• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 9, 2003

Women's Sites Attracted 34.8 Million Visitors in December

According to a recent special feature from comScore Media Metrix, women wield enormous power in the U.S. economy, making and influencing purchase decisions across every sector from automotive, to consumer packaged goods, to financial services and virtually everything in between. And since 51 percent of the nearly 145 million Internet users in the U.S. are women, it's no surprise that they represent a sizable and vital audience for marketers.

There are a number of online destinations overtly geared to this gender and its community orientation, and many sites are affiliated with strong offline women's brands. In total, the comScore Media Metrix Community-Women category reached 34.8 million (combined male and female) visitors in December.

Top 15 U.S. Community-Women Sites Unique Visitors (000) December 2002

	All Locations	Home	Work	Univ.
Total Internet Users	144,754	125,599	47,971	9,481
Community-Women Cat.	34,788	25,633	9,145	1,785
iVillage.com	15,759	11,320	3,996	848
Womensforum Sites	7,516	5,407	1,909	308
AOL Proprietary Women	5,071	4,085	791	268
MSN Love & Relationships	3,246	1,849	1,313	208
BHG.COM	3,053	2,384	729	83
Babycenter Sites	2,794	1,838	904	141
MSN WomenCentral	2,041	1,190	776	119
Oxygen Media	1,672	1,278	364	103
Lifetimetv.com Sites	1,600	1,185	428	58
Clubmom.com	1,378	971	438	33
LHG.com	1,375	1,079	288	68
FamilyFun	1,234	858	409	29
InStyle	1,050	818	211	65
Thebreastcancersite.com	730	535	211	19
Marykayintouch.com	594	515	87	13

As with offline media, it is not uncommon for online media targeted specifically at women to also attract a sizeable male audience. Although men accounted for fully 42 percent of visitors to the Women's category in December, they were less intensive users, accounting for only 35 percent of the total time spent on these sites.

comScore data show that Women's sites are broadly appealing to females of virtually all age groups. In fact, the Women's category reached approximately 30 percent of total female Internet users age 25 to 64. Females under age 18 were noticeably less prone to visit the category, likely due to the limited attraction of family and home-related content, which is common throughout the category.

U.S. Female Visitors to Community-Women Category by Age December 2002

Age Group	Visitors (000)	Reach
2-17	1,784	5.1%
18-24	3,122	9.0%
25-34	4,035	11.6%
35-44	4,209	12.1%
45-54	4,405	12.7%
55-64	1,968	5.7%
65+	778	2.2%

Women living in smaller households are disproportionately likely to visit the category relative to the composition of their household segments within the total online population. In fact, although women living alone make up the smallest segment of Community-Women site users, they are 56 percent more likely to visit women's sites than the overall population would suggest. In fact, the Women's category reaches an astonishing 38 percent of women living alone.

Source: comScore Media Metrix