Commentary

Here's Where to Advertise to the Lovers and the Wannabe's

Here's Where to Advertise to the Lovers and the Wannabe's

According to Nielsen//NetRatings' latest weekly data, nearly 1.2 million unique visitors logged on to Match.com from home, with traffic to the site experiencing a 27 percent surge over the past eight weeks. Yahoo! Personals recorded 773,000 visitors for the week ending February 2, while American Singles increased 36 percent since mid-December.

"The use of personals sites is becoming more main stream," said Carolyn Clark, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "As the stigma of meeting someone online diminishes across all demographics, personals sites are expanding their reach.”

Top 10 Personals Sites for Week Ending February 2 (U.S., Home)

Unique Audience (000)
1. Match.com1,171
2. Yahoo! Personals 773
3. American Singles610
4. MSN Love & Relationships590
5. Dreammates.com364
6. HOT or NOT?316
7. Someonelikesyou.com308
8. Matchmaker246
9. Cupidjunction.com230
10. Date.com215
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, February 2003

Flowers, and other special occasion gifts are must-haves for loved ones during Valentine's. Nielsen//NetRatings data shows that 1800flowers.com traffic increased 24 percent in the past week. Surfers looking for gift ideas has made Red Envelope a popular stop on the Internet, as the site experienced a 33 percent increase.

Additionally, finding a great restaurant for Valentine's Day is an important element to this date-centric holiday and traffic to online guide site, Citysearch.com spiked 15 percent to 654,000 unique visitors. New York was the most visited city guide within Citysearch, garnering 13 percent of the sites at home traffic, with Chicago and the Bay area sections following with 7 and 6.2 percent of Citysearch's visitors.

Many online travel sites have been promoting special romantic travel deals. Nielsen//NetRatings reports that the number of people logging on to travel sites from the office jumped 30 percent to nearly 10.7 million unique visitors during the week ending February 2.

Expedia topped the list with traffic increasing 47 percent since the first week of January. Travelocity gained 40 percent more visitors in five weeks.

Top Online Travel Agencies and Airline Web Sites Week Ending February 02, 2003 (U.S., Work)

Unique Audience (000)
1. Expedia2,527
2. Travelocity 2,185
3. Orbitz.com1,673
4. Southwest Airlines1,265
5. Delta990
6. Yahoo! Travel958
7. United Airlines680
8. American Airlines648
9. U.S. Airways638
10. Continental Airlines614
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, February 2003
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