• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 30, 2003

Commerce (Was) More Popular Than News

Commerce beat News and Information sites in the first week of March, but you can bet that changed considerably in the last two weeks!

Top 10 Multi-category Commerce Sites
	Unique Audience (000)	Active Reach (%)
eBay	12,105	14.29
Amazon	8,740	10.32
Yahoo! Shopping	6,251	7.38
MSN Shopping	2,867	3.39
AOL Shopping	1,445	1.71
DealTime	1,182	1.4
Target	1,082	1.28
Wal-Mart Stores	1,068	1.26
coolsavings.com	1,003	1.18
MyPoints	914	1.08
Top 10 News & Information Sites
	Unique Audience (000)	Active Reach (%)
AOL News	6,827	8.06
About Network	5,636	6.65
WeatherBug.com	4,527	5.35
Yahoo! News	4,513	5.33
Weather Channel	4,442	5.25
MSNBC	4,374	5.16
CNN	4,221	4.98
Yahoo! Get Local	2,825	3.34
Time Inc	2,248	2.66
Time Warner Cable	1,974	2.33

Week ending Mar. 9, 2003
US, Home

And, as the U.S. and Allied forces began its strike against Iraq, many in the press have been inquiring about online news coverage of the Middle East issues. Traffic to major Web news sources as well as federal government sites have spiked. According to daily audience measurement analysis from Nielsen//NetRatings, many of the top news sites posted double-digit growth on Wednesday 3/19, as compared to traffic a week before on 3/12.

CNN.com drew more than 3.7 million unique visitors at work, up 30 percent from a week ago. The site also recorded a 29 percent jump in traffic on 3/17, as compared to Monday 3/12. Traffic to MSNBC.com skyrocketed 38 percent to nearly 3.3 million, while Yahoo! News attracted 2.6 million unique visitors. NYTimes.com garnered nearly 1.2 million surfers, while Washingtonpost.com soared 34 percent to a little over a million visitors.

"Since 9/11, we've seen many of the top Web news sites gain viewership online, attracting surfers looking for up-to-the-minute headlines and instant coverage," said Greg Bloom, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "Online news sources also have a distinct advantage during the work day, as office workers log online from their fast connections on the job."

Daily Traffic to Various General and Financial News Sites, Ranked by Unique Audience for Wednesday 3/19 (U.S., Work)

	3/12	3/19	Wed-Wed Percent Growth
1. CNN	2,862	3,715	30%
2. MSNBC	2,360	3,259	38%
3. Yahoo! News	2,626	2,604	-1%
4. NYTimes.com	1,104	1,159	5%
5. Washingtonpost.com	797	1,070	34%
6. Fox News	602	1,063	77%
7. ABC News	445	686	54%
8. USATODAY.com	315	635	101%
9. Gannett Newspapers and Newspaper Division	585	613	5%
10. Drudgereport.com	533	603	13%
11. Internet Broadcasting Systems Inc	446	560	26%
12. MSN Slate	299*	552	84%
13. Hearst Newspapers Digital	403	514	27%
14. Marketwatch.com	490	476	-3%
15. Google News	293*	455	55%
16. iWon News	355	355	0%
17. Wall Street Journal	248*	295*	19%
18. News International		281*	NA
19. NYP Holdings	395	248*	-37%
20. The Boston Globe	191*	222*	16%

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, Daily Overnight Analysis * Blank data indicates site fell below reporting cutoff. * Starred data indicates this site falls below normal reporting levels, and therefore may have a higher probability of error.