According to the comScore 2008 Digital Year in Review Report, the job search category ranked as the top-gaining site category for the year, up 51% to nearly 19 million visitors in December 2008, as the millions of Americans affected by the deteriorating job market sought online job resources for assistance. Other top-gaining categories in the report included coupons, up 46% to 31.6 million visitors, politics, up 43% to 12 million visitors, and classifieds, up 27% to nearly 53 million visitors.The study shows that U.S. Internet users viewed a total of 4.5 trillion display ads (not including video) during the past twelve months, with the average person viewing more than 2,000 ads per month. Despite the staggering total volume, the number has declined somewhat over the course of 2008. This, though, is believed to reflect a shift in strategy among some display ad publishers to reconfigure their advertising inventory to reduce ad clutter in order to drive up CPMs, while some advertisers are shifting from static and rich display ads to using video ads. The list of top display advertisers continued to be dominated by phone service providers. In November 2008, AT&T was the top advertiser while Sprint Nextel, Vonage, and Verizon made the top ten list. On the publisher side, Yahoo! sites served the most display ads in November, followed by Fox Interactive Media, and AOL LLC with 18.2 billion. Top Ten U.S. Online Display Advertisers November 2008 Total Display Ad Views (MM) AT&T, Inc. 6,593 Microsoft Sites 4,104 Apollo Group, Inc. 3,796 Sprint Nextel 3,298 United Online, Inc 3,036 Experian Interactive 2,605 Vonage Holdings Corp 2,598 Verizon Communications 2,572 Netflix.com 2,305 Bank of America 2,284 Source: comScore Ad Metrix (U.S.) Top Ten U.S. Online Display Publishers November 2008 Total Display Ad Views (MM) Yahoo! Sites 37,128 Fox Interactive Media 34,910 AOL LLC 18,199 Facebook.com 13,711 Microsoft Sites 13,433 Google Sites 4,095 eBay 2,737 Viacom Digital 2,208 Glam Media 2,104 United Online, Inc 1,779 Source: comScore Ad Metrix (U.S.) Total U.S. e-commerce spending reached $214.4 billion in 2008, a 7% increase versus the previous year. Travel e-commerce spending grew 9% to $84.3 billion, while retail (non-travel) e-commerce spending grew 6% to $130.1 billion. 2008 ranked as the softest year for retail ecommerce spending growth since comScore began tracking it in 2001. January showed the first signs, as growth rates declined to 12 percent after growing at a 20-percent rate in 2007. Growth rates reached a peak in April at 15 percent, followed by eight successive month of declining growth rates in the remainder of the year. The holiday shopping months of November and December saw negative growth rates, representing the first months on record to have lower online sales than the same month the prior year. U.S. Retail E-Commerce Growth Trend2008Y/Y Growth Rate January +12% February +14 March +9 April +15 May +12 June +11 July +8 August +6 September +5 October +1 Novovember -3 December -3 Source: comScore inc, January 2009 (November and December growth rates based on corresponding shopping days relative to Thanksgiving, not calendar days) The fastest-growing retail category in 2008 was Video Games, Consoles & Accessories which continued to benefit from online sales of popular game consoles. Other fast-growing categories included Home, Garden & Furniture and Sport & Fitness, both of which benefitted from an increasing consumer willingness to complete high-ticket purchases online. Fastest Growing U.S. Retail Categories in 2008Retail CategoryYear to Year % Change Video Games, Consoles & Accessories +29% Home, Garden & Furniture +25 Sport & Fitness +25 Event Tickets +13 Consumer Electronics +9 Apparel & Accessories +4 Computer Hardware -5 Toys & Hobbies -7 Books & Magazines -8 Flowers, Greetings & Gifts -10 Office Supplies -10 Jewelry & Watches -12 Computer Software (excl. PC Games) -18 Music, Movies & Video -23 Source: comScore inc, January 2009 Online activity in 2008 largely reflected the biggest news events of the year, including the economic crisis and the U.S. presidential election. Job Search ranked as the top-gaining site category for 2008, growing 51% to nearly 19 million visitors in December, as Americans turned to the Internet to seek new career opportunities after significant job losses were incurred during the second half of the year. Category leader, CareerBuilder.com Job Search, jumped 78% to 9.1 million visitors. As signs of an economic recession continued, consumers became increasingly cost-conscious and sought ways online to curb their spending.