Comscore MMX Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties For December 2008

Traffic to Retail Sites Grows Despite Disappointing Holiday Sales

Google Sites Reach Nearly 80 Percent of Americans Online

RESTON, VA, January 15, 2008 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for December 2008 based on data from the Comscore MMX service. The holiday shopping season drove increased traffic to retail sites as consumers browsed merchandise and sought deals online. Shipping and Weather sites also saw gains as Americans eagerly anticipated the arrival of their packages and holiday guests.

“The holiday shopping season continued to be the main driver of online activity in December, with retail sites being the primary beneficiaries,” commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of Comscore MMX. “While enticing discounts and incentives were enough to attract holiday shoppers to browse online, consumers did not open their wallets as they have in past years as online sales declined 3 percent versus last year amid the tougher economic climate.”

Retail Sites Realize Seasonal Traffic Gains Despite Soft Online Holiday Sales

Traffic to retail sites grew in December as consumers searched for holiday gifts and discounts. Retail – Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories surged 30 percent to 25 million visitors to rank as the top-gaining category for the month.
Retail – Sports/Outdoor sites also posted strong growth for the month increasing 24 percent to more than 38 million visitors. The top ten sites in the category all witnessed double-digit increases, including DicksSportingGoods.com (up 57 percent to 4.8 million visitors) and SportsAuthority.com (up 61 percent to 3.3 million visitors).
Other retail categories among the top-ten included Retail – Music (up 24 percent to 26 million visitors), Retail – Flowers/Gifts/Greeting (up 17 percent to 45.7 million visitors) and Retail – Computer Software (up 14 percent to 30.2 million visitors).

Shipping Category Surges as Consumers Rush to Send Holiday Gifts

Traffic to shipping sites climbed 27 percent to nearly 40 million visitors in December as Americans raced to ensure delivery of their packages in time for the holidays. The category was led by UPS Sites with 21.6 million visitors (up 47 percent from the previous month), which also ranked as one of the top-gaining properties in December. USPS.com captured the second position with 16.6 million visitors (up 28 percent), followed by FedEx with 13.4 million visitors (up 38 percent).

Severe Winter Conditions Drive Visitors to Weather Sites

Wintry weather blasted much of the country during December, resulting in holiday travel delays and cancellations. The Weather category grew 17 percent to 76.8 million visitors as Americans sought weather updates. The Weather Channel led the category with 41.5 million visitors (up 28 percent), followed by Weatherbug Property with 27.1 million visitors (up 10 percent), and Yahoo! Weather with 14.3 million visitors (up 36 percent).

Top 50 Properties

Google Sites continued to lead as the most visited property in December with 149 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 145.7 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 125.4 million visitors. Facebook and Apple Inc. both climbed two spots to #11 and #12, respectively. The holiday shopping season caused sharp increases at several retail-related properties including Shopzilla.com Sites (up six spots to #27), Best Buy Sites (up 10 spots to #30), and JCPenney Sites (up eight spots to #42).

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

Platform-A led the December Ad Focus ranking, reaching 91 percent of the 190.7 million Americans online. Yahoo! Network ranked second, reaching 87 percent, while ValueClick Networks captured the third position with an 84-percent reach. Adconion Media Group moved up three spots in the ranking to #9, Amazon.com moved up three spots to #37, and ITN Digital Networks - Potential Reach moved up five spots to #40.

TABLE 1

Comscore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.)
December 2008 vs. November 2008
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Nov-08

Dec-08

% Change

Rank by Unique Visitors

Total Internet : Total Audience

190,775

190,650

0

N/A

FRONTIERNET.NET

2,450

6,504

165

190

Fantasy Sports Ventures

5,818

10,414

79

109

WUNDERGROUND.COM

3,054

5,097

67

237

Borders Group, Inc.

4,055

6,541

61

185

PYZAM.COM

4,080

6,476

59

191

UPS Sites

14,691

21,628

47

44

Xacti Corporation

5,117

7,501

47

152

MERCHANTCIRCLE.COM

4,309

6,247

45

199

Barnes & Noble

8,420

12,021

43

96

Jango Music Network

4,654

6,512

40

189

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in December 2008

TABLE 2

Comscore Top 10 Gaining Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)
December 2008 vs. November 2008
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Source: Comscore MMX

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Nov-08

Dec-08

% Change

Total Internet : Total Audience

190,775

190,650

0

Retail - Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories

19,210

24,988

30

Shipping

29,781

37,924

27

Retail - Sports/Outdoor

30,891

38,356

24

Retail - Music

21,023

26,004

24

e-cards

34,266

41,453

21

Humor

28,649

33,623

17

Weather

65,500

76,797

17

Retail - Flowers/Gifts/Greetings

39,110

45,653

17

Pharmacy

18,277

20,940

15

Retail - Computer Software

26,498

30,186

14

TABLE 3

Comscore Top 50 Properties (U.S.)
December 2008
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 : Total Audience

190,650

1

Google Sites

149,027

26

Disney Online

30,782

2

Yahoo! Sites

145,708

27

Shopzilla.com Sites

29,410

3

Microsoft Sites

125,351

28

Superpages.com Network

28,854

4

AOL LLC

109,879

29

AT&T, Inc.

28,807

5

Fox Interactive Media

89,225

30

Best Buy Sites

27,730

6

eBay

77,885

31

Bank of America

27,599

7

Ask Network

73,267

32

Sears Sites

27,462

8

Amazon Sites

71,431

33

Weatherbug Property

27,100

9

Glam Media

61,129

34

Everyday Health

26,701

10

Wikimedia Foundation Sites

58,302

35

United Online, Inc

24,593

11

FACEBOOK.COM

54,552

36

Gorilla Nation

24,482

12

Apple Inc.

53,652

37

WordPress

24,199

13

CBS Corporation

52,806

38

Demand Media

23,759

14

Wal-Mart

49,405

39

Photobucket.com LLC

23,543

15

Turner Network

48,505

40

Answers.com Sites

23,530

16

Viacom Digital

46,312

41

Real.com Network

22,700

17

New York Times Digital

46,270

42

JCPenney Sites

22,254

18

Target Corporation

45,089

43

JPMorgan Chase Property

22,181

19

Weather Channel, The

41,503

44

UPS Sites

21,628

20

craigslist, inc.

36,977

45

The Mozilla Organization

21,332

21

AT&T Interactive Network

35,967

46

WhitePages

21,200

22

Adobe Sites

34,401

47

Gannett Sites

21,138

23

Time Warner - Excluding AOL

32,975

48

iVillage.com: The Womens Network

20,612

24

Verizon Communications Corporation

31,832

49

WorldNow - ABC Owned Sites

20,356

25

Comcast Corporation

31,306

50

ESPN

20,316

TABLE 4

Comscore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.)
December 2008
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 : Total Audience

190,650

100%

1

Platform-A**

173,804

91%

26

YOUTUBE.COM

81,926

43%

2

Yahoo! Network**

165,879

87%

27

Centro - Potential Reach

79,294

42%

3

ValueClick Networks**

159,420

84%

28

Undertone Networks**

79,259

42%

4

Google Ad Network**

157,131

82%

29

Vibrant Media**

78,370

41%

5

Specific Media**

153,079

80%

30

MYSPACE.COM*

75,909

40%

6

Traffic Marketplace**

147,024

77%

31

Ask Network

73,267

38%

7

Yahoo! Sites

145,708

76%

32

NNN Total Newspapers: U.S.

72,178

38%

8

24/7 Real Media**

142,448

75%

33

IAC Ad Solutions - Potential Reach

69,839

37%

9

Adconion Media Group**

142,133

75%

34

Gorilla Nation Media - Potential Reach

69,676

37%

10

Google

141,044

74%

35

EBAY.COM

62,738

33%

11

Tribal Fusion**

139,778

73%

36

Kontera**

62,340

33%

12

Tremor Media - Potential Reach

137,407

72%

37

AMAZON.COM

62,081

33%

13

interCLICK**

137,076

72%

38

Glam Media

61,129

32%

14

Casale Media - MediaNet**

136,806

72%

39

Pulse 360**

60,834

32%

15

Collective Network**

126,294

66%

40

ITN Digital Networks - Potential Reach

60,060

32%

16

Revenue Science**

126,261

66%

41

MSN.COM Home Page

56,543

30%

17

DRIVEpm**

126,158

66%

42

TattoMedia**

56,284

30%

18

Turn, Inc**

123,150

65%

43

FACEBOOK.COM

54,552

29%

19

CPX Interactive**

118,305

62%

44

IB Local Network

53,461

28%

20

ADSDAQ by ContextWeb**

117,025

61%

45

NNN Top 25

49,520

26%

21

BrightRoll Video Network - Potential Reach

114,333

60%

46

Adify**

48,974

26%

22

Burst Media**

112,601

59%

47

Business.com Network

47,695

25%

23

MSN-Windows Live

112,223

59%

48

WALMART.COM

46,049

24%

24

AOL Media Network

109,879

58%

49

YuMe Video Network - Potential Reach

45,860

24%

25

AdBrite**

87,826

46%

50

QuadrantONE - Potential Reach

44,940

24%

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in December. For instance, Yahoo! Sites were seen by 76 percent of the nearly 191 million Internet users in December.* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.** Denotes an advertising network.

About Comscore MMX

Comscore MMX 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 and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Contact:
Sarah Radwanick
Director, Regional Product Marketing
Comscore, Inc.
+44 (0) 20 7099 1784
worldpress@comscore.com