Holiday Festivity Drove Web Activity in December, According to Comscore MMX Top 50 Online Property Ranking

RESTON, Va., Jan. 17, 2005 – Comscore MMX today released its monthly analysis of consumer activity at top online properties and categories. As expected, holiday-related content dominated December traffic, with seasonal sites accounting for 8 of the top 10 gaining properties and 9 of the top 10 gaining categories.

“More than 132 million consumers – an extraordinary four out of every five online consumers in the country – visited retail sites and resources in December,” said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of Comscore MMX. “Whether shopping online, sending e-cards or tracking packages, vast numbers of Americans turned to the Web to help make the holidays a lot more fun and a little less hectic.”

E-Mail-Fueled Rumor Drives Millions to DoNotCall.gov
The month’s top gaining property (see table 1) was actually not specifically related to the holiday season and also served as a reminder of the viral communication power of the Web. In December, millions of Americans received (and frequently forwarded) an e-mail falsely claiming that telemarketers would soon begin calling cell phone numbers that were not added to the federal Do Not Call list. As a result, more than 7 million people visited DoNotCall.gov in December – an increase of more than 300 percent compared to November.

Holiday-Related Visitation Dominates December Web Activity
With Americans shifting more of their shopping time and dollars to the Web, five of the top 10 gaining categories in December were Retail subcategories (see table 2). The fastest growing Retail subcategory, Jewelry, Luxury Goods & Accessories, jumped 30 percent from November to December and 15 percent over the prior year. Coach.com, BlueNile.com and Zales.com were standouts, each growing 70 percent or more over November visitor levels.

Driven upward by traditional “brick and mortar” retailers’ sites, the Department Stores category continued its ascent in December with a 20-percent jump over November. Category leader Walmart.com saw an increase of 37 percent, almost twice that of the category. With 32 million visitors in December, Walmart.com was the third-largest retail property online, behind eBay and Amazon. While every major site in the Department Stores category increased, growth leaders included Kmart (up 49 percent), May Department Stores (42 percent) and Federated Department Stores (35 percent).

An expected pickup in visitation to e-card sites boosted both the e-Cards and Flowers, Gifts & Greetings categories. As the tradition of paper gives way to the convenience of the Web, nearly 48 million Americans visited e-Card sites to send or view virtual holiday cards in December. The Flowers, Gifts & Greetings category shot up 20 percent as sites such as RedEnvelope.com, Proflowers.com and HarryandDavid.com saw substantial growth in December. 1-800-Flowers jumped 44 percent between November and December, enough to be included in this month’s top gaining properties ranking.

Anxious gift givers tracking holiday presents boosted the Shipping category 31 percent in December. Nearly 28 million people visited sites in the category, up from 21 million in November. The two largest Shipping category sites, UPS Sites and USPS.com, both made the top gaining properties ranking this month, with increases of 49 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

Deal-hungry shoppers visited the Coupons category in droves in December. The category, which is comprised primarily of sites such as CouponMountain.com and Dealsdujour.com, drew 22 million visitors in December.

Top 50 Properties
Among sites in both November and December’s Top 50 Properties, AmericanGreetings Property had the largest jump, moving up 9 spots to number 29. Coupled with a 12-spot gain from October to November, AmericanGreetings shot up 21 spots and attracted 61 percent more unique visitors over the last two months, bolstered by the holiday e-card rush. JC Penney Sites and Sprint both posted 9-spot gains to move into the Top 50 at number 45 and 49, respectively (see table 3).

Holiday-induced traffic powered increases at a number of other retail sites; Dell (December’s number 33), Wal-Mart (number 9) and Overstock.com (number 26) gained 8, 6 and 5 spots, respectively. Customers logging in to check credit cards and bank balances drained from holiday spending drove the JPMorgan Chase Property up 7 spots to number 40. Finally, bolstered by the immense popularity of the iPod as a holiday gift and a 28-percent increase in traffic to the iTunes portion of its site, Apple Computer, Inc. gained 5 spots to crack the Top 50 at number 48.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Comscore MMX’s ranking of advertising-supported media brands includes media properties, such as Yahoo! and MSN, as well as advertising networks, such as Advertising.com and TribalFusion. Instead of focusing on corporate ownership, this reporting mirrors, as closely as possible, the manner in which advertising is actually packaged and sold. With this ranking, media planners and buyers can more easily evaluate interactive marketing options on an equal footing.

Advertising.com and Yahoo! claimed the top 2 spots in the Ad Focus ranking, as they have in every month since May 2004 (see table 4). Fastclick debuted at number 3 in December’s Ad Focus ranking, while eBay.com moved 1 spot to claim the final spot in the top 10. Weather.com moved 3 spots to number 22, bolstered in part by visitors seeking information about the devastating tsunami and volatile weather in California.

TABLE 1

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in December

TABLE 2

TABLE 3

TABLE 4

**Indicates that the entity is an advertising network.

About Comscore MMX
Comscore MMX, a division of Comscore Networks, provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report – with unmatched accuracy - 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 MMX continues the tradition of quality and innovation established by its MMX syndicated Internet ratings - long recognized as the currency in online media measurement among financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers - while drawing upon Comscore's advanced technologies to address important new industry requirements. All Comscore MMX syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About Comscore Networks
Comscore Networks provides unparalleled insight into consumer behavior and attitudes. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given Comscore explicit 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 patent-pending technology, Comscore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. Comscore consultants 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 global leaders such as AOL, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Nestlé, Bank of America, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, GlaxoSmithKline and Orbitz. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

Press
Bill Daddi
Daddi Brand Communications
646-370-1341
press@comscore.com