• by Newswire Report , April 27, 2003

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that traffic to several online greeting card sites spiked during the week ending April 20, as surfers at home utilized the Web to send online Easter greetings.

Traffic to Hallmark E-cards and Cards skyrocketed 234% to more than 1.5 million surfers, as compared to 455,000 during the previous week. DaySpring E-cards spiked 137% to 529,000 unique visitors. Yahoo! Greetings jumped 121%, attracting 1.8 million surfers, while 123greetings.com jumped 104% to 510,000 surfers. Blue Mountain drew more than one million unique visitors during the week, rising 94%.

Americangreetings.com, the overall audience leader within the category, recorded more than 2.3 million unique visitors, jumping 88% week-over-week.

"Online cards sites offer a fun and easy alternative for those wishing to send loved ones holiday greetings," said Lisa Strand, director and chief analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "With more than seven million people visiting an online greeting card site during the week before Easter, sending and receiving online greetings remains a very popular way for Americans to connect with each other."

Additional Highlights from Nielsen//NetRatings' Week on The Web:

* Allrecipes Spikes in Traffic
Traffic to Allrecipes spiked 67% at home, for the week ending April 20th, as surfers logged on for Easter Sunday meal recipes. The site attracted 564,000 unique visitors as compared to 395,000 the week prior.

* Sixflags.com Attracts Users Online
With summer vacation just around the corner, traffic to Six Flags Theme Parks jumped 27% at home to 225,000 unique visitors, for the week ending April 20th. Consumers can obtain information on the various parks within the Six Flags family and purchase tickets and season passes online.