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June 2006
Social Networking Sites Continue to Attract Record Numbers as MySpace.Com
Surpasses 50 Million U.S. Visitors in May
comScore
Media Metrix Releases May Top 50 Web Rankings and Analysis; Online Interest
in World Cup and NBA Championships Heats Up; Spring Upfront Television
Season Drives Traffic
comScore
Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at top
online properties and categories. In addition to shopping for Moms and
Grads, checking out job sites, and staying on top of personal finance and
politics in May, Americans also flocked to their favorite TV show and
sports sites, including those focused on the World Cup and NBA playoff
games. The social networking phenomenon also continued its stratospheric
ascent, as MySpace.com reached new heights with 50 million visitors in May
and YouTube.com nearly doubled its traffic from April, reaching 12.6 million
visitors.
“The popularity of social networking is not expected to wane in the near
future,” said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of comScore Media Metrix.
“This is a phenomenon we’re seeing not only in the U.S., but also around the
world. The challenge for social networking sites will now be monetization
and how advertisers will respond to the global marketing potential of these
sites.”
TABLE 1
|
Selected Social
Networking Properties by Unique Visitors
May 2006
Total U.S. – Home,
Work and University Internet Users
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
|
Property |
May-06
(000) |
|
Total Internet Population |
172,120 |
|
MYSPACE.COM |
51,441 |
|
Classmates.com Sites |
14,792 |
|
FACEBOOK.COM |
14,069 |
|
YOUTUBE.COM |
12,669 |
|
MSN Spaces |
9,566 |
|
XANGA.COM |
7,146 |
|
FLICKR.COM |
5,163 |
|
Yahoo! 360° |
4,936 |
|
LIVEJOURNAL.COM |
3,904 |
|
MYYEARBOOK.COM |
3,048 |
Professional
Soccer and Basketball Garner Attention Weeks before June Championships
Americans
demonstrated their interest in the World Cup soccer tournament and NBA
Playoffs in the weeks preceding the June tournaments. As evidence, the NBA
Internet Network attracted 6.3 million visitors in May (a 24-percent
increase versus April), and fifaworldcup.yahoo.com – the official World Cup
site – doubled its traffic, reaching more than 788,000 visitors. Even more
impressive was the worldwide traffic to the official World Cup site during
the opening days of the tournament, with more than 5 million unique visitors
from around the globe visiting the site on the opening day, Friday, June 9.
Traffic to the
site remained strong throughout the opening weekend, with average daily
visitors through Sunday, June 11, surpassing 4.4 million visitors.
Spring TV Sweeps Drive Web Traffic “Upfront” and Center
With spring
sweeps in full swing, fans headed to TV Web sites in numbers to check out
details for the season finales of their favorite shows. ABC, which
aggressively promoted streamed versions of its hit shows “Lost” and
“Desperate Housewives,” was rewarded with a 39-percent increase in visitors
to ABC.com, surging to 6.9 million visitors. Traffic to the official “Lost”
site increased 71 percent to 1.2 million visitors in May. Meanwhile, the
“Desperate Housewives” site attracted 528,000 visitors, up 36 percent from
the prior month, and the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” site saw a
41-percent uptick in traffic to 286,000 visitors. The season finale of
NBC’s long running ER drove traffic to the show’s site, with 236,000
visitors in May, up 49 percent compared to April.
Moms Receive Buds and Bling for Mother’s Day
Increases in visitation to the Flowers/Gifts/Greetings and Jewelry/Luxury
Goods/Accessories categories were likely attributable to shoppers
researching and buying gifts for Mother’s Day and graduation celebrations.
Traffic to the Jewelry/Luxury
Goods/Accessories category increased 15 percent versus April to 15.9 million
visitors, with RedEnvelope.com leading the category at 1.6 million visitors
(up 25 percent). Traffic to the Flowers/Gifts/Greetings category rose 10
percent in May versus the prior month. This rise helped fuel a 16-percent
increase in online sales to the category during the week leading up to
Mother’s Day, compared to the same week in 2005 ($195.8 million vs. $168.5
million). Top gainers in the category during May included Proflowers.com and
FTD.com, both achieving 120-percent gains versus April (4.1 and 5.4 million
visitors, respectively).
Jobs and
Finances are a Focus in May
As Americans
watched interest rates continue to rise, their visitation to sites in the
Financial News/ Research category increased 12 percent in May (up to 48.8
million). Traffic to Financial Information/ Advice sites also increased
during the month from 39.9 million visitors in April to 42 million visitors
in May, led by traffic increases at Freecreditreport.com (up 21 percent to
6.8 million visitors), and Loanweb.com (up 141 percent to 5.8 million
visitors).
Additionally,
traffic to job search and career resource sites saw impressive gains (see
Table 3) as graduates readied themselves for the real world. Leading the
job search sites were CareerBuilder.com Job Search, with 8.1 million
visitors in May (a 9 percent increase from April), Monster.com Job Search
with 7.3 million visitors (a 9 percent increase), and Yahoo! HotJobs Job
Search with 3.4 million visitors (a 12 percent increase).
Visitation to
Political Web Sites Increases in May
As the buzz about
upcoming Congressional and gubernatorial races grew in May, so did traffic
to political Web. In fact, the politics category was the top gaining
category in May with 8.1 million visitors, rising 31 percent versus the
previous month. Leading sites within the politics category include Capitol
Advantage, dedicated to connecting organizations to national and state
elected officials, (up 126 percent to 1.6 million visitors);
WorldNetDaily.com, independent news site, (up 20 percent to 637,000
visitors) and political action site, Moveon.org, (up 14 percent to 492,000
visitors).
Top 50 Properties
Yahoo! Sites
retained its position as the number one property in May, attracting more
than 130 million unique visitors, while Time Warner Network traded places
with MSN-Microsoft Sites to claim the number two spot, drawing slightly more
than 119 million visitors. Social networking site Facebook.com entered the
ranking at number 49, attracting 13 percent more visitors than the previous
month.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
In May,
Advertising.com retained the number one spot, reaching 83 percent of
Americans online. Also within the top ten, advertising networks Tribal
Fusion and Casale Media Network claimed the number five and six spots
respectively, each reaching more than 100 million Americans. Other
noteworthy gainers included Monster.com, which jumped eight spots to number
41, and Travelocity All, which moved up four spots to number 39. Mamma
Media Solutions and Whitepages.com both reentered the ranking at numbers 46
and 50, respectively.
TABLE 2
|
Top Ten Gaining
Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*
May 2006 vs. April
2006
Total U.S. – Home,
Work and University Internet Users
Source: comScore
Media Metrix |
Property
|
Apr-06
(000) |
May-06
(000) |
Percentage
Change |
Rank
by
Unique Visitors |
|
Total Internet Population
|
171,690 |
172,120 |
0% |
N/A |
|
TOPTVBYTES.COM |
1,761 |
5,316 |
202% |
170 |
|
LOANWEB.COM |
2,411 |
5,807 |
141% |
154 |
|
PROFLOWERS.COM |
1,865 |
4,105 |
120% |
218 |
|
FTD.COM |
2,496 |
5,479 |
120% |
161 |
|
YOUTUBE.COM |
6,592 |
12,669 |
92% |
61 |
|
1-800-Flowers |
2,185 |
3,887 |
78% |
228 |
|
Roxio, Inc |
2,780 |
4,698 |
69% |
192 |
|
FRONTIERNET.NET |
2,163 |
3,575 |
65% |
249 |
|
BIGFISHGAMES.COM |
2,301 |
3,673 |
60% |
242 |
|
HighBeam Research
Sites |
2,555 |
3,729 |
46% |
239 |
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in May 2006.
TABLE 3
Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors
May 2006 vs. April
2006
Total U.S. – Home,
Work and University Internet Users
Source: comScore
Media Metrix |
|
|
Apr-06
(000) |
May-06
(000) |
Percentage Change |
|
Total Internet Population |
171,690 |
172,120 |
0% |
|
Politics |
6,238 |
8,146 |
31% |
|
Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories |
13,865 |
15,953 |
15% |
|
Job Search |
14,534 |
16,234 |
12% |
|
Finance News/Research |
44,450 |
48,802 |
10% |
|
Flowers/Gifts/Greetings |
35,473 |
38,906 |
10% |
|
Ground/Cruise |
10,009 |
10,932 |
9% |
|
Community |
116,074 |
123,219 |
6% |
|
Career Resources |
36,223 |
38,392 |
6% |
|
Personals |
24,765 |
26,156 |
6% |
|
Financial Information/Advice |
39,953 |
42,005 |
5% |
TABLE 4
|
Top
50 Properties
May
2006
Total
U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
|
Rank |
Property |
Unique Visitors
(000) |
|
Rank |
Property |
Unique Visitors
(000) |
|
|
Total Internet Users |
172,120 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
Yahoo! Sites |
130,143 |
|
26 |
Bank of America |
22,994 |
|
2 |
Time Warner Network |
119,206 |
|
27 |
CareerBuilder
LLC |
22,339 |
|
3 |
MSN-Microsoft Sites |
118,907 |
|
28 |
CBS Corporation |
22,043 |
|
4 |
Google Sites |
104,367 |
|
29 |
News Corp. Online |
21,498 |
|
5 |
eBay |
77,525 |
|
30 |
Disney Online |
21,400 |
|
6 |
Ask Network |
54,603 |
|
31 |
Vendare
Media |
20,725 |
|
7 |
MYSPACE.COM |
51,441 |
|
32 |
Shopzilla.com
Sites |
20,282 |
|
8 |
Amazon Sites |
48,278 |
|
33 |
Gannett Sites |
20,137 |
|
9 |
New York Times Digital |
40,342 |
|
34 |
Cox Enterprises Inc. |
17,274 |
|
10 |
Verizon
Communications Corporation |
36,238 |
|
35 |
Comcast Corporation |
16,840 |
|
11 |
The Weather Channel |
35,600 |
|
36 |
ESPN |
16,175 |
|
12 |
Wikipedia
Sites |
31,485 |
|
37 |
Weatherbug
Property |
15,958 |
|
13 |
Apple Computer, Inc. |
30,885 |
|
38 |
E.W. Scripps |
15,820 |
|
14 |
Monster Worldwide |
29,882 |
|
39 |
ORBITZ.COM |
15,494 |
|
15 |
Viacom Online |
29,512 |
|
40 |
iVillage.com:
The Womens Network |
15,194 |
|
16 |
CNET Networks |
28,996 |
|
41 |
WebMD
Health |
15,149 |
|
17 |
Expedia Inc |
27,595 |
|
42 |
Citysearch |
15,103 |
|
18 |
United Online, Inc |
26,687 |
|
43 |
Trip Network Inc. |
15,007 |
|
19 |
Adobe Sites |
26,445 |
|
44 |
WhitePages |
14,915 |
|
20 |
Wal-Mart |
25,930 |
|
45 |
Ticketmaster |
14,900 |
|
21 |
AT&T, Inc. |
25,920 |
|
46 |
ARTISTdirect
Network |
14,558 |
|
22 |
Lycos, Inc. |
24,417 |
|
47 |
Sears Sites |
14,196 |
|
23 |
Real.com
Network |
24,140 |
|
48 |
Infospace
Network |
14,112 |
|
24 |
Gorilla Nation Media |
23,533 |
|
49 |
FACEBOOK.COM |
14,069 |
|
25 |
Target Corporation |
23,200 |
|
50 |
OVERSTOCK.COM |
14,043 |
TABLE 5
|
Ad Focus Ranking May 2006
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University
Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
|
Rank |
Property |
Unique Visitors (000) |
Reach
% |
|
Rank |
Property |
Unique Visitors (000) |
Reach
% |
|
|
Total Internet Users |
172,120 |
100% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
Advertising.com** |
142,508 |
83% |
|
26 |
Business.com
Network |
27,847 |
16% |
|
2 |
Yahoo! |
127,450 |
74% |
|
27 |
WEATHER.COM |
25,911 |
15% |
|
3 |
ValueClick** |
123,810 |
72% |
|
28 |
Lycos Network |
24,288 |
14% |
|
4 |
AOL Media Network |
112,176 |
65% |
|
29 |
WebMD
Health Network |
24,231 |
14% |
|
5 |
Tribal Fusion** |
104,367 |
61% |
|
30 |
CareerBuilder
Network |
23,174 |
13% |
|
6 |
Casale
Media Network** |
102,911 |
60% |
|
31 |
Disney Online |
21,400 |
12% |
|
7 |
MSN |
100,660 |
58% |
|
32 |
Vendare
Media |
20,725 |
12% |
|
8 |
Google |
99,743 |
58% |
|
33 |
CNN |
20,672 |
12% |
|
9 |
Vendare
Media - TrafficMarketplace** |
97,441 |
57% |
|
34 |
EXPEDIA.COM* |
19,036 |
11% |
|
10 |
AOL |
86,794 |
50% |
|
35 |
SuperPages
Network |
18,504 |
11% |
|
11 |
YAHOO.COM
Home Page |
83,783 |
49% |
|
36 |
IMDB.COM |
18,295 |
11% |
|
12 |
24/7 Real Media** |
82,691 |
48% |
|
37 |
REAL.COM* |
17,767 |
10% |
|
13 |
Burst Media** |
76,213 |
44% |
|
38 |
ESPN |
16,175 |
9% |
|
14 |
EBAY.COM |
68,510 |
40% |
|
39 |
Travelocity All |
15,700 |
9% |
|
15 |
Tremor Network |
68,494 |
40% |
|
40 |
WeatherBug |
15,668 |
9% |
|
16 |
DRIVEpm** |
63,801 |
37% |
|
41 |
MONSTER.COM* |
15,599 |
9% |
|
17 |
Gorilla Nation Media Network |
60,089 |
35% |
|
42 |
ORBITZ.COM |
15,494 |
9% |
|
18 |
Blue Lithium** |
56,185 |
33% |
|
43 |
iVillage.com:
The Womens Network |
15,194 |
9% |
|
19 |
Ask Network |
54,603 |
32% |
|
44 |
CITYSEARCH.COM* |
14,907 |
9% |
|
20 |
MSN.COM
Home Page |
54,565 |
32% |
|
45 |
WhitePages
Network |
14,870 |
9% |
|
21 |
MYSPACE.COM |
51,441 |
30% |
|
46 |
Mamma Media Solutions** |
14,833 |
9% |
|
22 |
Vibrant Media** |
40,762 |
24% |
|
47 |
CLASSMATES.COM |
14,792 |
9% |
|
23 |
AdDynamix.com** |
39,443 |
23% |
|
48 |
ARTISTdirect
Network |
14,558 |
8% |
|
24 |
EBAY.COM
Home Page |
39,095 |
23% |
|
49 |
BIZRATE.COM |
14,169 |
8% |
|
25 |
ABOUT.COM |
35,326 |
21% |
|
50 |
WHITEPAGES.COM |
13,821 |
8% |
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed
a particular entity at least once in May. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by
74 percent of the more than 172 million Internet users in May.
* Entity has
assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.
** Denotes
an advertising network.
Source:
Comscore
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