• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, July 1, 2003

Donotcall Gets Called and Mid-June News, Info and Occasion Traffic

Donotcall Gets Called and Mid-June News, Info and Occasion Traffic

A special report from Nielsen//Net ratings on the overnight crunch on the new government Donotcall site, and an update on mid-June traffic on news, information and special occasion sites.

Donotcall.gov recorded one of the fastest increases ever for a Web site, jumping nearly 26,000 percent to more than 3.4 million unique visitors at work on June 27, according Nielsen//NetRatings. Launched on Friday, June 27, the site allows consumers to register their telephone numbers in a national database to help limit telemarketing solicitations.

The online debut of the Web site drew millions of surfers at home as well. Daily overnight analysis shows the site recorded more than 3.1 million unique visitors at home. The site peaked on its first official day and continued its strong performance during the weekend garnering 2.1 million and 2.9 million at home surfers on Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th, respectively.

"The one day growth in site traffic for Donotcall.gov was unprecedented," said Patrick Thomas, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "The Internet makes this streamlined process a possibility, allowing the government to easily collect the information of those opting in, and relay that to telemarketing companies. This registry gives the power back to the consumer."

Table 1: Daily Overnight Traffic to Donotcall.gov

Location 26-Jun 27-Jun 28-Jun 29-Jun % Growth Work NA* 3,408,678 1,224,519 1,447,126 26,000% Home NA* 3,115,425 2,103,024 2,940,610 12,000% Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NA* Daily traffic for Donotcall.gov fell below Nielsen//NetRatings' 100K unique visitor reporting cutoff, therefore actual figures cannot be reported. Top 10 News & Information Sites Unique Audience (000) Active Reach (%) AOL News 6,426 7.61 About Network 5,439 6.44 Weather Channel 4,820 5.71 MSNBC 4,544 5.38 Yahoo! News 4,437 5.25 CNN 3,867 4.58 WeatherBug.com 3,840 4.55 Yahoo! Get Local 3,583 4.24 NYTimes.com 1,898 2.25 Time Inc Publications 1,893 2.24 Top 10 Special Occasions Sites Unique Audience (000) Active Reach (%) Americangreetings.com 1,503 1.78 U.S. Postal Service 1,191 1.41 Ups.com 1,173 1.39 Yahoo! Greetings 1,172 1.39 Hallmark.com 935 1.11 Blue Mountain 565 0.67 FedEx 434 0.51 Evite.com 374 0.44 Vistaprint 328 0.39 123greetings.com 280 0.33 Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Week ending June 15, 2003 US, Home