• by March 13, 2001

Jupiter Media Metrix today released the Media Metrix U.S. Top 50 Web and Digital Media property ratings for February 2001. While the total number of minutes spent online increased 51%, from 64.8 billion minutes in February 2000 to 97.7 billion in February 2001, home usage increased the most. The total number of minutes spent online at home increased 59%, from 45.6 billion minutes in February 2000 to 72.7 billion in February 2001, while time spent online at work increased 32%, from 19.3 billion minutes to 25.4 billion.

"While Jupiter Media Metrix expects the number of people online in the U.S. to increase 13% to 138 million in 2001, usage-intensity will increase at a faster rate," said David Card, Jupiter senior analyst. "Time spent online will continue to be driven by people's increasing familiarity with the Internet, the availability of more relevant content, and the adoption of Internet applications such as instant messengers, media players, file-swapping programs, and games among other services."

Napster Digital, which includes usage of the service's websites and controversial music file-swapping applications, had 16.9 million unique visitors in February 2001 versus 14.4 million in January, causing it to rise in the rankings from number 16 in January 2001 to number 13 in February. With 3.4 million average daily unique visitors, Napster was number five in terms of the average number of people visiting the property each day.

Driven by Valentine's Day fever, unique visitors to American Greetings jumped from 7.3 million unique visitors in January 2001 to 9.0 million in February, causing it to rise from number 42 to 24 in the rankings. Bluemountainarts.com, part of the Excite Network, also increased significantly, from 12.3 million unique visitors in January 2001 to 16.3 million in February.

With tax season fast approaching, IRS.gov broke into the February 2001 Top 50 with 6.7 million unique visitors, up 64% from February 2000 when it had 4.1 million. While IRS.gov also experienced a traffic spike last year around tax season, it still was not enough to break the Top 50.

Other notable sites to break into the Top 50 include Flipside Sites at number 45 with 6.5 million unique visitors, coinciding with a spike in online advertising, according to AdRelevance, a Jupiter Media Metrix company. Flipside's most recent appearance in the Top 50 was in October 2000, when it ranked number 42 with 6.9 million unique visitors. Gannet Sites, which now include more than 700 additional sites, entered the Top 50 this month with 5.7 million unique visitors.