Olympics Take Gold and Silver in August Web Rankings

Comscore MMX Announces Top 50 U.S. Internet Property Rankings for August 2004

RESTON, Va., Sept. 22, 2004 – Comscore MMX today released its monthly analysis of consumer Internet behavior. This month’s report revealed that sites related to the summer Olympics took both the first and second spots in the August ranking of the top gaining properties. U.S. Olympic Team Sites and Athens2004.com each drew approximately 3 million visitors in August, while NBC Universal jumped more than 50 percent to claim the number 6 spot on the top gaining properties ranking.

Other highlights of online behavior in August include:

  • With scores of Americans squeezing in end-of-summer vacations, Web usage exhibited an expected slowdown in August, consistent with a seasonal pattern recorded by Comscore research for several years. The average amount of time online in August was 7 percent lower than in July.
  • As students of all ages prepared for the return to school, a number of Web sites saw seasonal bumps, including test preparation sites such as CollegeBoard, PrincetonReview.com and KapTest.com; athletic retailers, such as Foot Locker and TheSportsAuthority.com; and education and university sites, such as GreatSchools.net and UMich.edu.

“While we saw the traditional slowdown in overall Internet usage in August, the Olympics and the kickoff of the academic year still sparked significant spikes across a number of sites and categories,” said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of Comscore MMX. “With the presidential election less than two months away, a number of news publishers benefited from the Republican National Convention in late August.”

Sports Score Big in August
Three of the top ten gaining properties in August saw major increases as a result of the Summer Games. The top two gaining properties, U.S. Olympic Team Sites and Athens2004.com, each drew approximately 3 million visitors in August, up from less than 300,000 visitors in July. NBC Universal, which includes NBCOlympics.com, jumped by more than 50 percent to approximately 12 million unique visitors in August. NBCOlympics.com alone drew 5.8 million visitors, an increase of nearly 2,000 percent versus July.

With the NFL season now in full swing, fans looking to configure fantasy leagues or read about their favorite team’s prospects helped push the Sports category up 11 percent. NFL Internet Group and Sportsline both made the cut for the top gaining properties ranking, surging 86 and 34 percent respectively. Previous Comscore research has found that more than 6.5 million Americans participated in fantasy football activity last year – a number that is sure to increase this season.

Back to School Means Back to the Web
The month’s top gaining category, Careers – Training & Education, jumped by 15 percent as current and prospective students visited test preparation sites in droves. Nearly 1.3 million Americans visited CollegeBoard.com to learn about or prepare for the SAT – an increase of almost 50 percent versus July. PrincetonReview.com jumped 114 percent to 990,000 visitors, while its competitor’s site, KapTest.com, gained 64 percent to end with 470,000 visitors in August.

The Education category, home to both academically and commercially run sites such as AOL Research & Learn and Berkeley.edu, jumped 7 percent from July to August. GreatSchools.net, a non-profit information resource, grew by nearly 60 percent to 2.1 million visitors in August. Nearly every major university site saw substantial increases as students prepared to start or return to college.

A number of retailers also benefited from back-to-school shopping. The Sports/Outdoor category, which includes such retail sites as Foot Locker, TheSportsAuthority and DicksSportingGoods.com, jumped by 8 percent between July and August. Staples.com saw a 9-percent increase in visitors as students and their parents stocked up on supplies for the school year.

Promotional Activity Behind a Number of Significant Increases
Ranking at the number three spot on this month’s top gaining properties list, 3M Corporation surged more than 600 percent as a result of its highly visible “World’s Largest Pink Ribbon” promotion related to Cancer Awareness Month in October. A popular interactive slide show on the best places to live in the U.S. helped draw 3.6 million visitors to Forbes Property in August – an increase of 37 percent versus July. Continued, aggressive promotional activity by United Airlines drew 31 percent more visitors, an increase of well over one million.

Top 50 Properties
The composition of the top 5 properties remained static from July to August, and Viacom Online edged into the final spot in the August top 10 with a 1-percent increase in traffic. Buoyed by coverage of the Republican National Convention, Fox News contributed to an increase in visitation of more than 1 million visitors at News Corp. Online. This visitation increase pushed News Corp. Online up 8 spots to August’s number 38 ranking, the largest jump among properties ranked in July and August’s Top 50. Increased interest in USAToday.com’s coverage of sports and news drove Gannett Sites up 5 spots to August’s number 28 ranking, while coverage of the Summer Olympics and the NFL season paved the way for ESPN to climb 5 spots to number 32.

The increase in visitation to NBCOlympics.com helped NBC Universal climb 36 spots to land at number 41 in August. The eve of the NFL regular season served as a springboard for NFL Internet Group to jump 66 places and claim the final spot in August’s Top 50.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Comscore MMX’s ranking of advertising-supported media brands includes media properties, such as Yahoo! and MSN, as well as advertising networks, such as Advertising.com and MaxOnline. Instead of focusing on corporate ownership, this reporting mirrors, as closely as possible, the manner in which advertising is actually packaged and sold. With this ranking, media planners and buyers can more easily evaluate interactive marketing options on an equal footing.

From July to August, the composition and rank order of the top 5 Ad Focus entities remained static, while Ebay.com jumped 2 spots to claim the final place in August’s top 10. The turbulent tropical storm season propelled a 9-percent increase at Weather.com, and a corresponding 10-spot increase in its ranking landed it in August’s Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking at number 43. Olympic and political coverage combined to spark a 14-spot increase at MSNBC to secure the final spot in the Top 50 Ad Focus ranking.

TABLE 1

Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*
August 2004 vs. July 2004
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
Source: Comscore MMX

Property

Jul-04
(000)

Aug-04
(000)

Percentage Change

Rank by
Unique Visitors

Total Internet Users

156,775

157,769

1%

N/A

U.S Olympic Team Sites

N/A

2,958

N/A

218

ATHENS2004.COM

248

3,027

1121%

214

3M Corporation

442

3,154

614%

206

NFL Internet Group

5,852

10,907

86%

50

Student Advantage

2,147

3,411

59%

192

NBC Universal

7,925

11,972

51%

41

Forbes Property

2,614

3,573

37%

185

Sportsline.com Sites

3,645

4,881

34%

135

Department of Commerce

6,515

8,691

33%

68

Foot Locker Sites

2,165

2,846

31%

227

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in August

TABLE 2

Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors
August 2004 vs. July 2004
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
Source: Comscore MMX

Jul-04 (000)

Aug-04(000)

Percentage Change

Total Internet Users

156,775

157,769

1%

Careers - Training & Education

5,932

6,812

15%

Business/Financial - Online Trading

9,170

10,190

11%

Sports

51,675

57,252

11%

Retail - Sports/Outdoor

29,723

32,091

8%

Education

67,292

71,786

7%

Retail - Food

10,489

11,160

6%

Retail - Home

28,311

29,586

5%

Religion

9,753

10,175

4%

Shipping

19,706

20,540

4%

Retail - Consumer Goods

17,800

18,349

3%

TABLE 3

Top 50 Properties
Unique Visitors (000)
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
August 2004
Source: Comscore MMX

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Total Internet Users

157,769

1

Yahoo! Sites

113,112

26

Wal-Mart

16,244

2

Time Warner Network

112,068

27

AT&T Properties

15,851

3

MSN-Microsoft Sites

110,991

28

Gannett Sites

15,776

4

Google Sites

61,880

29

Bank of America

15,355

5

eBay

58,890

30

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

15,354

6

Ask Jeeves

38,867

31

Classmates.com Sites

15,233

7

Amazon Sites

33,146

32

ESPN

13,753

8

About/Primedia

33,003

33

CareerBuilder LLC

13,745

9

Terra Lycos

30,876

34

Comcast Corporation

13,712

10

Viacom Online

28,408

35

Trip Network Inc.

13,387

11

Monster Worldwide

26,718

36

ORBITZ.COM

13,283

12

Weather Channel, The

26,376

37

United Online, Inc

12,835

13

Real.com Network

25,346

38

News Corp. Online

12,811

14

Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG)

24,972

39

JPMorgan Chase Property

12,449

15

Verizon Communications Corporation

24,840

40

Macromedia

12,059

16

CNET Networks

21,389

41

NBC Universal

11,972

17

Symantec

20,181

42

Cox Enterprises Inc.

11,949

18

Expedia Travel

19,724

43

Travelocity

11,909

19

InfoSpace Network

19,578

44

Sony Online

11,747

20

Weatherbug.com Property

19,110

45

Target Corporation

11,702

21

Shopping.com Sites

19,025

46

Bizrate Sites

11,519

22

SBC Communications

18,107

47

Dell

11,085

23

Gorilla Nation Media

18,043

48

OVERSTOCK.COM

10,972

24

EA Online

17,380

49

Adobe Sites

10,950

25

Intermix Media

16,303

50

NFL Internet Group

10,907

TABLE 4

Ad Focus Ranking
Unique Visitors (000)
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
August 2004
Source: Comscore MMX

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Reach %

Rank

Property

Unique Visitors (000)

Reach %

Total Internet Users

157,769

100%

1

Advertising.com**

120,815

77%

26

AOL Search

35,055

22%

2

Yahoo!

111,265

71%

27

BURST! Media**

35,036

22%

3

MSN

96,205

61%

28

EBAY.COM Home Page

33,316

21%

4

AOL

85,649

54%

29

AOL Prop Search

32,426

21%

5

YAHOO.COM Home Page

73,499

47%

30

AIM.COM/AIM App

29,750

19%

6

Yahoo! Search

60,287

38%

31

Lycos

29,025

18%

7

GOOGLE.COM

59,859

38%

32

My Yahoo!

28,477

18%

8

Yahoo! Mail

59,147

37%

33

ClickAgents Network**

27,825

18%

9

Yahoo! Web Search

59,028

37%

34

Claria

27,577

17%

10

EBAY.COM

55,603

35%

35

WindowsMedia

26,902

17%

11

MSN Homepages

55,168

35%

36

Monster Worldwide

26,718

17%

12

Google Web Search

55,122

35%

37

AOL Screenname

26,387

17%

13

Tribal Fusion**

53,640

34%

38

AOL Entertainment

25,834

16%

14

MaxOnline**

49,380

31%

39

Yahoo! Messenger

25,484

16%

15

MSN.COM Home Page

49,279

31%

40

Yahoo! Geocities

25,411

16%

16

AOL Email

48,288

31%

41

AIMTODAY.COM

25,380

16%

17

AOL (APP)

47,789

30%

42

GATOR (App)

25,189

16%

18

MSN Search

45,965

29%

43

WEATHER.COM

24,843

16%

19

24/7 Real Media**

44,541

28%

44

Real.com Media Sites

24,637

16%

20

MSN Hotmail

44,376

28%

45

MSN Messenger Service

24,591

16%

21

ValueClick Media**

44,310

28%

46

WINDOWSMEDIA.COM

24,496

16%

22

MaxOnline Network**

43,528

28%

47

AOL Instant Message

23,160

15%

23

AOL Prop Email

42,411

27%

48

Yahoo! News

22,060

14%

24

Ask Jeeves

38,867

25%

49

Yahoo! Get Local

21,758

14%

25

MAPQUEST.COM

35,254

22%

50

MSNBC

21,702

14%

**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 Microsoft, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Knight Ridder Digital, Nestlé, Wells Fargo & Company, GlaxoSmithKline, and Orbitz. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

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