• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 11, 2004

Anti-Virus Programs and Cold Weather Spiked Web Traffic

According to Nielsen//NetRatings, surfers from work flocked to security sites to download anti-virus programs. Traffic to Symantec SecurityResponse skyrocketed 176 percent to more than 2.2 million visitors, making it the fastest growing site at work during the week ending February 1.

Greg Bloom, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings, said "While Mydoom has been cited as the fastest spreading virus ever, early news of the virus and the quick response by security sites have lessened the damage compared to last summer's Blaster and LovSan virus."

The top pages within Symantec SecurityResponse revealed that surfers visited the site to download a Mydoom removal tool. Nearly 2.3 million unique visitors went to the McAfee site, jumping 86 percent from the previous week. Top pages for the McAfee site were also related to the virus, as surfers logged on to get more information about Mydoom and download protective software. Rising from below reporting levels in previous weeks, Trend Micro drew 418,000 unique visitors, from work, during the week ending February 1.

Nielsen//NetRatings Fastest Growing Security Web Sites, Week Ending February 1 (U.S., Work)

Brand or Channel	1/25 Unique Audience (000)	2/1 Unique Audience (000)	% Growth
1. Symantec SecurityResponse	805	2,220	176%
2. McAfee	1,228	2,279	86%
3. Trend Micro	--*	449	N/A

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, February 2004
--* fell below Nielsen//NetRatings' normal reporting levels.

Additional Nielsen//NetRatings' Week on the Web:

Traffic to Apple iTunes skyrocketed 141 percent, at home, during the week ending February 1. iTunes attracted 703,000 unique visitors, as compared to 292,000 the week prior, with the Pepsi/iTunes 100 million free songs campaign. iTunes application usage, including online music purchasing and real-time music playback, grew from 25 percent of total iTunes traffic to more than 52 percent.

Traffic to weather sites grew 25 percent at work, from nearly nine million to more than 11 million unique visitors during the week ending February 1, as cold winter weather continues to hit the East Coast.

AccuWeather spiked 93 percent to 1.1 million unique office workers. Traffic to Weather Channel jumped 33 percent to 7.7 million unique visitors, as compared to 5.7 million the week prior. Weather Underground grew to 845,000 unique visitors, at work, increasing 30 percent. Rounding out the top four fastest growing online weather destinations was WeatherBug, which rose 16 percent to nearly 2.9 million unique visitors from work during the week ending February 1.

Traffic to NOAA.gov (U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) also rose 50 percent, at work, to nearly 1.5 million unique visitors.

You can find out more here.