• by Masha Geller , April 26, 2002

First, a piece of some good news that is not directly related to online advertising, but worth reporting nevertheless. The Commerce Department reported today that the economy, after limping through the last six quarters, rocketed back in the first quarter, growing at an annual rate of 5.8%.

The gross domestic product posted its strongest showing since the final quarter of 1999, which means that the country not only emerged from the recession but that the downturn will probably go down as the mildest in U.S. history.

Staying on the happy side of things, the wedding season is in full swing. Nielsen//NetRatings reported today that surfers at home flocked to wedding planning websites during the week ending April 21, as TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com both surged in traffic.

"With the spring wedding season in full swing, brides and brides-to-be are turning to the Web for user-friendly wedding planning tools," said Dawn Brozek, senior Internet analyst, NetRatings. "TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com attract surfers with a broad range of offerings such as an online gift registry, wedding stories and advice, and interactive message boards where brides can correspond with one another."

Traffic to TheKnot.com skyrocketed 64% to 256,000 Web surfers as compared to 156,000 visitors the previous week. NetRatings says that 34% of the site's overall audience fell between the ages of 25 and 34. WeddingChannel.com jumped 17% in traffic to 168,000 unique surfers, with surfers between the ages of 25 and 34 comprising more than 37% of the total audience.

Naturally, both sites attracted a predominantly female audience with a 79/21 split at TheKnot.com and a 73/27 split at WeddingChannel.com.