Holiday-Related Content Drove December Web Activity, According to Comscore MMX Top 50 Online Property Ranking

Visitation to Shipping, Jewelry/Luxury Goods and Music Sites Rose over Previous Month

RESTON, VA, January 17, 2006 – Comscore MMX today released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at top online properties and categories. As anticipated, holiday-related sites garnered strong traffic in December, with the strongest gains realized by shipping sites, jewelry/ luxury goods providers and retail – music outlets. December also saw a rise in visitation to multi-media content.

“Consumers once again turned to the Internet in December to aid them in all aspects of their holiday celebrations,” said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of Comscore MMX. “From purchasing and shipping gifts, to sending holiday greetings and finding recipes for holiday meals, Americans utilized the Web to aid in their holiday planning and preparations.”

AROUND THE WEB

Shipping – Traffic to shipping sites grew 31 percent over a year ago showing the largest growth of any category in December. UPS Sites led the category with 18.6 million visitors (up 42 percent), followed by USPS.com with 15.2 million visitors (up 45 percent), and FedEx.com with 11.4 million visitors (up 35 percent). Stamps.com, a site that allows consumers to print their own stamps from a home printer, also generated a 35 percent increase in December, thanks in part to a feature that allows customers to personalize stamps by uploading their favorite photos.

Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories – After a strong November, the Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories category demonstrated continued momentum, showing a 22 percent gain in unique visitors during December. RedEnvelope.com also achieved significant growth in December, drawing 2.4 million unique visitors, up 62 percent versus the prior month. Consumers’ increased comfort in purchasing high-ticket items online this year also drove significant growth for online high-end retailers including Tiffany & Co. (2 million visitors, up 47 percent), Kay Jewelers (1 million visitors, up 63 percent), and BurberryUSAOnline.com (313,000 visitors, up 128 percent).

Retail Music – Online music retail concluded a strong 2005 with a 22 percent increase in December, compared to the previous month. Barnes & Noble led the category with 9.5 million visitors, up 33 percent from November. Ranking a close second in the category, iTunes drew 9.3 million visitors (also up 33 percent), as iTunes gift certificates proved to be a popular gift this holiday season. Some retailers even found success piggybacking on the iPod/iTunes phenomenon. Soundsgood.com, an audiobook retailer, almost certainly benefited from the combined popularity of portable digital media players and the tradition of holiday book-gifting, as it drew 1 million visitors in December (up 144 percent).

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Spreading goodwill over the Internet during the holidays had a decidedly viral effect, as evidenced by the tremendous December growth in several sites devoted to multimedia content. Sites normally garnering very modest traffic saw visitation explode virtually overnight as friends and family members alike forwarded greetings, spoofs and humorous short videos.

  • Powerpres.com – Animated holiday greetings on Powerpres.com, featuring colorful characters like a car-driving elephant and a drum-playing penguin, drove 6.4 million visitors to the site. The viral nature of these greetings fueled an astounding increase over the 31,000 unique visitors that frequented the site in November.
  • ToonedIn.com – Multimedia site ToonedIn.com attracted 6.6 million visitors in December, driven by humorous “shorts” and trailers including seasonal offerings.
  • JacquieLawson.com – Jacquie Lawson’s animated e-cards were a holiday hit once again as her site drew 6.4 million visitors in December (up 202 percent). A seasonal favorite for years,Jacquie debuted several new e-cards this December, including ones entitled “The 12 Days of Christmas,” “The Christmas Fishbowl,” and “White Winter.”
  • MLB.com – Rumors of trades involving big-name players during Major League Baseball’s annual “Winter Meetings,” where front office executive meet to discuss trades and other personnel decisions, drew 6.8 million visitors to MLB.com, marking a 51 percent increase over the previous month.

Table 1

Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*
December 2005 vs. November 2005
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
Source: Comscore MMX

Property

Nov-05 (000)

Dec-05 (000)

Percentage Change

Rank by Unique Visitors

Total Internet Population

169,747

170,285

0

N/A

Powerpres.com

31

6,404

20,409

135

Blastcomm.com

20

3,710

18,243

225

Toonedin.com

169

6,601

3,817

131

Jacquielawson.com

2,115

6,388

202

136

Registrydefender.com

1,167

3,324

185

244

Nestle

3,380

6,638

96

130

Forbes Property

5,391

10,552

96

74

Adobe Sites

12,171

22,600

86

26

Roxio, Inc

2,824

4,388

55

189

MLB.com

4,511

6,822

51

127

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in December 2005.

TABLE 2

Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors
December 2005 vs. November 2005
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
Source: Comscore MMX

Nov-05 (000)

Dec-05 (000)

Percentage Change

Total Internet Population

169,747

170,285

0

Shipping

27,246

35,617

31

Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories

16,426

20,076

22

Retail - Music

28,584

34,751

22

Multimedia

63,734

77,118

21

Taxes

6,152

7,385

20

Gay/Lesbian

1,526

1,778

17

Sports/Outdoor

24,474

28,072

15

Mall

35,551

40,751

15

Consumer Electronics

54,967

62,049

13

Books

58,197

65,672

13

TABLE 3

Top 50 Properties
December 2005
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

170,285

1

Yahoo! Sites

127,132

26

Adobe Sites

22,600

2

MSN-Microsoft Sites

116,665

27

Expedia Inc

22,316

3

Time Warner Network

116,381

28

Gorilla Nation Media

22,232

4

Google Sites

93,124

29

Sears Sites

21,386

5

eBay

74,814

30

Real.com Network

21,233

6

Amazon Sites

57,604

31

Bank of America

20,546

7

Ask Jeeves

42,440

32

Gannett Sites

18,871

8

Wal-Mart

38,069

33

UPS Sites

18,687

9

Viacom Online

36,728

34

Circuit City Stores, Inc.

17,648

10

New York Times Digital

34,335

35

JCPenney Sites

17,610

11

Myspace.com

32,209

36

Trip Network Inc.

17,563

12

Verizon Communications Corp.

32,063

37

Wikipedia Sites

17,296

13

CNET Networks

31,407

38

Comcast Corporation

16,908

14

Target Corporation

31,178

39

E.W. Scripps

16,686

15

Weather Channel, The

30,512

40

Weatherbug Property

16,490

16

Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG)

29,939

41

Dell

16,403

17

Apple Computer, Inc.

27,906

42

Citysearch

15,924

18

United Online, Inc

27,906

43

ESPN

15,871

19

AT&T, Inc.

26,109

44

USPS.com

15,222

20

Vendare Media

24,706

45

WhitePages

15,002

21

Lycos, Inc.

24,672

46

Infospace Network

14,671

22

Monster Worldwide

24,443

47

NFL Internet Group

14,526

23

Best Buy Sites

23,976

48

Earthlink

14,482

24

Shopzilla.com Sites

23,172

49

Hewlett Packard

13,784

25

Overstock.com

22,917

50

AmericanGreetings Property

13,620

TABLE 4

Ad Focus Ranking
December 2005
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: Comscore MMX

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Reach %

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Reach %

Total Internet Users

170,285

100%

1

Advertising.com**

134,139

79%

26

Weather.com

28,164

17%

2

Yahoo!

124,597

73%

27

Vendare Media

24,706

15%

3

AOL Media Network

108,946

64%

28

Lycos Network

24,571

14%

4

Fastclick**

106,741

63%

29

MSNBC

24,391

14%

5

MSN

101,622

60%

30

Expedia Inc

22,316

13%

6

AOL

86,775

51%

31

CNN

19,472

11%

7

Google

86,461

51%

32

Disney Online

18,318

11%

8

Tribal Fusion**

81,383

48%

33

Bizrate.com

16,413

10%

9

Casale Media Network**

81,114

48%

34

WeatherBug

16,114

9%

10

Vendare Media - TrafficMarketplace**

80,125

47%

35

ESPN

15,871

9%

11

Yahoo.com Home Page

78,500

46%

36

CNET

15,836

9%

12

Blue Lithium**

72,605

43%

37

Classmates.com

15,816

9%

13

ValueClick Media**

65,296

38%

38

Citysearch.com

15,815

9%

14

Ebay.com

64,869

38%

39

IMDB.com

15,742

9%

15

24/7 Real Media**

64,716

38%

40

Mamma Media Solutions**

15,106

9%

16

BURST! Media**

62,539

37%

41

WhitePages Network

14,962

9%

17

Gorilla Nation Media Network

62,065

36%

42

Real.com

14,840

9%

18

MSN.com Home Page

53,857

32%

43

SuperPages Network

14,806

9%

19

Ask Jeeves

42,440

25%

44

Coolsavings.com Total Activity

14,314

8%

20

Ebay.com Home Page

40,530

24%

45

FOX Sports on MSN

14,234

8%

21

AdDynamix.com**

40,352

24%

46

MaxOnline**

14,198

8%

22

Vibrant Media**

34,764

20%

47

Cheaptickets.com

14,155

8%

23

Myspace.com

32,209

19%

48

Whitepages.com

13,988

8%

24

Business.com Network

30,488

18%

49

CareerBuilder Network

13,436

8%

25

About.com

29,942

18%

50

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

13,082

8%

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in December. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 73 percent of the more than 170 million Internet users in December. The notation “**” indicates that the 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 and attitudes. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given Comscore explicit 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 consultants 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 global leaders such as AOL, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Nestlé, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck 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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