistance. Other top-gaining categories in 2008 included Coupons (up 46 percent to 31.6 million visitors), Politics (up 43 percent to 12 million visitors), and Classifieds (up 27 percent to nearly 53 million visitors).

Comscore Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)
December 2008 vs. December 2007
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Dec-07

Dec-08

% Change

Total Internet : Total Audience

183,619

190,650

4

Job Search

12,445

18,826

51

Women

69,854

102,146

46

Coupons

21,624

31,574

46

Politics

8,384

11,992

43

Gay/Lesbian

2,367

3,340

41

Online Gambling

12,741

17,340

36

Radio

50,285

65,386

30

Family

55,607

71,832

29

Online Gaming

67,457

85,977

27

Classifieds

41,688

52,813

27

Other key findings highlighted in the report include:

  • Search query volume on the five core search engines increased 21 percent in 2008 from the previous year, with Google Sites accounting for nearly 90 percent of this growth.
  • Online video viewing accounted for 12.5 percent of Americans’ total time spent on the Internet in November 2008, up from 8.5 percent the previous year.
  • U.S. Internet users viewed a total of 4.5 trillion display ads during the past twelve months, with the average person viewing more than 2,000 ads per month.
  • Retail (non-travel) e-commerce spending grew 6 percent to $130.1 billion in 2008. The year ranked as the softest year for retail e-commerce spending growth since Comscore began tracking the industry in 2001.
  • The mobile industry continued to witness the growing popularity of smartphones in 2008 with subscriptions to smartphones increasing more than 100 percent during the year.

About Comscore

Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Contact:
Sarah Radwanick
Director, Regional Product Marketing
Comscore, Inc.
+44 (0) 20 7099 1784
worldpress@comscore.com