• by Masha Geller , May 9, 2002

Before we get into today’s topic, a quick, but important, housekeeping item. As a MediaPost subscriber, you qualify to receive a special 20% discount to @d:Tech Los Angeles, which is coming up on June 19. As you know, in the past we've been able to arrange discounts for you to attend conferences we think are worthy of your attention, so scroll down to the end of this email for instructions on obtaining the discount and I hope to see you there.

Now, some Friday figures for you. Media Metrix reports that it’s finally safe to say that Hollywood has mastered the power of the Web to market movies. This week, two summer blockbusters generated a lot of traffic - the premiere of "Spider-Man" and advance ticket sales for "Star Wars: Episode II" had a dramatic effect on traffic at MovieTickets.com (up 163% to 122,000 average daily unique visitors), Fandango.com (up 147% to 122K), Moviefone.com (up 30% to 335K), and several other movie sites.

Websites related specifically to those movies also did well: traffic to MarvelComics.com, which produced "Spider-Man," increased 66% to 63K average daily visitors. Starwars.com nearly doubled it's traffic to 177K with increased online and offline advertising.

Elsewhere on the web, high-profile sports events drove more visitors to their associated sites: in addition to NBA.com and Nascar.com logging traffic increases, KentuckyDerby.com enjoyed one week in the winner's circle, debuting in the ratings with 55,000 average daily visitors (must have been all women checking out each other’s hats!)

Interestingly enough, WheresGeorge.com, which allows visitors to track an individual dollar bill by entering its serial number, attracted 69K average daily visitors (up 48%) who want to know where every last dollar goes.

And speaking of dollars, here’s how to register and receive your discount for @d:tech:

Go to ad-tech.com and select @d:tech Los Angeles under the Events tab. Click the Register Now button and enter DLC1305 as your Discount code. Select Full Conference Pass as your registration package. Complete the remaining registration information and your discount will be calculated. The discount does not apply if you have already registered.