• by Masha Geller , January 8, 2003

comScore’s November numbers are out and it looks like nearly 9 million people got an early start on their New Year’s resolutions of losing unwanted pounds or toning up their physique.

comScore says that 10 of the largest websites dedicated solely to weight loss or fitness were visited collectively by 8.6 million people in November 2002 from U.S. Home, Work and University locations. Supported by a major online advertising campaign, Ediets.com had 5.3 million U.S. visitors in November 2002. Weightwatchers.com and Trimlife.com followed with 1.6 million and 524,000 visitors, respectively.

Not surprisingly, 59% of visitors to those top 10 sites were women. That’s because women prefer diets and men prefer workouts, comScore says. Moreover, comScore found that while females represent just over half the online population (51%), they are over-represented at diet sites such as Slimfast.com (72%), Atkinscenter.com (69%), Weightwatchers.com (68%) and Ediets.com (57%. Conversely, men are more likely to visit workout-oriented sites such as Ballyfitness.com (70%) and Bowflex.com (66%).

Another interesting finding is that Internet users age 35 to 54 represent the largest age segment (47%) of surfers to the 10 top diet and fitness sites featured in this report. And while Internet users age 55 to 64 comprise a relatively small percentage of total visitors to these sites, this group has the highest rate of visitation.

More recently, comScore competitor Nielsen//NetRatings yesterday reported that more than 3.5 million people logged on to various health, fitness & nutrition websites at home in the last week of 2002. Leading this group, AOL Health attracted 805,000 unique visitors during the week. WebMD was second with a unique audience of 521,000. Echoing comScore stats, NetRatings says eDiets.com led the way for dieting and weight management websites, drawing 480,000 surfers and landing at the No. 3 spot. Rounding out the list, Weight Watchers garnered 302,000 unique visitors for the week.