Comscore MMX Releases Top 50 Web Rankings for June
School Vacation Spurs Traffic Increase to Online Gaming Sites;
Gambling Sites Gain in Advance of World Series of Poker
RESTON, VA, July 16, 2007 – Comscore (NASDAQ: SCOR) MMX today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties for June 2007. The month saw traffic increase to gaming sites as schools let out for summer and gambling sites in anticipation of the upcoming World Series of Poker (WSOP). June also saw gains for entertainment news sites with the buzz about Paris Hilton’s jail sentence, hotels/resorts sites with the summer travel season swinging into high gear, and gay/lesbian sites with the celebration of Pride Month.
“With gaming consoles like Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 on the market, online gaming continues to have a wide mainstream following,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of Comscore MMX. “As schools let out for summer vacation in June, it’s not surprising to see a popular leisure pursuit like online gaming experience a jump in activity.”
Interest in Online Gaming Increases Traffic to Sites in June
Both the online gaming information and online gaming categories gained in June, bolstered by significant growth among the under 18 demographic. The gaming information category, composed of sites that offer players the latest gaming tips and news, grew 9 percent to 42.8 million visitors, buoyed by strong growth at IGN entertainment (up 17 percent to 10.4 million visitors), Nintendo Co. (up 26 percent to 4.3 million visitors) and EA.com (up 41 percent to 1.8 million visitors). The online gaming category also grew in June, gaining 8 percent to nearly 64 million visitors. Sites catering to younger individuals saw significant gains within the category, including Disney Games (up 38 percent to 6.3 million visitors) and Neopets (up 29 percent to 4.8 million visitors).
World Series of Poker Sparks Growth to Gambling Sites
As excitement mounted for the approaching 2007 World Series of Poker, the online gambling category increased 13 percent to 12.5 million visitors. With several online poker sites hosting WSOP satellite tournaments in advance of the main event, many sites experienced gains including PokerStars (up 17 percent increase to 1.6 million visitors), FullTiltPoker (up 10 percent to 1.1 million visitors) and UltimateBet.com Online Poker (up 16 percent to 466,000 visitors).
Online Radio Ranks as Top-Gaining Category in June
Radio sites surged 34 percent to 48.9 million visitors in June, making it the top gaining category for the month. Yahoo! Music led the category with more than 25 million visitors (up 11 percent), while AOL Radio (up 11 percent to 3.2 million visitors) and Disney Music (up 16 percent to nearly 1.5 million visitors) both saw significant gains for the month.
Entertainment News Sees Jump with Paris Hilton Media Frenzy
Americans’ fascination with celebrities spurred growth in the entertainment news category, which saw a 7-percent increase to 42.1 million visitors in June. Largely fueled by national interest in the Paris Hilton scandal, traffic to entertainment news site TMZ surged 37 percent to 9.4 million visitors for the month, while People experienced a 6-percent increase to 6.1 million visitors. The tragic news of the deaths of professional wrestler Chris Benoit and his family drove a flood of traffic to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which jumped 117 percent to 8.4 million visitors.
Pride Month Boosts Traffic to Gay and Lesbian Sites
Traffic to gay/lesbian sites jumped 23 percent in June to nearly 3 million visitors as people across the nation celebrated Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. The category was led by PlanetOut with 742,000 visitors (up 19 percent), followed by Queer Sighted with 563,000 visitors (up 116 percent), and LOGOonline with 454,000 visitors (up 17 percent).
Summer Vacations Continue to Bring Traffic to Travel Sites in June
Continuing the trend from last month, visitation to travel sites once again increased. Traffic to the hotels/resorts category saw an 8-percent increase to 34.6 million visitors for the month. The category was led by Hotels.com with 6.6 million visitors (up 10 percent), followed by Marriott with 5.3 million visitors (up 2 percent) and Disney Travel with 4.8 million visitors (up 11 percent). Although falling just outside of the top 10 gaining categories, the travel information category increased 7 percent versus May to 45.1 million visitors.
Top 50 Properties
Yahoo! Sites remained in the top position for the month of June, drawing more than 133 million visitors. Moving up one spot to the number two position, Google Sites attracted nearly 124 million visitors, while Apple Inc. claimed the number 10 spot with 44 million visitors as the iPhone launch bolstered traffic. Shopzilla.com Sites and Comcast Corporation each gained four spots to attain the number 32 and 35 positions, respectively. Finally, Citysearch and The Mozilla Organization both entered the Top 50 Ranking in June, each attracting more than 15 million visitors.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
In June, Advertising.com reached 88 percent of the U.S. online population to retain its number one position for the 38th consecutive month. ValueClick gained one spot to claim the number two position, while Specific Media enjoyed a three-spot jump to number seven, reaching 66 percent of Americans online. Interclick gained four positions to land at number 29 in the ranking, and Disney Online jumped five spots to number 41. Expedia.com also re-entered the ranking at number 48 in June, reaching 11 percent of Americans online.
TABLE 1
Comscore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.) | ||||
Property | May-07 (000) | Jun-07 (000) | Percentage Change | Rank by Unique Visitors |
Total Internet : Total Audience | 177,487 | 178,839 | 1 | N/A |
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) | 3,880 | 8,407 | 117 | 112 |
Hearst Digital Media | 3,156 | 5,598 | 77 | 172 |
The Mozilla Organization | 10,112 | 15,457 | 53 | 49 |
Coca-Cola Company | 4,280 | 6,137 | 43 | 155 |
LIME.COM | 2,964 | 4,186 | 41 | 238 |
JOB.COM | 3,317 | 4,574 | 38 | 215 |
PROJECTPLAYLIST.COM | 3,999 | 5,433 | 36 | 176 |
Buzznet | 3,188 | 4,278 | 34 | 229 |
Mars,Inc. | 4,575 | 6,127 | 34 | 156 |
DIGG.COM | 3,334 | 4,353 | 31 | 224 |
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in June 2007
TABLE 2
Comscore Top 10 Gaining Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.) | |||
May-07 (000) | Jun-07 (000) | Percentage Change | |
Total Internet : Total Audience | 177,487 | 178,839 | 1 |
Radio | 36,487 | 48,928 | 34 |
Gay/Lesbian | 2,422 | 2,985 | 23 |
Online Gambling | 11,058 | 12,470 | 13 |
Gaming Information | 39,236 | 42,827 | 9 |
Coupons | 18,991 | 20,720 | 9 |
Hotels/Resorts | 31,940 | 34,583 | 8 |
Online Gaming | 59,148 | 63,998 | 8 |
Entertainment - News | 39,139 | 42,057 | 7 |
Women | 60,001 | 64,261 | 7 |
Personals | 23,029 | 24,653 | 7 |
TABLE 3
Comscore Top 50 Properties (U.S.) | ||||||
Rank | Property | Unique Visitors (000) | Rank | Property | Unique Visitors (000) | |
Total Internet Users | 178,839 | |||||
1 | Yahoo! Sites | 133,093 | 26 | Bank of America | 23,240 | |
2 | Google Sites | 123,601 | 27 | Photobucket.com LLC | 22,873 | |
3 | Time Warner Network | 123,379 | 28 | CRAIGSLIST.ORG | 22,529 | |
4 | Microsoft Sites | 116,824 | 29 | CBS Corporation | 21,838 | |
5 | Fox Interactive Media | 83,598 | 30 | CareerBuilder LLC | 21,723 | |
6 | eBay | 81,224 | 31 | Superpages.com Network | 21,426 | |
7 | Amazon Sites | 53,285 | 32 | Shopzilla.com Sites | 21,417 | |
8 | Ask Network | 52,600 | 33 | Lycos Sites | 20,900 | |
9 | Wikipedia Sites | 47,031 | 34 | Yellowpages.com Network | 19,340 | |
10 | Apple Inc. | 44,114 | 35 | Comcast Corporation | 19,267 | |
11 | New York Times Digital | 42,718 | 36 | ARTISTdirect Network | 19,157 | |
12 | Viacom Digital | 42,212 | 37 | Real.com Network | 19,130 | |
13 | Weather Channel, The | 39,865 | 38 | Travelport | 19,119 | |
14 | Adobe Sites | 36,441 | 39 | Glam Media | 19,075 | |
15 | CNET Networks | 31,023 | 40 | Gannett Sites | 18,999 | |
16 | Gorilla Nation | 30,721 | 41 | ESPN | 17,473 | |
17 | AT&T, Inc. | 29,992 | 42 | Cox Enterprises Inc. | 17,370 | |
18 | Target Corporation | 28,323 | 43 | WebMD Health | 17,127 | |
19 | Expedia Inc | 28,238 | 44 | WhitePages | 16,727 | |
20 | FACEBOOK.COM | 27,965 | 45 | Weatherbug Property | 16,375 | |
21 | Wal-Mart | 27,922 | 46 | Citysearch | 15,737 | |
22 | Monster Worldwide | 25,825 | 47 | iVillage.com: The Womens Network | 15,544 | |
23 | United Online, Inc | 24,199 | 48 | Oversee.net Network | 15,518 | |
24 | Verizon Communications Corporation | 23,876 | 49 | The Mozilla Organization | 15,457 | |
25 | Disney Online | 23,443 | 50 | Ticketmaster | 15,393 |
TABLE 4
Comscore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.) | ||||||||
Rank | Property | Unique Visitors (000) | Reach % | Rank | Property | Unique Visitors (000) | Reach % | |
Total Internet Users | 178,839 | 100% | ||||||
1 | Advertising.com** | 157,639 | 88% | 26 | Vibrant Media** | 65,018 | 36% | |
2 | ValueClick** | 132,404 | 74% | 27 | AdDynamix.com** | 63,825 | 36% | |
3 | Yahoo! | 131,559 | 74% | 28 | Gorilla Nation Media | 62,299 | 35% | |
4 | Tribal Fusion** | 125,358 | 70% | 29 | Interclick** | 53,796 | 30% | |
5 | Casale Media Network** | 120,527 | 67% | 30 | MSN.COM Home Page | 53,232 | 30% | |
6 | Blue Lithium** | 119,439 | 67% | 31 | Undertone Networks** | 52,783 | 30% | |
7 | Specific Media** | 118,640 | 66% | 32 | Ask Network | 52,600 | 29% | |
8 | 116,632 | 65% | 33 | EBAY.COM Home Page | 45,306 | 25% | ||
9 | AOL Media Network | 114,043 | 64% | 34 | Business.com Network | 43,611 | 24% | |
10 | Connexus - TrafficMarketplace** | 110,635 | 62% | 35 | YOUTUBE.COM | 42,986 | 24% | |
11 | MSN-Windows Live | 103,300 | 58% | 36 | ABOUT.COM | 36,815 | 21% | |
12 | DRIVEpm** | 95,719 | 54% | 37 | WEATHER.COM | 29,580 | 17% | |
13 | YAHOO.COM Home Page | 93,755 | 52% | 38 | FACEBOOK.COM | 27,965 | 16% | |
14 | 24/7 Real Media** | 91,556 | 51% | 39 | Real Cities Network | 27,302 | 15% | |
15 | AOL | 91,432 | 51% | 40 | Nick Kids & Family | 25,237 | 14% | |
16 | Tremor Media | 85,358 | 48% | 41 | Disney Online | 23,443 | 13% | |
17 | PrecisionClick** | 79,629 | 45% | 42 | CareerBuilder Network | 22,767 | 13% | |
18 | adconion media group** | 79,474 | 44% | 43 | CNN | 22,375 | 13% | |
19 | CPX Interactive** | 77,247 | 43% | 44 | PHOTOBUCKET.COM | 22,371 | 13% | |
20 | Centro | 74,599 | 42% | 45 | IMDB.COM | 21,862 | 12% | |
21 | Burst Media** | 73,686 | 41% | 46 | Superpages.com Network | 21,426 | 12% | |
22 | EBAY.COM | 72,368 | 40% | 47 | Lycos Network | 20,479 | 11% | |
23 | AdBrite** | 71,923 | 40% | 48 | EXPEDIA.COM* | 19,360 | 11% | |
24 | MYSPACE.COM | 70,478 | 39% | 49 | Yellowpages.com Network | 19,340 | 11% | |
25 | ContextWeb** | 65,150 | 36% | 50 | ARTISTdirect Network | 19,157 | 11% |
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in June. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 74 percent of the more than 178 million Internet users in June.
* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.
** Denotes an advertising network.
About Comscore MMX
Comscore MMX, a division of Comscore, Inc., provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report 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 reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. Comscore MMX syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.
About Comscore
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. 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 analysts 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 more than 700 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Starcom USA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.
Contact:
Sarah Radwanick
Director, Regional Product Marketing
Comscore, Inc.
+44 (0) 20 7099 1784
worldpress@comscore.com