RESTON, Va., Feb. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- comScore, Inc. , a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. web activity at the top online properties for January 2011 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Americans' Web activity in January saw gains in a few main content categories: Taxes, Travel and Career Resources. Many Americans wasted no time in beginning their annual tax filing duties, as the number of visitors to Tax sites surged. Travel and careers were both major topics of Internet browsing in January, collectively accounting for seven of the top gaining categories for the month.
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"The Internet has proven to be a great resource for Americans preparing to file their taxes, with many sites offering free filing assistance in some capacity," said Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "Also top-of-mind for many Americans this time of year is spring break travel and warmer getaways, which sent more than half of all Internet users to a travel site in January, marking the category's highest reach on record."
Early Filers Flock to Tax Sites
Tax sites experienced a strong surge of activity in January as tax prep season officially commenced. The category attracted 26.8 million visitors in January, representing a 345-percent increase from December. Categories leaders such as TurboTax, H&R Block and TaxACT all achieved triple-digit gains during the month.
American Travel Plans Take Shape
Several Travel subcategories saw a spike in activity during the month, including Transactions, Ground/Cruise, Online Travel Agents and Travel Information. The overall category drew 114.6 million Americans, representing the category's highest reach on record at 54 percent. Travel Transactions sites achieved the strongest gains, up 29 percent to 3.5 million visitors. TravelPN.com led the category with 781,000 unique visitors (up 26 percent), followed by WWTE.com with 551,000 visitors (up 106 percent), OneTime.com with 508,000 (up 39 percent) and Viator.com with 497,000 (up 31 percent).
Ground/Cruise sites also experienced significant growth, up 20 percent to 13.3 million unique visitors. Amtrak.com was the category leader with 2.2 million visitors, followed closely by Carnival Cruise Lines with 2.1 million visitors (up 113 percent). FirstGroup plc ranked third in the category with 1.7 million visitors, while VacationsToGo.com Sites and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. saw 1.5 million visitors (up 67 percent and 36 percent, respectively).
New Year, New Career
Many Americans started the off the new year looking for Career Services and Development resources, with more than 80.2 million people visiting the category in January. The Job Search subcategory saw the most prominent growth at 24 percent, ranking third among top gaining categories for January. 27.2 million Americans visited a Job Search site during the month, with Indeed.com Job Search taking the top spot with 11.6 million visitors (up 20 percent). CareerBuilder.com Job Search drew 10.9 million visitors (up 27 percent), followed by Monster.com Job Search with 10.0 million visitors (up 35 percent), HotJobs Job Search with 5.0 million visitors (up 25 percent) and SimplyHired.com Job Search with 4.9 million visitors (up 29 percent).
The Career Resources subcategory displayed a slightly shuffled version of the top sites at the property level. Monster, Inc. ranked #1 with 25.5 million visitors in January (up 13 percent), followed by CareerBuilder LLC with 25.1 million visitors (up 29 percent), Indeed with 13.2 million (up 20 percent) and SimplyHired, Inc. with 5.6 million (up 28 percent).
Top 50 Properties
Yahoo! Sites ranked as the #1 property in January with 178.9 million visitors, followed by Google Sites with 178.5 million and Microsoft Sites with 176.8 million. Tribune Interactive climbed 9 positions to rank as the #32 property overall with 31.8 million visitors. LinkedIn.com was not far behind at #36 after jumping 11 positions in the ranking with 29.8 million visitors. Sites that newly appeared on the top 50 ranking in January included Huffington Post (#41), Netflix.com (#44), Yelp.com (#45), Monster, Inc. (#47) and Bank of America (#48).
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Google Ad Network led the January Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 93.1 percent of Americans online, followed by Yahoo! Network Plus with an 85.5-percent reach, AOL Advertising with 85.0 percent and Yahoo! Sites with 84.5 percent. Facebook.com crossed into the top 10 for the first time in January with a 72.3-percent reach.
Table 1 comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- January 2011 vs. December 2010 Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations ------------------------------------------------ Source: comScore Media Metrix ----------------------------- Total Unique Visitors (000) --------------------------- Rank by Unique Dec-10 Jan-11 % Change Visitors ------ ------ -------- -------- Total Internet : Total Audience 211,860 211,621 0 N/A ---------------------- ------- ------- --- --- ED.GOV 5,220 8,433 62 191 ------ ----- ----- --- --- ABC Television 6,365 9,715 53 167 -------------- ----- ----- --- --- Travelocity 5,887 8,279 41 198 ----------- ----- ----- --- --- Trulia Network 5,581 7,565 36 210 -------------- ----- ----- --- --- Bankrate.com Sites 4,802 6,465 35 244 ------------------ ----- ----- --- --- CSMonitor.com 4,648 6,235 34 250 ------------- ----- ----- --- --- Dominion Enterprises 8,263 11,072 34 145 -------------------- ----- ------ --- --- VNU e-Media Websites 5,609 7,381 32 213 -------------------- ----- ----- --- --- CandyStand.com 4,966 6,527 31 240 -------------- ----- ----- --- --- Reuters Sites 8,310 10,759 29 149 ------------- ----- ------ --- ---
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in January 2011. Excludes entities whose growth was primarily due to implementation of Media Metrix 360 unified digital audience measurement.
Table 2 comScore Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.) --------------------------------------------------------------- January 2011 vs. December 2010 ------------------------------ Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations ------------------------------------------------ Source: comScore Media Metrix ----------------------------- Total Unique Visitors (000) --------------------------- Dec-10 Jan-11 % Change ------ ------ -------- Total Internet : Total Audience 211,860 211,621 0 ------------------------------- ------- ------- --- Business/Finance - Taxes 6,016 26,790 345 ------------------------ ----- ------ --- Travel - Transactions 2,734 3,526 29 --------------------- ----- ----- --- Career Services and Development - Job Search 21,931 27,244 24 --------------------------------- ------ ------ --- Travel - Ground/Cruise 11,083 13,338 20 ---------------------- ------ ------ --- Real Estate 55,521 65,737 18 ----------- ------ ------ --- Career Services and Development - Career Resources 47,047 55,066 17 --------------------------------- ------ ------ --- Travel - Online Travel Agents 33,760 38,586 14 ----------------------------- ------ ------ --- Travel - Information 49,491 56,244 14 -------------------- ------ ------ --- Career Services and Development - Training and Education 12,180 13,828 14 --------------------------------- ------ ------ --- Business to Business 48,662 55,234 14 -------------------- ------ ------ --- Table 3 comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.) January 2011 Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix ----------------------------- Unique Unique Rank Property Visitors Rank Property Visitors ---- -------- -------- ---- -------- -------- (000) (000) ---- ---- Total Internet : Total Audience 211,621 ----------------------- ------- 1 Yahoo! Sites 178,864 26 ESPN 39,683 --- ------------ ------- --- ---- ------ Federated Media 2 Google Sites 178,516 27 Publishing 37,572 --- ------------ ------- --- ---------------- ------ 3 Microsoft Sites 176,770 28 Wal-Mart 36,736 --- --------------- ------- --- -------- ------ 4 FACEBOOK.COM 153,020 29 Break Media Network 35,769 --- ------------ ------- --- ------------------- ------ Superpages.com 5 AOL, Inc. 110,996 30 Network 35,111 --- --------- ------- --- --------------- ------ 6 Ask Network 95,719 31 Adobe Sites 34,170 --- ----------- ------ --- ----------- ------ 7 Turner Digital 91,314 32 Tribune Interactive 31,786 --- -------------- ------ --- ------------------- ------ AT&T Interactive 8 Viacom Digital 89,450 33 Network 31,551 --- -------------- ------ --- ----------------- ------ 9 Glam Media 86,533 34 WeatherBug Property 31,351 --- ---------- ------ --- ------------------- ------ iVillage.com: The 10 CBS Interactive 85,573 35 Womens Network 30,464 --- --------------- ------ --- ------------------ ------ 11 Amazon Sites 82,608 36 LINKEDIN.COM 29,847 --- ------------ ------ --- ------------ ------ Wikimedia Foundation Alloy Digital 12 Sites 78,563 37 Network 29,360 --- --------------------- ------ --- -------------- ------ 13 Demand Media 75,454 38 NBC Universal 29,106 --- ------------ ------ --- ------------- ------ Scripps Networks 14 Apple Inc. 71,952 39 Interactive Inc. 28,943 --- ---------- ------ --- ----------------- ------ 15 New York Times Digital 71,887 40 Everyday Health 28,020 --- ---------------------- ------ --- --------------- ------ 16 eBay 65,913 41 Huffington Post 27,645 --- ---- ------ --- --------------- ------ 17 Fox Interactive Media 62,152 42 Disney Online 27,611 --- --------------------- ------ --- ------------- ------ 18 VEVO 56,178 43 WordPress 27,038 --- ---- ------ --- --------- ------ 19 Answers.com Sites 55,467 44 NETFLIX.COM 27,002 --- ----------------- ------ --- ----------- ------ 20 Comcast Corporation 54,498 45 YELP.COM 26,093 --- ------------------- ------ --- -------- ------ 21 craigslist, inc. 53,370 46 Target Corporation 25,737 --- ---------------- ------ --- ------------------ ------ NetShelter Technology 22 Media 44,697 47 Monster, Inc. 25,482 --- ---------------------- ------ --- ------------- ------ 23 Technorati Media 44,677 48 Bank of America 25,384 --- ---------------- ------ --- --------------- ------ Verizon Communications 24 Weather Channel, The 43,978 49 Corporation 25,375 --- -------------------- ------ --- --------------- ------ 25 Gannett Sites 40,372 50 YellowBook Network 25,329 --- ------------- ------ --- ------------------ ------ Table 4 comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.) January 2011 Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix Unique Visitors Reach Rank Property (000) % Total Internet : Total Audience 211,621 100.0 1 Google Ad Network** 197,076 93.1 Yahoo! Network 2 Plus** 180,843 85.5 3 AOL Advertising** 179,956 85.0 4 Yahoo! Sites 178,864 84.5 5 Google 170,325 80.5 Turn Media 6 Platform** 168,577 79.7 ValueClick 7 Networks** 168,499 79.6 8 24/7 Real Media** 165,127 78.0 9 AdBrite** 156,061 73.7 10 FACEBOOK.COM 153,020 72.3 Collective 11 Display** 152,859 72.2 12 Vibrant Media** 151,263 71.5 13 Tribal Fusion** 146,111 69.0 FOX Audience 14 Network** 144,819 68.4 Microsoft Media 15 Network US** 143,811 68.0 16 AudienceScience** 142,400 67.3 Casale Media - 17 MediaNet** 138,619 65.5 18 Burst Media** 137,765 65.1 Traffic 19 Marketplace** 137,150 64.8 20 Specific Media** 136,893 64.7 21 ContextWeb** 136,491 64.5 22 AdBlade Network** 133,343 63.0 Adconion Media 23 Group** 131,990 62.4 24 MSN 130,215 61.5 25 interclick** 125,173 59.2 Unique Visitors Rank Property (000) % Reach Total Internet : Total Audience 211,621 100.0 26 YOUTUBE.COM* 114,381 54.1 CPX 27 Interactive** 112,347 53.1 28 AOL, Inc. 110,996 52.5 29 Adify** 108,048 51.1 30 Kontera** 105,594 49.9 31 Ask Network 95,719 45.2 32 Bing 93,141 44.0 33 Undertone** 92,884 43.9 Technorati 34 Media** 90,270 42.7 35 Glam Media 86,533 40.9 36 Windows Live 78,725 37.2 37 Meebo 77,789 36.8 38 Demand Media 75,454 35.7 39 ShareThis 75,343 35.6 40 MediaWhiz** 73,166 34.6 41 AMAZON.COM 69,183 32.7 Monster Career Ad Network 42 (CAN)** 65,933 31.2 MTV Networks 43 Music 61,626 29.1 Lotame 44 Solutions** 60,539 28.6 Dedicated 45 Media** 54,175 25.6 46 CNN 46,422 21.9 47 Myspace 44,795 21.2 NetShelter Technology 48 Media 44,697 21.1 49 Technorati Media 44,677 21.1 50 About 42,877 20.3 Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in January. For instance, Yahoo! Sites was seen by 84.5 percent of the 212 million Internet users in January. * 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 and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
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