• by Wayne Friedman , April 12, 2007

Traditional TV networks' brands are getting a boost--from television-related sites in prime-time and early-fringe periods.

In February of this year, viewers' activity at NBC.com was the No. 1 site from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.---with nearly 40% of its total usage time coming in prime time. ABC and Fox, got 30% and 26% respectively, as they occupied the next two spots.

TV Guide, Yahoo TV and CBS Television were other big vote-getters. Overall, time spent online at home during prime time was 13.7%.

TV Web sites weren't the only big players seeing prime-time hits. Edmunds.com, the automotive information Web site, came in fourth place with 25.5% of total time happening in prime time. Also Dictionary.com was in sixth place at 22.6%.

Early-fringe, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., saw different results, with more of a mix of TV and lifestyle Internet sites. No. 1 was Dictionary.com at 31.4%, the Food & Drink search area, via About.com, in fourth place at 24.6%, and CondeNet's site, given the popularity of Epicurious.com, was in ninth at 21.6%.

Top TV sites in the afternoon include WB.com, now a portal page for Warner Bros. produced TV shows and for the new network CW, MSN TV, Cartoon Network and TV.com.

Nielsen's analysis in the afternoon: While parents could be looking for recipes and the like, kids are watching young-skewing TV-related sites like the WB and Cartoon Network.