Online Video Officially Goes Mainstream as YouTube.com Breaks Into the Comscore MMX Top 50

Traffic to Myspace Video Doubles in July; Yahoo! Video Leads the Pack with a 28-Percent Increase in Visitation versus June

Sweepstakes from McDonalds, Pepsi, Oprah and Publishers Clearing House Prove Successful in Attracting Visitors; Political Sites Surge as Primary Season Approaches

RESTON, VA, August 15, 2006 – Comscore MMX today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties and categories for July. Of note were the marked increases to political Web sites ahead of primary season, as well as the effectiveness of summer sweepstakes from McDonalds, Pepsi, Oprah and Publishers Clearing House that drove online traffic. Most noteworthy, however, was the popularity of online video, which continued to gain steam in July, as Youtube.com broke into the Comscore MMX Top 50 for the first time, debuting at number 40 with 16 million visitors, a 20-percent increase versus June. Video-mania also drove a two-fold increase in traffic to MySpace Videos, which had 20 million visitors, trailing only Yahoo! Video with 21.1 million visitors (up 28-percent from June).

“Consumers clearly view video as one of the most accessible, interesting and entertaining sources of content on the Web,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of Comscore MMX. “The trends we’re witnessing indicate that online video is emerging from its infancy and entering the mainstream. Many publishers and advertisers are responding to this trend, which means advertising dollars will continue to migrate online where consumers can be targeted with efficiency.”

The Web Plays an Increasingly Important Role in Politics

The25-percent increase in traffic to political Web sites, the largest-gaining category in July, was particularly noteworthy given the recent major upsets in political primaries in Connecticut, Georgia and Michigan. CapitolAdvantage.com, a site dedicated to connecting organizations to national and state elected officials, rated among the top sites in the category with 927,000 visitors, a 4-percent increase from June. Political news sites also drove category increases, including independent news site Worldnetdaily.com, which increased 22 percent to 500,000 visitors; Voice of America News (voanews.com), which jumped 50 percent to 368,000 visitors; and NationalReview.com, which rose 11 percent to 350,000 visitors.

“The Internet is becoming an important political forum in this country, especially as video and blogging become more prevalent,” said Flanagan. “Politicians recognize the inherent ability of the Internet to connect people and ideas, and it will be interesting to observe activity at political sites as the November elections approach.”

Americans Flock to Sweepstakes and Lotto in July

Lotto/Sweepstakes sites enjoyed a surge in traffic in July, rising 19 percent from June to 33.4 million visitors and ranking as the second-fastest growing category for the month. Some of the more noteworthy summer sweepstakes included:

  • Publishers Clearing House’s PCH.com, which led the category with 10 million visitors, a 59-percent increase versus the previous month
  • Piratesatmcd.com, the Pirates of the Caribbean McDonald’s sweepstakes site, which saw 3.6 million visitors. Traffic to the promotional site contributed to an 87-percent increase in traffic to the McDonald’s Web property overall, which drew a total of 5 million visitors
  • The Oprah Show Summer Sweepstakes, which gives viewers a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to an Oprah taping and contributed to a 42-percent increase in traffic to Oprah.com (3.7 million visitors)
  • The Pepsi Street Motion sweepstakes, which resulted in a 434-percent increase to 689,000 visitors to pepsistreetmotion.com

Additionally, the following state lottery sites saw traffic increases in July: CALottery.com (up 18 percent to 1.4 million), FLALottery.com (up 24 percent to 1.4 million), Powerball.com (up 9 percent to 1.4 million), TXLottery.com (up 11 percent to 827,000), OhioLottery.com (up 15 percent to 549,000), IllinoisLottery.com (up 12 percent to 360,000), MOLottery.com (up 18 percent to 360,000), MASSLottery.com (up 36 percent to 359,000) and NC-EducationLottery.org (up 6 percent to 345,000).

Americans Take to the Streets in July

Consumers continued to plan summer vacations throughout the month of July, driving traffic to Car Rental sites. Category visitation increased 9 percent to 7.1 million visitors, placing it among the top gaining categories for the month. Enterprise led the category with 2.4 million visitors, marking an 8-percent gain versus June, while traffic to Budget.com rose 32 percent to 2.3 million visitors. Hertz and Avis also experienced gains, up 9 percent to 1.9 million visitors and 1 percent to 1.7 million visitors, respectively.

As Americans prepared for these excursions, sites offering regional and local information saw a 9-percent increase to 97.6 million visitors. Leading the pack was the AOL Local Network, up 3 percent to 59.7 million visitors, followed by the Yahoo! Local Network with 34.3 million visitors (up 2 percent), and Real Cities Network with 28.6 million visitors (up 2 percent).

Real Estate and Moving Sites Attract Attention in July

Despite the sagging housing market, Americans continued to show an interest in real estate, as evidenced by the 7-percent increase in traffic to real estate and moving information sites. Move Network led the category with 11.2 million visitors, up 5-percent from June. MSN and AOL Real Estate each experienced impressive gains, with 5.1 million visitors (a 25-percent increase) and 4.2 million visitors (a 43-percent increase), respectively.

Top 50 Properties

Within the Top 50 Properties ranking, Yahoo! Sites retained its number one position, drawing more than 129 million unique visitors in July. Dell, Facebook.com, JPMorgan Chase, and Overstock.com all re-entered the ranking, each reaching more than 14 million unique visitors. Finally, ARTISTdirect Network enjoyed an eight-spot increase to number 36, drawing nearly 17 million unique visitors in July.

Top 50 Ad Focus

Advertising.com remained atop the Ad Focus ranking, reaching more than 84 percent of the 173.2 million Americans online. Also within the top 10, Tribal Fusion moved up one spot to number five, touching nearly 107 million unique visitors. Precision Click enjoyed a strong debut in the ranking, entering this month at number 15, while EA Online Games and CNET re-entered the ranking at numbers 47 and 50, respectively.

TABLE 1

Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*
July 2006 vs. June 2006
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
Source: Comscore MMX

Property

Jun-06
(000)

Jul-06
(000)

Percentage
Change

Rank by
Unique Visitors

Total Internet Population

172,907

173,191

0%

N/A

WildTangent Network

1,572

6,233

296%

144

McClatchy Corporation

2,772

7,012

153%

130

HI5.COM

2,102

4,030

92%

215

McDonald's

2,684

5,012

87%

185

IMAGESHACK.US

5,890

9,847

67%

87

PCH.COM

6,302

9,997

59%

85

THUMBPLAY.COM

3,516

5,325

51%

172

PartyGaming

4,582

6,712

46%

138

Yellow Book Network

2,883

4,188

45%

205

OPRAH.COM

2,585

3,658

42%

236

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in July 2006.

TABLE 2

Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors
July 2006 vs. June 2006
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
Source: Comscore MMX

Jun-06 (000)

Jul-06 (000)

Percentage Change

Total Internet : Total Audience

172,907

173,191

0%

Politics

6,478

8,101

25%

Lotto/Sweepstakes

28,028

33,366

19%

Education - Information

45,323

52,512

16%

Online Gambling

23,289

25,682

10%

Regional/Local

89,289

97,565

9%

Car Rental

6,507

7,110

9%

Coupons

18,806

20,316

8%

Real Estate

42,198

45,358

7%

Job Search

14,874

15,800

6%

Classifieds

35,255

37,423

6%

TABLE 3

Top 50 Properties
July 2006
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

173,191

1

Yahoo! Sites

129,439

26

Target Corporation

23,394

2

Time Warner Network

121,068

27

CBS Corporation

20,855

3

Microsoft Sites

117,791

28

Real.com Network

20,854

4

Google Sites

103,860

29

CareerBuilder LLC

20,802

5

eBay

75,814

30

Gannett Sites

19,661

6

MYSPACE.COM

54,522

31

Shopzilla.com Sites

18,602

7

Ask Network

52,061

32

Vendare Media

18,553

8

Amazon Sites

46,788

33

Comcast Corporation

17,644

9

New York Times Digital

38,133

34

ESPN

17,336

10

Verizon Communications Corporation

36,605

35

Cox Enterprises Inc.

17,126

11

Weather Channel, The

35,021

36

ARTISTdirect Network

16,959

12

Apple Computer, Inc.

31,102

37

Trip Network Inc.

16,518

13

Viacom Digital

30,767

38

WhitePages

16,450

14

CNET Networks

30,468

39

E.W. Scripps

16,094

15

Adobe Sites

30,122

40

YOUTUBE.COM

16,080

16

Expedia Inc

29,724

41

Weatherbug Property

16,016

17

Monster Worldwide

28,409

42

ORBITZ.COM

15,802

18

Wikipedia Sites

28,121

43

EA Online

15,681

19

United Online, Inc

26,788

44

Photobucket.com LLC

15,551

20

Wal-Mart

26,550

45

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

15,227

21

Gorilla Nation Media

26,448

46

Capital One

14,960

22

Disney Online

25,879

47

Dell

14,745

23

AT&T, Inc.

25,190

48

FACEBOOK.COM

14,365

24

Lycos, Inc.

23,688

49

JPMorgan Chase Property

14,361

25

Bank of America

23,500

50

OVERSTOCK.COM

14,335

TABLE 4

Ad Focus Ranking July 2006
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

173,191

100%

1

Advertising.com**

146,212

84%

26

EBAY.COM Home Page

37,992

22%

2

Yahoo!

128,381

74%

27

ABOUT.COM

32,736

19%

3

ValueClick**

127,694

74%

28

Business.com Network

27,871

16%

4

AOL Media Network

112,709

65%

29

Disney Online

25,879

15%

5

Tribal Fusion**

106,957

62%

30

WEATHER.COM

24,064

14%

6

Casale Media Network**

105,771

61%

31

Lycos Network

23,550

14%

7

MSN-Windows Live

99,912

58%

32

CareerBuilder Network

21,590

12%

8

Google

99,526

57%

33

CNN

20,648

12%

9

Vendare Media - TrafficMarketplace**

96,428

56%

34

EXPEDIA.COM*

20,225

12%

10

AOL

87,936

51%

35

GameDaily Custom Network

19,214

11%

11

24/7 Real Media**

85,940

50%

36

IMDB.COM

18,712

11%

12

YAHOO.COM Home Page

85,680

49%

37

Vendare Media

18,553

11%

13

Burst Media**

83,634

48%

38

SuperPages

17,905

10%

14

Tremor Network

71,001

41%

39

The WebMD Health Network

17,699

10%

15

PrecisionClick**

69,029

40%

40

ESPN

17,336

10%

16

DRIVEpm**

68,172

39%

41

ARTISTdirect Network

16,959

10%

17

EBAY.COM

67,413

39%

42

WhitePages Network

16,388

9%

18

AdBrite**

62,144

36%

43

Travelocity All

15,981

9%

19

Gorilla Nation Media Network

61,818

36%

44

WeatherBug

15,854

9%

20

Blue Lithium**

61,113

35%

45

ORBITZ.COM

15,802

9%

21

MSN.COM Home Page

54,869

32%

46

EA Online Syndicated Games

15,724

9%

22

MYSPACE.COM

54,522

31%

47

EA Online Games

15,572

9%

23

Ask Network

52,061

30%

48

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

15,227

9%

24

AdDynamix.com**

43,721

25%

49

WHITEPAGES.COM

15,194

9%

25

Vibrant Media**

39,072

23%

50

CNET

14,726

9%

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in July. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 74 percent of the more than 173 million Internet users in July.
* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.
** Denotes 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 is a global leader in measuring the digital age. 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 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, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

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

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