• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 1, 2006

Taxes, Careers, Travel and Weight Spike the Web

comScore Media Metrix, in releasing its monthly analysis of top online consumer activity, concludes that the desire to kick off the New Year on the right foot drove traffic to sites in the Taxes, Career, Travel and Health categories.

Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix. "Rather than procrastinate until April, many Americans went online in January to file their taxes.  Some decided it was time to shed those excess holiday pounds with assistance from online health resources, while others sought assistance with job changes or used the Internet to snag late-winter vacation deals."

 The Taxes category yielded the highest gains in this month's ranking of the top gaining properties, drawing nearly 23 million visitors - an increase of 215 percent compared to December.

Top Ten Gaining Properties (x000) Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users January 2006 vs. December 2005
	Dec-05	Jan-06	%Change	Rank by Unique Visitors
Total Internet Population	170,285	170,797	0%	N/A
HRBlock.com	530	4,327	717%	197
Subway	592	4,742	701%	178
XS.to	1,110	4,739	327%	179
DoNotCall.gov	1,093	4,114	276%	203
Intuit	3,179	9,476	198%	79
IRS.gov	4,020	11,511	186%	63
FrontierNet.net	2,071	4,405	113%	195
eDiets	2,709	5,629	108%	144
Weight Watchers International	2,484	4,720	90%	182
ED.gov	3,498	6,425	84%	131
Source: comScore Media Metrix

The top gaining property in January was HRBlock.com with an increase of 171 percent compared to December. Traffic to the Career Services and Development category jumped 26 percent for people unhappy with their current job situation. 

The Career-Job Search subcategory rose 42 percent, Career Resources increased 35 percent and traffic to the Career - Training and Education subcategory was up 18 percent, while  CareerBuilder climbed 74 percent over the prior month to 21.2 million visitors yielding the largest gains in total visitors for the month. All subcategories benefited from significant television advertising

The New Year's resolution to get in shape caused seasonal traffic spikes to sites in the Health category.  eDiets, the top online dieting resource, more than doubled its traffic from the previous month, drawing 5.6 million visitors.  Weight Watchers International also showed strong gains, attracting 4.7 million visitors, an increase of 90 percent compared to December. Increased visitation to the Health - Information subcategory (up 17 percent) secured a spot on the list of top gaining categories in January.

And, the report opines, consumers looked for deals to "beat the winter blahs." Two of January's top ten gaining categories were Travel subcategories.  Travel - Ground/Cruise ranked as the fourth fastest-growing category with nearly 10 million unique visitors, up 26 percent over December due to the numerous last-minute winter vacation deals offered.  Heavy promotions of discounted cruises helped VacationsToGo.com draw 2.3 million visitors to the site, a 51 percent increase, and Carnival Cruises attracted 2 million visitors with similar promotions, marking a 40 percent increase compared to December.

Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors (x000)January 2006 vs. December 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
	Dec-05(000)	Jan-06(000)	% Change
Total Internet Population	170,285	170,797	0%
Taxes	7,385	23,244	215%
Career - Job Search	10,830	15,340	42%
Career Resources	27,253	36,814	35%
Travel - Ground/Cruise	7,889	9,967	26%
Career Services and Development	39,626	49,824	26%
Lotto/Sweepstakes	22,048	27,114	23%
Career - Training and Education	7,804	9,172	18%
Real Estate	29,695	34,785	17%
Health - Information	43,458	50,839	17%
Online Travel Agents	45,786	53,501	17%
Source: comScore Media Metrix

For more data, please visit comScore her