Seasonal Web Usage Driven By Gatherings, Greetings and Games

E-Cards, Humor Sites Receive Boost During October Halloween Season

RESTON, VA, November 29, 2005 – Consumers used the Internet to send “virtual” greetings and view other holiday fare during the October Halloween season, according to the latest monthly analysis from Comscore MMX for October 2005. Visitation to electronic greeting card sites was up 29 percent, making it the highest-gaining category during the month.

“The degree to which the Internet is woven into the daily fabric of consumers’ lives continues to increase,” said Peter Daboll, president and CEO of Comscore MMX. “As the percentage of home broadband connections has risen, consumers are more likely to turn to the Web for a variety of holiday-related tasks – such as party planning and sending greetings. This trend was clearly evident during the Halloween season and should serve as an indicator for the coming holiday season.”

In October, major gift and greetings properties enjoyed significant traffic gains, including AmericanGreetings Property (up 127 percent to 17.3 million unique visitors), Hallmark.com (up 29 percent to 6.1 million unique visitors), and Internet party-coordinating site Evite (up 20 percent to 5.3 million unique visitors). At the category level, Hobbies & Lifestyles – Food (up 9 percent to 12.9 million unique visitors) and Entertainment – Humor (up 6 percent to 25.1 million unique visitors) were holiday-related winners during October 2005.

AROUND THE WEB
Trick-or-Treaters and Party Goers Seek Halloween Garb Online – The Retail – Apparel category received the typical annual boost in October thanks to consumers searching for the perfect Halloween costume. Traffic to BuyCostumes.com grew 85 percent from September to October to reach 6.3 million consumers. This placed the site among the top ten gaining properties for October and helped push the Retail – Apparel category into the ranks of the top ten gaining categories. Other apparel standouts include Gap Online, which saw its newly remodeled site gain 26 percent in visitation to reach 3.9 million unique visitors in October 2005.

Major Powerball Jackpot Draws Web Traffic – The Games – Lotto/Sweepstakes category jumped 11 percent to 25.4 million unique visitors in October 2005, powered by heavy interest in the largest drawing in Powerball history – a $340 million jackpot – drawn on October 19. In fact, Powerball.com was the Internet’s second-highest gaining property in October 2005, rising 220 percent to 3.7 million unique visitors.

Thrifty Consumers Gain Online “Incentives” – Savvy consumers helped the Services – Incentives category grow nine percent to 19.4 million unique visitors in October. CoolSavings.com, a Web site offering coupons and other money saving shopping options, jumped 12 percent to 10.7 million unique visitors to lead the category in October. Meanwhile, Points.com, which enables consumers to trade and manage rewards points for everything from flights to hotels, soared 92 percent in October, reaching 1.2 million unique visitors. Finally, as the school year hit full stride across the country, General Mills’ Box Tops 4 Education site saw a 62-percent spike in traffic to 1.1 million unique visitors as consumers looked for “easy ways to earn cash for their schools.”

MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Coors Molson Brewing Company – This suds maker enjoyed extraordinary growth in October thanks to to their “IceSwipe” online game, which prompted users to draw objects in the “frost” covering a Coors Light logo, and ended in a scary surprise. This drove Coors Molson to the top spot among October’s highest-gaining Web properties as traffic increased more than ten-fold to 1.2 million unique visitors.

BMG Columbia House, Inc. – This property was created after the consolidation of multi-media retailers BMG and Columbia House, resulting in 8.9 million unique visitors in October 2005. Consumers were particularly drawn to Columbia House’s ‘5 DVD’s for 49 Cents’ promotion.

Heavy.com – This highly publicized site has drawn interest by becoming one of the first sites to offer ad-supported video for PlayStation Portable devices. The property saw its traffic rise 53 percent in October 2005 to 3.6 million unique visitors. The site has recently announced plans to feature ad-supported video for Apple’s new Video iPod.

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*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in October 2005

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Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that views a particular entity at least once in Octobeer. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 72 percent of the over 169 million Internet users in October. The notation “**” 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 proprietary 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, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Orbitz. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

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