Star-Struck Observers Drawn to Space Shuttle Launch Online, Reports Comscore MMX

July Traffic to NASA.GOV Rises 60 Percent to Four Million Visitors

RESTON, VA, August 16, 2005 – Comscore MMX today released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at the top online properties and categories. In July, consumers were drawn to the Web by historic events such as the Discovery Space Shuttle launch and Lance Armstrong’s record-setting ride to a seventh Tour de France victory.

“Through the integration of video and other rich media into Web content, audiences can increasingly interact with world events, rather than just sitting back and watching,” noted Peter Daboll, president and CEO of Comscore MMX.

NASA Shuttle Launch Captivates Web Audience
With the nation anticipating the first shuttle mission since the February 2003 Columbia disaster, NASA.GOV shared the title as the Internet’s highest-gaining property in July 2005 as traffic increased 60 percent. More than 4 million people visited NASA.GOV in July, as the site featured special “Return To

Superstars and Cars Add To Hot Sites’ Sizzle
Activity at Nike.com was powered uphill by Lance Armstong’s unprecedented seventh-consecutive Tour de France title. The athletic shoe and apparel company, a long-time Armstrong sponsor, saw a 26-percent gain to 3.5 million unique visitors on strong interest in a page titled “Wear Yellow” that features video clips telling Armstrong’s story of overcoming cancer to dominate the cycling world.

Ford Motor Company was among the top ten gaining properties in July, rising 29 percent to 8.5 million visitors. The nation’s second-largest automaker drew online auto shoppers thanks to its “Ford Family Plan” promotion that featured employee discount pricing in response to similar offers from rivals General Motors and DaimlerChrysler.

Apple’s iTunes Continues To Evolve
The popularity of Apple’s iPod continues to drive music buffs to iTunes to download and manage their playlists. On June 28, a new version of the iTunes application was launched that allowed users to download Podcasts, sparking interest from loyal Podcasters and curious “iPodders” alike. iTunes.com also held its “500 Millionth Song” Contest, awarding the person who downloaded the site’s 500 millionth song a grand prize package including 10 iPods and concert tickets. In all, 5.4 million people visited iTunes in July, up 13 percent from June 2005. The growth of iTunes also helped push the Retail – Music category up 7 percent to 30.1 million visitors.

Travelers Look To Web As Summer Winds Up
With more Americans taking vacations in July, traffic to major travel-related categories such as Maps and Airlines increased. Navigation giants Mapquest and Yahoo! Maps continued to grow in July, each rising 4 percent with MapQuest topping the list at 47.4 million visitors. Quickly entering the scene is Google Maps, which saw 11.3 million visitors in July, driven by heavy interest in its Google Earth map application and Google Moon, a spoof of its own map site that shows where Apollo landings have taken place on the moon – and holds a humorous surprise for visitors that zoom in too close to the lunar surface.

Summer travel helped the Travel - Airlines category draw 31.9 million visitors in July, a total category increase of seven percent from June. Growth was driven by traffic surges at the category’s top two sites, Southwest.com (10.5 million unique visitors) and Delta Airlines (6.8 million unique visitors). Southwest.com gained 12 percent on a variety of low fare promotions, while Delta’s 10-percent increase in site traffic paralleled the company’s later report that it saw 6.1 percent more system traffic in July.

Top 50 Properties
July saw the Top 10 properties remain in the same order as in June. Notable gains in unique visitors were posted by Amazon Sites (5 percent) and Viacom Online (17 percent).

Boosted by the summer vacation appeal of its “Best Of” features and local content, IAC/InterActiveCorp unit Citysearch cracked the Top 50 properties at number 41, attracting 4.1 million more visitors in July than in June. MySpace.com continued its strong growth, gaining eight spots in July to land at number 22.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
In July, for the 15th consecutive month, Advertising.com finished atop the Ad Focus Ranking by reaching 80 percent of all Americans online as unique visitors grew 3 percent versus June. Yahoo! reached 69 percent of the U.S. online audience to finish at number two, and Fastclick reached 69 percent to finish at number three. AOL Media Network, after debuting in June, was number four, reaching 67 percent of all online Americans.

AdDynamix broke into the Top 50 in the Ad Focus Ranking in July, reaching 33 million Americans and finishing at number 19.

TABLE 1

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

Property

June-05 (000)

July-05 (000)

Percentage Change

Rank by Unique Visitors

Total Internet Population

166,625

167,444

0%

N/A

Classified Ventures

6,962

11,166

60%

66

NASA.GOV

2,533

4,061

60%

198

CitySearch

10,392

14,509

40%

41

IFILM.COM

2,737

3,756

37%

213

NFL Internet Group

5,281

7,224

37%

107

Department of Commerce

8,647

11,628

34%

62

Wikipedia Sites

7,359

9,865

32%

80

Ford Motor Company

6,620

8,540

29%

92

Nike

2,732

3,452

26%

239

WUNDERGROUND.COM

2,933

3,622

23%

225

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in July 2005

TABLE 2

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

June-05 (000)

July-05 (000)

Percentage Change

Total Internet Population

166,625

167,444

0%

Health – Pharmacy

12,557

14,298

14%

Community – Teens

21,260

24,060

13%

Entertainment – Radio

37,257

42,236

13%

Gambling – Online Gambling

26,814

30,040

12%

Business/Finance – Taxes

6,359

7,096

12%

Retail – Consumer Goods

21,995

23,593

7%

Directories/Resources – Maps

59,399

63,510

7%

Retail – Music

28,177

30,056

7%

Retail – Comparison Shopping

48,882

52,110

7%

Travel – Airlines

29,975

31,932

7%

TABLE 3

Top 50 Properties
July 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

167,444

1

Time Warner Network

119,144

26

Bank of America

19,705

2

Yahoo! Sites

119,032

27

Gannett Sites

19,440

3

MSN-Microsoft Sites

112,475

28

Classmates.com Sites

19,267

4

Google Sites

82,341

29

Weatherbug Property

19,019

5

eBay

61,715

30

United Online, Inc

18,116

6

Amazon Sites

41,982

31

Infospace Network

17,534

7

Ask Jeeves

39,375

32

Apple Computer, Inc.

17,438

8

Viacom Online

37,785

33

OVERSTOCK.COM

17,177

9

Vendare Media

32,903

34

Comcast Corporation

16,438

10

Verizon Communications Corporation

32,094

35

Shopzilla.com Sites

16,386

11

CNET Networks

30,691

36

ORBITZ.COM

16,134

12

Weather Channel, The

30,135

37

E.W. Scripps

15,650

13

Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG)

29,620

38

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

15,526

14

New York Times Digital

29,316

39

ESPN

14,890

15

Monster Worldwide

27,483

40

Cox Enterprises Inc.

14,536

16

Lycos, Inc.

26,415

41

Citysearch

14,509

17

Expedia Travel

26,141

42

Travelocity

14,420

18

Wal-Mart

22,641

43

CareerBuilder LLC

14,419

19

Real.com Network

22,397

44

Dell

14,239

20

Shopping.com Sites

22,391

45

Earthlink

14,083

21

Trip Network Inc.

21,753

46

Ticketmaster

14,050

22

MYSPACE.COM

21,215

47

Sears Sites

13,758

23

Gorilla Nation Media

20,702

48

Capital One

13,363

24

Target Corporation

20,537

49

Sony Online

13,297

25

AT&T Properties

19,881

50

JPMorgan Chase Property

13,294


TABLE 4

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

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Reach %

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Reach %

Total Internet Users

167,444

100%

1

Advertising.com**

134,241

80%

26

Expedia Travel

26,141

16%

2

Yahoo!

116,330

69%

27

ABOUT.COM

24,368

15%

3

Fastclick**

115,679

69%

28

CNN

22,751

14%

4

AOL Media Network

112,394

67%

29

AOL Business Network

22,703

14%

5

MSN

98,746

59%

30

MYSPACE.COM

21,215

13%

6

AOL

87,446

52%

31

CLASSMATES.COM

19,267

12%

7

Vendare Media - TrafficMarketplace**

87,181

52%

32

Disney Online

18,821

11%

8

GOOGLE.COM*

79,555

48%

33

WeatherBug

18,733

11%

9

Casale Media Network**

77,314

46%

34

SuperPages Network

17,769

11%

10

YAHOO.COM Home Page

75,945

45%

35

Travelocity All

17,285

10%

11

Tribal Fusion**

73,905

44%

36

CareerBuilder Network

16,713

10%

12

ValueClick Media**

61,691

37%

37

REAL.COM*

16,388

10%

13

EBAY.COM

57,695

34%

38

ORBITZ.COM

16,134

10%

14

24/7 Real Media**

56,343

34%

39

MaxOnline**

15,962

10%

15

BURST! Media**

56,290

34%

40

COOLSAVINGS.COM Total Activity

15,948

10%

16

MSN.COM Home Page

52,765

32%

41

CHEAPTICKETS.COM

15,882

9%

17

Ask Jeeves

39,375

24%

42

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

15,526

9%

18

EBAY.COM Home Page

38,143

23%

43

ESPN

14,890

9%

19

AdDynamix.com**

32,999

20%

44

CNET

14,730

9%

20

Vendare Media

32,903

20%

45

CITYSEARCH.COM*

14,696

9%

21

Business.com Network

31,272

19%

46

WebMD Health Network

13,749

8%

22

WEATHER.COM

28,316

17%

47

Netscape

13,720

8%

23

Gorilla Nation Media Network

27,481

16%

48

MONSTER.COM*

13,389

8%

24

MSNBC

27,380

16%

49

WhitePages Network

13,087

8%

25

Lycos Network

26,320

16%

50

IMDB.COM

13,072

8%


Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that views a particular entity at least once in July. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 69 percent of the over 167 million Internet users in July. 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 patent-pending 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, Bank of America, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, 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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