RESTON, Va., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- comScore, Inc. , a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties for September 2007 from its comScore Media Metrix service. Political sites gained as political controversies grabbed headlines and the 2008 presidential campaigns kicked into high gear. Sports sites grew amid football season excitement, and several retail categories appear in the ranking of top gaining categories. The religion category saw significant gains for the second consecutive month.
"Traditionally, presidential campaigns pick up intensity after Labor Day with the primaries just around the corner," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "So it's no surprise to see a jump in activity in the September before an election year. With the Internet playing an increasingly important role in American politics, it will be interesting to see if the growth trends continue as we inch closer to November 2008."
Controversial Ad and Presidential Candidates Fuel Growth in Political Category
The politics category surged 17 percent in September, attracting 8.4 million visitors and ranking as the top-gaining category for the month. Two political controversies also helped fuel interest in the category, as Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's airport sex scandal and MoveOn.org's controversial "General Betray Us" ad in the New York Times had the airwaves abuzz. Capitol Advantage led the category with 794,000 visitors (up 31 percent), followed by MoveOn.org, which jumped 81 percent to 608,000 visitors as a result of the controversy. Among the Republican presidential contenders, the Web sites for Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson (Fred08.com) and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (MittRomney.com) made their first appearances in the rankings, attracting 273,000 and 127,000 visitors, respectively.
Football Season Drives Increase to Sports Sites
With September marking the beginning of football season in the United States, the sports category experienced an 8 percent increase to nearly 80 million visitors. Yahoo! Sports led the category 24.6 million visitors (up 22 percent), barely edging out ESPN with 24.2 million visitors (up 22 percent). NFL Internet Group rose 26 percent to 18.1 million visitors.
Retail Sites See Growth in September
Several retail specific categories experienced growth in September. Retail food jumped 14 percent to 13.7 million visitors, led by Papajohnsonline.com with 1.6 million visitors (up 4 percent), which likely saw a boost from football season. Flowers, gifts and greetings saw a 9 percent increase to more than 29 million visitors, as American Greetings Property held the top spot with 6.6 million visitors (up 4 percent). Fragrances and cosmetics also gained in September, growing 6 percent to 14.3 million visitors, led by Avon Products Inc. with 3.6 million visitors (up 19 percent).
Religion Category Sees Significant Gains for Second Consecutive Month
On the heels of a 5 percent gain in August, the religion category rose 13 percent in September, reaching nearly 22 million visitors. BeliefNet Network led the category with 2.9 million visitors (up 13 percent), followed by Salem Web Network with 1.8 million visitors (up 15 percent) and ChristianBook.com with 1.6 million visitors (up 12 percent).
Top 50 Properties
September saw Wikipedia Sites and New York Times Digital each gain one spot in the rankings, capturing positions eight and 10, respectively. ESPN jumped 16 positions to number 24, with more than 24 million visitors, while CBS Corporation moved up seven spots to number 17 with more than 30 million unique visitors. iVillage.com: The Women's Network, NFL Internet Group, EA Online, and Dictionary.com Sites all entered the rankings in September.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Advertising.com remained atop the Ad Focus Ranking in September, reaching 88 percent of the 181 million Americans online with their advertising. Yahoo! moved up a spot to number two, reaching 74 percent of Internet users, while Specific Media gained two spots to claim the number four position. Blue Lithium and AOL Media Network also enjoyed increases, reaching 65 percent and 61 percent of Americans online, respectively. Collective Media joined the ranking this month at number 22, reaching 41 percent of the online population, while ESPN (number 47) and CareerBuilder Network (number 48) also entered the rankings.
TABLE 1 comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.) September 2007 vs. August 2007 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix Total Unique Visitors (000) % Rank by Unique Aug-07 Sep-07 Change Visitors Total Internet : Total Audience 181,257 181,858 0 N/A Internet Brands, Inc. 2,742 7,424 171 127 HotChalk Network 3,315 6,379 92 150 GamesRadar Network 3,138 4,864 55 197 Liberty Media Holding Corporation 5,432 8,298 53 108 ABC.com 6,135 9,236 51 97 ImageShack.us 4,674 6,602 41 142 Pearson Education 8,633 11,563 34 78 Dictionary.com Sites 11,763 15,660 33 50 Reed Elsevier Group 3,738 4,888 31 195 Gemstar-TVGuide International, Inc. 4,339 5,627 30 177 * Ranking based on the top 250 properties in September 2007 TABLE 2 comScore Top 10 Gaining Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.) September 2007 vs. August 2007 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore Media Metrix Total Unique Visitors (000) Aug-07 Sep-07 % Change Total Internet : Total Audience 181,257 181,858 0 Politics 7,213 8,413 17 Retail - Food 12,015 13,682 14 Religion 19,401 21,914 13 Flowers/Gifts/Greetings 26,908 29,238 9 Sports 73,717 79,974 8 Information 63,234 67,852 7 Online Gambling 13,001 13,834 6 Fragrances/Cosmetics 13,471 14,329 6 Reference 77,961 82,197 5 Technology - News 42,326 43,954 4 TABLE 3 comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.) September 2007 Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations Unique Visitors (000) Source: comScore Media Metrix Unique Unique Rank Property Visitors Rank Property Visitors (000) (000) Total Internet: Total Audience 181,858 1 Yahoo! Sites 135,578 26 Verizon Communications 2 Google Sites 129,508 Corporation 23,982 3 Time Warner Network 121,894 27 CRAIGSLIST.ORG 23,124 4 Microsoft Sites 119,193 28 Bank of America 22,997 5 Fox Interactive Media 79,951 29 United Online, Inc 22,908 6 eBay 78,105 30 Yellowpages.com 7 Amazon Sites 53,803 Network 22,808 8 Wikipedia Sites 52,800 31 CareerBuilder LLC 22,507 9 Ask Network 51,723 32 Glam Media 22,421 10 New York Times 33 Shopzilla.com Sites 22,272 Digital 45,276 34 Photobucket.com LLC 21,349 11 Viacom Digital 44,300 35 Disney Online 21,343 12 Apple Inc. 43,122 36 Gannett Sites 20,829 13 Weather Channel, The 37,571 37 Lycos Sites 20,273 14 CNET Networks 32,687 38 Real.com Network 19,998 15 Adobe Sites 30,847 39 Superpages.com 16 FACEBOOK.COM 30,601 Network 18,980 17 CBS Corporation 30,118 40 iVillage.com: The 18 Gorilla Nation 30,097 Womens Network 18,837 19 Target Corporation 28,749 41 WebMD Health 18,366 20 AT&T, Inc. 28,301 42 NFL Internet Group 18,081 21 Wal-Mart 27,036 43 ARTISTdirect Network 17,829 22 Monster Worldwide 25,615 44 NBC Universal 17,132 23 Expedia Inc 25,058 45 E.W. Scripps 17,080 24 ESPN 24,168 46 Weatherbug Property 16,772 25 Comcast Corporation 24,007 47 The Mozilla Organization 16,724 48 Cox Enterprises Inc. 16,224 49 EA Online 15,784 50 Dictionary.com Sites 15,660 TABLE 4 comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.) September 2007 Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations Unique Visitors (000) Source: comScore Media Metrix Unique Unique Visitors Reach Visitors Reach Rank Property (000) % Rank Property (000) % Total Internet: Total Audience 181,858 100 % 1 Advertising.com** 160,166 88 % 26 Vibrant Media** 68,644 38 % 2 Yahoo! 133,957 74 % 27 AdDynamix.com** 68,481 38 % 3 ValueClick** 133,507 73 % 28 MYSPACE.COM 68,449 38 % 4 Specific 29 EBAY.COM 67,124 37 % Media** 130,716 72 % 30 Gorilla Nation 5 Tribal Fusion** 129,615 71 % Media 65,250 36 % 6 Google Ad 31 Undertone Network** 123,352 68 % Networks** 56,304 31 % 7 Google 122,107 67 % 32 PrecisionClick** 54,864 30 % 8 Blue Lithium** 118,684 65 % 33 MSN.COM Home Page 54,161 30 % 9 AOL Media Network 111,411 61 % 34 Ask Network 51,723 28 % 10 Casale Media 35 Mapquest 50,031 28 % Network** 111,066 61 % 36 YOUTUBE.COM 47,486 26 % 11 Traffic 37 Business.com Marketplace** 109,856 60 % Network 44,738 25 % 12 DRIVEpm** 105,926 58 % 38 AMAZON.COM 44,224 24 % 13 MSN-Windows Live 104,578 58 % 39 Kontera** 42,461 23 % 14 YAHOO.COM Home 40 EBAY.COM Home Page 39,534 22 % Page 94,124 52 % 41 ABOUT.COM 38,751 21 % 15 24/7 Real Media** 91,493 50 % 42 FACEBOOK.COM 30,601 17 % 16 Tremor Media 90,432 50 % 43 WEATHER.COM 27,526 15 % 17 AOL 90,297 50 % 44 Real Cities Network 25,879 14 % 18 Interclick** 81,732 45 % 45 CNN 24,622 14 % 19 Burst Media** 81,412 45 % 46 WALMART.COM 24,394 13 % 20 adconion media 47 ESPN 24,168 13 % group** 77,732 43 % 48 CareerBuilder 21 Centro 77,427 43 % Network 23,299 13 % 22 Collective 49 Nick Kids & Family 22,852 13 % Media** 75,276 41 % 50 Yellowpages.com 23 AdBrite** 73,569 40 % Network 22,808 13 % 24 ContextWeb** 72,981 40 % 25 CPX Interactive** 70,242 39 % Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in September. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 74 percent of the almost 182 million Internet users in September. * Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities. ** Denotes an advertising network. About comScore Media Metrix
comScore Media Metrix provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report details of online media usage, visitor demographics and online buying power for the home, work and university audiences across local U.S. markets and across the globe. comScore Media Metrix reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.
About comScore
comScore, Inc. is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by more than 700 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/.
