Web Attracts Planners At Beginning Of The Year In keeping with annual trends, says comScore Media Metrix, January saw significant increases in visitation to tax,
travel, careers and real estate sites. Heightened interest in tax software and Microsoft's Vista boosted traffic to the Computer Software category, while speculation about 2008 Presidential
candidates drove traffic to politically-oriented sites.
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Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, said "As we've witnessed on an annual
basis, consumers turned to the Web at the beginning of the year in a very utilitarian fashion, with an eye toward planning." Key growth categories (over December) are summarized as follows:
The Tax category was the top-gaining category for the month. Led by IRS.gov, the category saw a 199-percent increase to 22.4 million visitors.
- As retail-oriented categories returned to previous visitation levels after the holiday season, the Computer Software category bucked the trend with a 20-percent surge in
January. The highly anticipated rollout of Microsoft Vista also drove category traffic,
- The Hotels/Resorts category experienced a 29-percent boost in
visitation, led by Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Online with 6 million visitors and Hotels.com with 5.2 million visitors. Travelocity grew 55 percent to 11.8 million visitors, while Expedia led the
Online Travel Agents category with 25.4 million visitors.
- Many Americans resolved to reassess their career situations, as 31 percent of American Internet users
visited a Career Services site in January. Training and Education sites increased 26 percent to 9.9 million visitors in January.
- Visitation to the real estate
category increased 28 percent versus December, reflecting seasonal increases after the New Year. Move Network led the category with 8.5 million visitors, up 44 percent versus December, followed by
Yahoo! Real Estate and Homegain.com
- Speculation surrounding key players in the 2008 presidential elections fueled a 25-percent increase to political sites in
January. Leading the category was Capitol Advantage, followed by WorldNetDaily and Moveon.org. The presumptive frontrunners for the democratic presidential nomination saw their official campaign
sites finish among the category's top 15, led by Hillary Clinton with 313,000 unique visitors, followed by Barack Obama with 297,000 unique visitors, and John Edwards posting 202,000 unique visitors.
The following tables show gainers and top properties for January, 2007
Top 10 Gaining Properties (% change) in Unique VisitorsJanuary 2007 vs. December 2006 Total U.S. Home, Work
and University Internet Users |
Property | Dec-06 (000) | Jan-07 (000) | Percentage Change | Rank by Unique Visitors |
Total Internet Population |
174,199 | 175,559 | 1% | N/A |
IRS.GOV | 4,372 | 13,333 | 205 | 208 |
Intuit | 3,969 | 11,464 | 189 | 227 |
ED.GOV | 3,790
| 7,105 | 87
| 236 |
Travelocity | 7,600 |
11,799 | 55 |
114 |
CareerBuilder LLC | 13,919 | 21,077 | 51 | 55 |
Move Network | 5,916 | 8,527 | 44 | 154 |
Classified Ventures | 7,516 | 10,331 | 37 | 116 |
Dominion Enterprises |
5,127 | 6,940 |
35 | 178 |
Belo | 3,598 |
4,814 | 34 |
249 |
CA.GOV |
5,128 | 6,849 |
34 | 177 |
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
Top 10 Gaining Categories (Unique Visitors)January 2007 vs. December 2006
Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users |
| Dec-06 (000) | Jan-07 (000) | Percentage Change |
Total Internet : Total Audience | 174,199 | 175,559 | 1% |
Taxes | 7,505
| 22,420 | 199
|
Hotels/Resorts |
25,248 | 32,659 |
29 |
Real Estate | 31,226 | 39,845 | 28 |
Training and Education | 7,865 | 9,888 | 26 |
Politics | 6,192 | 7,733 | 25 |
Job Search
| 11,796 | 14,534
| 23 |
Career
Services and Development | 44,715 | 54,131 | 21 |
Gay/Lesbian | 1,843 | 2,231 | 21 |
Computer Software | 25,260 | 30,216 | 20 |
Online Travel Agents | 40,699
| 47,841 | 18
|
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
Top 50 Properties
(Unique Visitors (000)) January 2007 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Locations |
Rank | Property | Unique Visitors (000) |
| Rank | Property | Unique Visitors
(000) |
| Total Internet Users | 175,559 | | | | |
1 | Yahoo! Sites | 129,153 | | 26 | Verizon Communications Corporation | 22,648 |
2 | Time Warner Network | 117,229 | | 27 | CBS Corporation | 22,587 |
3 | Microsoft Sites | 114,936 | | 28 | CareerBuilder LLC | 21,077 |
4 | Google Sites | 113,434 | | 29 | Shopzilla.com Sites | 19,801 |
5 | eBay | 80,681 | | 30 | Travelport | 19,720 |
6 | Fox Interactive Media | 74,831 | | 31 | FACEBOOK.COM | 18,961 |
7 | Amazon Sites | 50,886 | | 32 | Gannett Sites | 18,671 |
8 | Ask Network | 49,103 | | 33 | Real.com Network | 18,532 |
9 | Wikipedia Sites | 42,880 | | 34 | Comcast Corporation | 17,698 |
10 | New York Times Digital | 40,137 | | 35 | Photobucket.com LLC | 17,620 |
11 | Apple Computer, Inc. | 38,634 | | 36 | E.W. Scripps | 17,579 |
12 | Viacom Digital | 37,303 | | 37 | WebMD Health | 17,076 |
13 | Weather Channel, The | 35,433 | | 38 | Idearc Media | 16,884 |
14 | CNET Networks | 30,764 | | 39 | WhitePages | 16,636 |
15 | AT&T, Inc. | 28,627 | | 40 | Cox Enterprises Inc. | 16,245 |
16 | Wal-Mart | 27,031 | | 41 | ESPN | 16,209 |
17 | Adobe Sites | 26,267 | | 42 | Yellowpages.com Network | 16,148 |
18 | Expedia Inc | 25,377 | | 43 | iVillage.com: The Womens Network | 15,529 |
19 | Disney Online | 25,005 | | 44 | CRAIGSLIST.ORG | 15,251 |
20 | Monster Worldwide | 24,976 | | 45 | NFL Internet Group | 15,089 |
21 | United Online, Inc | 24,461 | | 46 | Best Buy Sites | 15,039 |
22 | Lycos, Inc. | 24,178 | | 47 | NBC Universal | 14,959 |
23 | Target Corporation | 24,015 | | 48 | UPS Sites | 14,787 |
24 | Gorilla Nation | 23,708 | | 49 | Weatherbug Property | 14,696 |
25 | Bank of America | 23,130 | | 50 | JPMorgan Chase Property | 14,636 |
Source: comScore Media Metrix
|
Ad Focus Ranking Unique Visitors (000) January 2007 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Locations |
Rank | Property | Unique Visitors (000) | Reach % |
| Rank | Property | Unique Visitors (000) | Reach % |
| Total Internet Users | 175,559 |
100% | | | | | |
1
| Advertising.com** | 148,439
| 85% | | 26 | Ask Network | 49,103 | 28% |
2 | ValueClick** | 129,665 | 74% | | 27 | EBAY.COM Home Page | 45,126 | 26% |
3 | Yahoo! | 127,460 | 73% | | 28 | CPX Interactive** | 43,207 | 25% |
4 | Tribal Fusion** | 115,944 | 66% | | 29 | Vibrant Media** | 41,377 | 24% |
5 | Casale Media Network** | 109,865 | 63% | | 30 | ABOUT.COM | 35,050 | 20% |
6 | AOL Media Network | 108,466 | 62% | | 31 | Interclick** | 34,732 | 20% |
7 | Google | 107,105 | 61% | | 32 | YOUTUBE.COM | 30,358 | 17% |
8 | Vendare NetBlue - TrafficMarketplace**
| 101,076 | 58%
| | 33
| Business.com Network | 26,656
| 15% |
9
| MSN-Windows Live | 97,449
| 56% | | 34 | WEATHER.COM | 25,636 | 15% |
10 | Blue Lithium** | 94,858 | 54% | | 35 | Disney Online | 25,005 | 14% |
11 | 24/7 Real Media** | 90,469 | 52% | | 36 | Lycos Network | 24,026 | 14% |
12 | AOL | 88,738 | 51% | | 37 | Undertone Networks** | 22,286 | 13% |
13 | DRIVEpm** | 88,157 | 50% | | 38 | CareerBuilder Network | 21,954 | 13% |
14 | YAHOO.COM Home Page | 86,976 | 50% | | 39 | IMDB.COM | 21,272 | 12% |
15 | Burst Media** | 77,036 | 44% | | 40 | CNN | 21,246 | 12% |
16 | Tremor Media | 75,294 | 43% | | 41 | The WebMD Health Network | 20,196 | 12% |
17 | EuroClick** | 75,134 | 43% | | 42 | FACEBOOK.COM | 18,961 | 11% |
18 | EBAY.COM | 72,817 | 41% | | 43 | EXPEDIA.COM* | 17,822 | 10% |
19 | PrecisionClick** | 70,131 | 40% | | 44 | SuperPages | 16,884 | 10% |
20 | AdBrite** | 66,942 | 38% | | 45 | PHOTOBUCKET.COM | 16,772 | 10% |
21 | MYSPACE.COM | 61,524 | 35% | | 46 | WhitePages Network | 16,568 | 9% |
22 | AdDynamix.com** | 59,420 | 34% | | 47 | ESPN | 16,209 | 9% |
23 | Gorilla Nation Media | 58,955 | 34% | | 48 | iVillage.com: The Womens Network | 15,529 | 9% |
24 | ContextWeb** | 52,914 | 30% | | 49 | Travelocity All | 15,457 | 9% |
25 | MSN.COM Home Page | 50,112 | 29% | | 50 | WHITEPAGES.COM | 15,457 | 9% |
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in January. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 73 percent of the more than 175 million
Internet users in January. * Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.** Denotes an advertising network.
For the complete report, please visit here.