Commentary

Reduced Travel Bumps Online Shopping And Advance Movie Tickets

Reduced Travel Bumps Online Shopping And Advance Movie Tickets

According to a recent comScore monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for July 2008, the travel ground/cruise category jumped 10 percent to 12.7 million visitors, making it the top-gaining category for the month, while the travel-information category grew 7 percent to 47.6 million visitors.

The hotels/resorts category gained 6 percent to more than 34 million visitors. Some of the top-gainers in the category included:

  • Hotels.com (up 6 percent to 5.2 million)
  • Choice Hotels International (up 8 percent to 3.2 million)
  • HolidayInn.com (up 11 percent to 2.7 million) ??

Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, commented "... Ground travel and cruise sites gained... as Americans sought more budget-friendly ways to enjoy their summer vacations amid economic and fuel price concerns... "

A handful of retail categories achieved traffic increases in July, possibly due to consumers shopping online instead of using expensive gasoline to drive to the store, says the report.

Retail - consumer goods sites rose 8 percent to 22.5 million visitors, including double-digit growth by:

  • Staples.com Sites (up 22 percent to 6.5 million visitors)
  • Office Depot (up 12 percent to 4.8 million visitors)
  • DisneyShopping.com (up 32 percent to 1.6 million visitors)  

The retail mall category increased 7 percent to 28 million visitors, led by:

  • AOL Shopping with 6.3 million visitors (up 19 percent)
  • MSN Shopping with 5.8 million visitors
  • QVC Sites with 5 million visitors ?

With the release of highly anticipated summer films, ticket sites grew 5 percent to more than 44 million visitors as movie goers pre-purchased tickets to avoid long lines and sell outs at theaters:

  • Moviefone led the category with 17.5 million visitors (up 12 percent)
  • Fandango posted a 29-percent gain to 9.3 million visitors
  • MovieTickets.com jumped 13 percent to 4.7 million visitors

Google Sites maintained its #1 position in the Top Properties ranking, reaching 141.6 million Americans in July, while Yahoo! Sites captured the second spot with 140.3 million and Microsoft Sites ranked third with 120.2 million visitors. CBS Corporation jumped 27 spots to #10  and Ask Network moved up two positions in the top 10 to #7 with 58.6 million visitors. 

Top 10 U.S. Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*(Total Home, Work and University Locations)

 

Total Unique Visitors (000)

 

 Jun-08

Jul-08

% Change

Rank byUnique Visitors

Total Internet:Total Audience

189,873

189,134

 0

 N/A

CBS Corporation

20,867

48,191

131

10

The Mozilla Organization

9,634

18,323

90

42

Infospace Network

9,840

13,467

37

69

General Mills

4,230

5,779

37

185

Nordstrom, Inc.

3,810

5,201

37

205

ABC News Digital

5,911

8,058

36

127

GSN Games Network

4,627

6,308

36

173

Vlaze Media Networks, Inc

6,190

8,386 

35

120

Gamevance.Com 

4,158

5,588

34

194

Eversave.Com 

5,398

7,192

33

145

Source: comScore Media Metrix *Ranking based on the top 250 properties in July 2008

 

Top 10 Gaining Categories July 2008 vs. June 2008(Total U.S. Home, Work and University Locations)

 

Total Unique Visitors (000)

 

 Jun-08

Jul-08

 % Change

Total Internet: Total Audience

189,873

189,134

0

Travel - Ground/Cruise

11,484

12,663

10

Retail - Consumer Goods

20,795

22,455

8

Retail - Mall

26,123

28,068

7

Retail - Movies

25,251

26,985

7

Travel - Information

44,631

47,569

7

Travel - Hotels/Resorts

32,282

34,095

6

Online Gambling 

12,038

12,648

5

Retail - Tickets

42,166

44,228

5

Entertainment - News

50,315

52,735

5

Career Services and Development

59,031

61,544

4

Source: comScore Media Metrix

Platform-A led the Ad Focus ranking in July, reaching 90 percent of the 189 million Americans online. Yahoo! Network (85 percent reach) ranked second, followed by Google Ad Network (81 percent reach), and Specific Media (81 percent reach).

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