According to a recent comScore study recaping key trends in the U.S. digital media landscape, including e-commerce, search, online video, online advertising and mobile, total U.S. e-commerce
spending reached $209.6 billion in 2009, down 2% versus the previous year and the first year on record with negative growth rates. Travel e-commerce spending dropped 5% to $79.8 billion,
while retail (non-travel) e-commerce spending remained virtually flat at $129.8 billion.
Only a handful of retail e-commerce categories experienced growth. Books & Magazines topped
the list of gaining categories bolstered by category-wide price-cutting and the release of numerous high-profile best-sellers. Computer software ranked second, followed by Sport &
Fitness and Jewelry & Watches, which rebounded from an especially weak 2008.
Positive Growth in U.S. Retail E-Commerce Categories in 2009 |
Books & Magazines | 12% |
Computer Software (excl. PC Games) | 7 |
Sport & Fitness | 6 |
Jewelry & Watches | 4 |
Video Games, Consoles & Accessories | 3 |
Consumer Electronics | 3 |
Computers, Peripherals, & PDAs | 1 |
Source: comScore, Inc., February 2010 |
The U.S. core
search market grew 16% overall in 2009, driven by a 6% gain in unique searchers and a 10% gain in searchers per searcher. U.S.
Core Search Market |
| % Change |
| UniqueSearchers | Searches per Searcher | Searches |
Total
U.S. Internet | 6% | 10% | 16% |
Google Sites | 9% | 10% | 21% |
Yahoo! Sites | -5% | 3% | -2% |
Microsoft Sites | 15% | 30% | 49% |
Ask Network | 19% | -6% | 12% |
AOL LLC | -17% | -4% | -20% |
Source: comScore qSearch (U.S.), February 2010 |
Social networking continued to gain momentum in 2009 with nearly 4 out of 5 Internet
users visiting a social networking site in December 2009. The activity now accounts for 11% of all time spent online in the U.S., making it one of the most engaging activities across the
Web.
2009 proved to be a landmark year in the U.S. social networking market, as category leader Facebook and upstart network Twitter both posted triple-digit growth. Facebook surged to
the #1 position among social networks for the first time in May and continued its strong growth trajectory throughout the year, finishing with 112 million visitors in December 2009, up 105%
during the year.
Twitter finished the year with nearly 20 million visitors to its website, up from just 2 million visitors from the previous year. Much of Twitter's extraordinary
audience growth occurred during the first few months of 2009, at one point jumping from 4 million visitors to 17 million visitors between February and April.
Meanwhile, 2008
category leader MySpace has experienced some softening in its audience; however, a new strategic focus on entertainment content is exhibiting signs of success with MySpace Music having grown
92% in the past year.
Throughout the Year U.S. Internet users viewed a total of 4.3 trillion display ads (standard and non-standard IAB ads, includes both static and rich
media, but not video) during the past twelve months, representing a growth rate of 21% versus year ago. These gains were driven by an 8-percent increase in the number of people exposed to display
ads online and a 12-percent increase in average frequency.
Top Ten U.S. Online
Display Advertisers(Dec-08 to Nov-09) |
Site | Number of Impressions
in Millions |
AT &T, Inc. | 84,336 |
Verizon Communications Corp. | 56,818 |
Experian Interactive | 54,106 |
Scottrade | 41,071 |
eBay | 32,339 |
Ask Network | 31,920 |
Microsoft | 30,936 |
Netflix | 27,997 |
Vertrue | 27,555 |
Sprint Nextel
Corp. | 26,224 |
Source: comScore Ad Metrix (U.S.) February 2010 |
Top Ten U.S. Online Display
Publishers(Dec-08 to Nov-09) |
Site | Number of Impressions in
Millions |
Yahoo! Sites | 521,245 |
Fox
Int. Media | 367,551 |
Facebook.com | 329,629 |
Microsoft Sites | 218,114 |
AOL LLC | 192,192 |
Google Sites | 69,856 |
eBay | 36,360 |
Glam Media | 24,793 |
Amazon Sites | 21,710 |
United
Online, Inc | 19,484 |
Source: comScore Ad Metrix (U.S.) February 2010 |
The U.S. Online Video Market viewing accelerated in 2009, with 19% more people in the U.S. viewing more videos for longer periods of time, according to comScore Video
Metrix. In December 2009, 86% of the total U.S. online population viewed video content. Americans also viewed a significantly higher number of videos in 2009 versus the prior year, due to
both increased content consumption and a growing number of video ads being delivered. The average online viewer consumed 187 videos in December 2009 (up 95% vs. year ago), while the duration
of the average video viewed grew from 3.2 to 4.1 minutes.
U.S. Online Video
Market (Average Online Viewer) |
| December 2009 | December 2008 |
Unique Viewers (Millions) | 178 | 150 |
Videos Viewed (Billions) | 33.2 | 14.3 |
Videos per Viewer | 186.9 | 95.7 |
Minutes per Video | 4.1 | 3.2 |
Source: comScore Video Metrix (U.S.), February 2010 |
Key findings highlighted in the report
include:
- The U.S. core search market grew 16% in 2009, driven by a 6% gain in unique searchers and a 10-percent gain in search queries per searcher. Google and Bing led
among the core search engines in terms of increases in market share.
- Social networking continued to gain momentum in 2009 with nearly 4 out of 5 Internet users visiting a social
networking site on a monthly basis and Facebook and Twitter propelling much of the growth in the category.
- Display ad impressions grew 21% in 2009 as the online advertising sector
increased its share of media spending. Growth was driven by an 8-percent increase in ad reach and a 12-percent increase in average frequency.
- Total (retail and travel) U.S.
e-commerce spending reached $209.6 billion in 2009, down 2% versus the previous year and the first year on record with negative growth rates. Nonetheless, e-commerce retail spending
continued to increase its share of consumer spending in a challenging economic environment.
- Six out of seven U.S. Internet users now view online video content in a month,
with YouTube and Hulu continuing to experience rapid increase in viewership.
- In the past year, the mobile industry witnessed smartphone ownership increase from 11% to 17% of
mobile users, while 3G phone ownership increased from 32% to 43%.
For additional information and to access the PDF report, please visit comScore here.