• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, March 5, 2007

According to comScore Networks, in a study of popular film-related Internet sites in conjunction with the 79th Annual Academy Awards, 139,000 U.S. Internet users visited Oscar.com on "Oscar Sunday" (February 25, 2007), a one-day increase of 219-percent versus the 44,000 visitors that visited the site on February 24, 2007.

Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, said "For the audience watching the Academy Awards at home, the Internet has become an important part of enjoying the festivities. Whether they follow the action on the red carpet or view clips and trailers of nominated movies, consumers are supplementing their television viewing experience with Web content."

Visitors to Internet Movie Database, IMDB.com, rose 5 percent on Oscar Sunday versus the Sunday two weeks prior to the event, reaching 1.1 million unique visitors. Oscar.com saw the biggest one-day increase, while EW.com posted a 193-percent gain versus the previous Sunday. Eonline.com saw its traffic decline from the previous Sunday due primarily to earlier coverage regarding Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears.

With the pre-ceremony buzz surrounding the increased international film presence, international visitor traffic to Oscar.com also spiked. Of the 422,000 total worldwide visitors to Oscar.com on Oscar Sunday, just one out of every three site visitors came from the U.S. while the remaining two-thirds came from international locations. Canada and Mexico combined to account for nearly 10 percent of the worldwide audience.

For more information, please visit comScore here.