• by Adam Bernard , December 26, 2001

Jupiter Media Metrix today released audience ratings for the vertical channels and key components of portals and other major Internet properties.

Launched with the release of the Media Metrix November 2001 U.S. Top 50 Web and digital media property ratings, the company's new categorization structure now ranks portal channels, online software applications (i.e., file-sharing, chat and gaming applications) and commercial online services (i.e., America Online, CompuServe and United Online) side by side in 27 categories and 71 subcategories.

Jupiter Media Metrix also released its latest monthly audience ratings new metrics on how consumers access the Internet, as well as an updated policy on the reporting of pop-up and pop-under pages.

The importance of reporting portal components is apparent when considering the prominence of AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo! within the Jupiter Media Metrix categories. AOL properties were in the top 10 ranking of 37 categories and subcategories; Microsoft- and MSN-branded components were in the top 10 ranking of 28 categories and subcategories; and Yahoo!-branded components were in the top 10 ranking in 30 categories and subcategories. Some of the major categories where these companies are now represented include business-finance; real estate; e-cards; travel; email services; and news-information.

Jupiter Media Metrix also introduced the new category of "promotional servers." This category includes individual sites that implement techniques resulting in involuntary visits to websites, specifically: those that sell email lists; opt-in email providers; image servers; promotional links; and stand-alone domains that generate the majority of their traffic from pop-up and pop-under ad traffic. Sites in the promotional servers category will not appear in any other categories and will not be included in any of the Media Metrix rankings. Domains that are a component of a roll-up will continue to be part of that roll-up, and the roll-up will, if appropriate, appear in the Media Metrix rankings. Because of their increasing prevalence in recent months, Jupiter Media Metrix will continue to closely monitor such promotional techniques delivered via the Internet, and update its reporting policies accordingly.

Significant pop-up and pop-under activity in the November 2001 Top 50 Web and digital media property ranking included pop-up pages on Vivendi-Universal, the number-five property with 35.8 million unique visitors, account for approximately 54% of the entity's traffic. Most of Vivendi-Universal's pop-ups are served through Iwin.com, which had 27.1 million unique visitors. Columbia House Sites, the number-24 property with 14.5 million unique visitors, also used pop-up ads to entice users to subscribe to its membership services. Approximately 51% of its traffic was driven by pop-ups.