• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 30, 2003

People Pay For Heritage

Understanding the demographics and behavior of a category is essential for publishers and marketers to better reach and serve their target audiences. The Genealogy category represents a potentially attractive vehicle through which marketers can reach deeply involved Internet users within important segments, including women and seniors.

According to comScore and the Online Publishers Association, Genealogy sites fall into the broader category of Community Directories, which in total generated $26 million in paid content revenue in the third quarter of 2002 (up 86 percent versus year-ago).

In January 2003, nearly 13 million people visited sites in the Genealogy category, particularly popular among females and older Internet users. Interestingly, many of the sites that make up the Genealogy category are owned by a variety of well-known media companies and organizations.

Unique Visitors to the Genealogy Category (000) January 2003 U.S. Home, Work and University Locations

	All Locations	Home	Work	University
Genealogy Category	12,950	9,001	3,835	597
Ancestry Sites	9,598	6,641	2,863	455
Genealogy.com Sites	1,741	1,332	441	49
MyFamily Sites	1,373	1,100	287	45
Legacy.com	1,220	754	483	47
Familysearch.com	858	681	195	20
Kindredkonnections.com	339	269	n/a	n/a
Cyndislist.com	323	260	n/a	n/a
Mytrees.com	279	211	n/a	n/a
Onegreatfamily.com	266	227	n/a	n/a
Ancestralfindings.com	264	155	119	n/a

While those over age 65 represent the smallest segment of category visitors on an absolute basis, remarkably, this group is 51 percent more likely than the average Internet user (relative to its total share of the online population) to visit Genealogy sites. In fact, with the exception of the Pharmacy category, Genealogy is the category with the highest percentage of Internet users over 65.

Genealogy Category by Age Group (000)
January 2003 U.S. Home, Work and University Locations

Age	Unique Visitors	Composition	Composition Unique Visitors*
2-17	959	4.4%	7.4%
18-24	1,522	6.2%	11.8%
25-34	2,340	8.9%	18.1%
35-44	2,865	10.4%	22.1%
45-54	2,872	11.2%	22.2%
55-64	1,503	12.7%	11.6%
65+	888	13.6%	6.9%

*Percent composition of unique visitors represents the percentage of total visitors to a site or category that a specific demographic group comprises.

Females comprise the majority of visitors to Genealogy sites, accounting for 54 percent of total category visitors. Even more striking, women account for 63 percent of all time spent at the category in January 2003.

Genealogy Category by Gender

	Unique Visitors (000)	Avg Minutes Spent Per Visitor
Males	5,920	27.3
Females	7,030	38.5

Properties within the Ancestry network account for 45 percent of all time spent at the Genealogy category. And while FamilySearch.com is ranked fifth according to unique visitors, the site is by far the leader based on usage intensity - with 79 minutes per visitor, more than twice the category average of 33 minutes.

Genealogy Category by Time Spent January 2003
U.S. Home, Work and University Locations

	Total Minutes (MM)	% Composition of Minutes	Average Time Spent per Visitor
Genealogy Category	431	100.0%	33.3
Ancestry Sites	193	44.8%	20.2
MyFamily Sites	68	15.8%	49.6
Familysearch.com	68	15.8%	79.2
Genealogy.com Sites	61	14.2%	34.9
Legacy.com	10	2.3%	7.9
Gencircles.com	8	1.9%	53.0
Kindredkonnections.com	6	1.4%	18.6
Ellisislandrecords.org	3	0.7%	14.2

Source: comScore Media Metrix.