• Ad Age, Monday, December 4, 2006 12:15 PM

Once derided as "brochureware" in the digital marketing world, the Web sites of corporate giants P&G and Unilever draw combined monthly traffic of more than 9 million unique visitors, according to ComScore Media Metrix. The figures for each easily trounce the audiences of many magazines and cable and syndicated TV shows where they advertise.

While P&G sites captured only 3.3% of ComScore's U.S. Web audience in October, that's more than double its industry-leading 1.3% share of U.S. ad spending last year. And its nine times its share of online ad spending, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

But more important than the volume may be who the visitors are. Recent research by VNU's Nielsen BuzzMetrics using Nielsen's Homescan consumer panel shows that 33% of creators of consumer-generated media (in the form of video or blogs) also provide e-mail feedback to companies or brands via their Web sites, and 13% participate in brand or company blogs.

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