The list of top display advertisers continued to be dominated by phone service providers. In November 2008, AT&T was the top advertiser while Sprint Nextel, Vonage, and Verizon made the top ten list. On the publisher side, Yahoo! sites served the most display ads in November, followed by Fox Interactive Media, and AOL LLC with 18.2 billion.
Top Ten U.S. Online Display Advertisers November 2008 | |
| Total Display Ad Views (MM) |
AT&T, Inc. | 6,593 |
Microsoft Sites | 4,104 |
Apollo Group, Inc. | 3,796 |
Sprint Nextel | 3,298 |
United Online, Inc | 3,036 |
Experian Interactive | 2,605 |
Vonage Holdings Corp | 2,598 |
Verizon Communications | 2,572 |
Netflix.com | 2,305 |
Bank of America | 2,284 |
Source: comScore Ad Metrix (U.S.) |
Top Ten U.S. Online Display Publishers November 2008 | |
| Total Display Ad Views (MM) |
Yahoo! Sites | 37,128 |
Fox Interactive Media | 34,910 |
AOL LLC | 18,199 |
Facebook.com | 13,711 |
Microsoft Sites | 13,433 |
Google Sites | 4,095 |
eBay | 2,737 |
Viacom Digital | 2,208 |
Glam Media | 2,104 |
United Online, Inc | 1,779 |
Source: comScore Ad Metrix (U.S.) |
Total U.S. e-commerce spending reached $214.4 billion in 2008, a 7% increase versus the previous year. Travel e-commerce spending grew 9% to $84.3 billion, while retail (non-travel) e-commerce spending grew 6% to $130.1 billion. 2008 ranked as the softest year for retail ecommerce spending growth since comScore began tracking it in 2001. January showed the first signs, as growth rates declined to 12 percent after growing at a 20-percent rate in 2007.
Growth rates reached a peak in April at 15 percent, followed by eight successive month of declining growth rates in the remainder of the year. The holiday shopping months of November and December saw negative growth rates, representing the first months on record to have lower online sales than the same month the prior year.
U.S. Retail E-Commerce Growth Trend | |
2008 | Y/Y Growth Rate |
January | +12% |
February | +14 |
March | +9 |
April | +15 |
May | +12 |
June | +11 |
July | +8 |
August | +6 |
September | +5 |
October | +1 |
Novovember | -3 |
December | -3 |
Source: comScore inc, January 2009 (November and December growth rates based on corresponding shopping days relative to Thanksgiving, not calendar days) |
The fastest-growing retail category in 2008 was Video Games, Consoles & Accessories which continued to benefit from online sales of popular game consoles. Other fast-growing categories included Home, Garden & Furniture and Sport & Fitness, both of which benefitted from an increasing consumer willingness to complete high-ticket purchases online.
Fastest Growing U.S. Retail Categories in 2008 | |
Retail Category | Year to Year % Change |
Video Games, Consoles & Accessories | +29% |
Home, Garden & Furniture | +25 |
Sport & Fitness | +25 |
Event Tickets | +13 |
Consumer Electronics | +9 |
Apparel & Accessories | +4 |
Computer Hardware | -5 |
Toys & Hobbies | -7 |
Books & Magazines | -8 |
Flowers, Greetings & Gifts | -10 |
Office Supplies | -10 |
Jewelry & Watches | -12 |
Computer Software (excl. PC Games) | -18 |
Music, Movies & Video | -23 |
Source: comScore inc, January 2009 |
Online activity in 2008 largely reflected the biggest news events of the year, including the economic crisis and the U.S. presidential election. Job Search ranked as the top-gaining site category for 2008, growing 51% to nearly 19 million visitors in December, as Americans turned to the Internet to seek new career opportunities after significant job losses were incurred during the second half of the year. Category leader, CareerBuilder.com Job Search, jumped 78% to 9.1 million visitors.
As signs of an economic recession continued, consumers became increasingly cost-conscious and sought ways online to curb their spending.
The Politics category was one of the fastest growing categories in 2008, up 43% to nearly 12 million visitors. Both candidate sites peaked in October, with BarackObama.com reaching 8.5 million visitors and JohnMcCain.com with 3.8 million visitors.
Top-Gaining U.S. Site CategoriesDec-08 Total Unique Visitors | |
| % Change in 2008 |
Classifieds | +27% |
Online Gaming | +27 |
Family | +29 |
Radio | +30 |
Online Gambling | +36 |
Gay/Lesbian | +41 |
Politics | +43 |
Coupons | +46 |
Women | +46 |
Job Search | +51 |
Source: comScore Media Metrix (U.S.) January 2009 |
According to the study, the U.S. Internet population grew 4% in 2008 to 190.7 million visitors in December. Google Sites captured the top U.S. property ranking in April and reigned in that position for the balance of the year. For the year, Google Sites grew 12% to 149 million visitors.
The top growing properties in 2008 (based on the top 100 properties in December 2008) increased the size of their online audiences through acquisitions/partnerships, organic growth, or a combination of the two.
Other properties grew their audiences more organically. Facebook.com continued its strong momentum by growing its visitor base 57% to 54.6 million visitors, while Wordpress, the largest blog publishing platform, surged 64% to 24.2 million visitors. The Firefox Internet browser showed a 40% increase for the Mozilla Organization.
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Baloney!!! 2,000 ads viewed per month per person on line?? Better yet, 2,000 ads exposed to, while on-line, per month. Does anyone really know anyone who actually clicks on ads or even reads them in any depth on line. Online advertising remains more hype than results. When is the advertising community going to wake up.