Consumers set up a blockbuster holiday season at the Box Office
Education-related Sites Jump as Students Go Back to School
Sports/Outdoors Sites Experience Gains as Fall Sports Season Kicks Off
Mega Millions and Powerball Jackpots Drive Traffic to Lottery Sites
RESTON, VA, September 18, 2007 – Comscore MMX (NASDAQ: SCOR) today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties for August 2007. Education-related sites had a strong presence in this month’s rankings as schools and universities across the country began another academic year. August also saw traffic increases to lotto/sweepstakes sites as lottery jackpots reached near record highs. Humor sites gained on the strength of Comedy Central’s spike in traffic, and sports/outdoor retail sites grew in anticipation of the fall sports season.
Back to School Season Drives Traffic to Education Sites With students and teachers heading back to the classroom in late August, education sites experienced strong growth for the month. The training and education category grew 15 percent to more than 12 million visitors, making it the top gaining category for the month. College resource site Fastweb led the category with 2.5 million visitors (up 13 percent), followed by The College Board with nearly 1.9 million visitors (up 12 percent) and Nellnet, Inc., an education planning and financing company, with 1.4 million visitors (up 11 percent). The education information category increased 8 percent to more than 63 million visitors, as Dictionary.com Sites led the category with 11.8 million visitors, followed by Answers.com (9.3 million visitors) and Pearson Education (8.6 million visitors).
Fall Sports and Football Season Drive Traffic to Retail Sports/Outdoors Sites
With the beginning of fall sports and football season, traffic to retail sports/outdoors sites increased 7 percent to more than 29 million visitors. Foot Locker Sites experienced a 15-percent gain to 4.6 million visitors to lead the category, followed by eBay Sports U.S. with 4 million visitors and DicksSportingGoods.com with 2.6 million visitors. NFL Internet Group, which includes the official NFL team sites, surged 78 percent to more than 14 million visitors, making it one of top gaining properties in August.
Near Record Jackpots Propel Traffic to Lottery Sites in August
Multi-state lotteries Mega Millions and Powerball both reached massive jackpots in August causing lotto/sweepstakes sites to rise 8 percent to more than 31 million visitors for the month. Powerball.com surged to 2.3 million visitors (up 123 percent), while Megamillions.com saw its traffic swell to 1.1 million (up 100 percent).
Comedy Central Drives Traffic Spike in Humor Category
The humor category grew 8 percent in August, reaching more than 30 million Americans. The increase was largely propelled by gains at Comedy Central from its “Indecision2008” coverage. National Lampoon Humor Network led the category with 5.6 million visitors, followed by Comedy Central with nearly 5 million visitors (up 105 percent) and Jokeroo Entertainment Inc. with nearly 3 million visitors (up 37 percent).
Top 50 Properties
The top 10 properties remained unchanged in August, as Yahoo! Sites topped the ranking with more than 135 million visitors. CBS Corporation experienced a 16-percent gain, lifting it 6 spots to number 24. Comcast Corporation also experienced a sizable jump, moving up seven positions to number 26 in the ranking with more than 25 million visitors. United Online enjoyed a four-position gain, drawing more than 26 million unique visitors in August.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
In August, Advertising.com remained atop the Ad Focus Ranking, reaching 89 percent of the more than 181 million Americans online. Specific Media and Google both moved up within the top ten, to numbers six and seven, respectively. Adconian media group jumped seven spots to number 21, reaching 43 percent of the U.S. online population, a 7-percent increase from July. Interclick also continued its climb in the rankings, gaining four spots to number 18. Finally, Amazon.com and Walmart.com entered the ranking in August at positions 37 and 43, respectively.
TABLE 1
Comscore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.)August 2007 vs. July 2007Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet UsersSource: Comscore MMX
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Jul-07
Aug-07
% Change
Rank by Unique Visitors
Total Internet : Total Audience
180,078
181,257
1
N/A
HandHeld Entertainment
1,476
6,298
327
156
TheStreet.com Sites
2,023
4,417
118
231
NFL Internet Group
8,059
14,368
78
59
Mattel Sites
7,431
10,737
44
86
Procter & Gamble
4,668
6,132
31
164
Pearson Education
6,667
8,633
29
109
Encyclopaedia Britannica
5,042
6,195
23
160
Comcast Corporation
20,659
25,279
22
26
ABC.COM
5,046
6,135
162
PriceGrabber
3,863
4,691
21
212
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in August 2007
TABLE 2
Comscore Top 10 Gaining Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)August 2007 vs. July 2007Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet UsersSource: Comscore MMX
Training and Education
10,436
12,012
15
Incentives
16,509
17,885
8
Humor
27,918
30,198
Gay/Lesbian
2,592
2,802
Education - Information
58,757
63,234
Lotto/Sweepstakes
28,914
31,109
Sports/Outdoor
27,397
29,208
7
Health - Information
56,865
60,584
Technology - News
39,954
42,326
6
Religion
18,424
19,401
5
TABLE 3
Comscore Top 50 Properties (U.S.)August 2007Total U.S. - Home, Work and University LocationsUnique Visitors (000)Source: Comscore MMX
Rank
Property
Unique Visitors
(000)
Yahoo! Sites
135,251
2
Google Sites
128,544
27
Verizon Communications Corporation
25,033
3
Time Warner Network
124,263
28
CRAIGSLIST.ORG
23,987
4
Microsoft Sites
118,392
Bank of America
23,809
Fox Interactive Media
79,966
30
Photobucket.com LLC
23,727
eBay
79,707
Shopzilla.com Sites
21,644
Amazon Sites
53,904
32
Yellowpages.com Network
21,347
Ask Network
52,075
33
Superpages.com Network
21,344
9
Wikipedia Sites
48,386
34
Lycos Sites
20,375
10
Viacom Digital
44,888
35
CareerBuilder LLC
20,202
11
New York Times Digital
44,113
36
Real.com Network
20,116
12
Apple Inc.
42,744
37
Glam Media
20,058
13
Weather Channel, The
38,905
38
Gannett Sites
20,050
14
FACEBOOK.COM
33,745
39
ARTISTdirect Network
19,989
CNET Networks
32,490
40
ESPN
19,740
16
Adobe Sites
31,231
41
Travelport
18,215
17
Target Corporation
31,042
42
Cox Enterprises Inc.
18,025
18
Gorilla Nation
30,776
43
WhitePages
17,024
19
Wal-Mart
28,510
WebMD Health
16,945
20
AT&T, Inc.
28,501
45
Citysearch
16,869
Monster Worldwide
27,986
46
Weatherbug Property
16,722
Expedia Inc
27,034
47
E.W. Scripps
16,501
United Online, Inc
26,255
48
Ticketmaster
16,139
24
CBS Corporation
25,821
49
NBC Universal
16,107
25
Disney Online
25,606
50
The Mozilla Organization
15,637
TABLE 4
Comscore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.)August 2007Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations Unique Visitors (000)Source: Comscore MMX
Unique Visitors (000)
Reach %
100%
Advertising.com**
160,960
89%
AdDynamix.com**
70,932
39%
ValueClick**
135,762
75%
EBAY.COM
69,327
38%
Yahoo!
133,390
74%
Vibrant Media**
68,999
Google Ad Network**
133,137
73%
MYSPACE.COM
68,392
Tribal Fusion**
128,624
71%
Gorilla Nation Media
65,678
36%
Specific Media**
125,399
69%
MSN.COM Home Page
55,045
30%
Google
120,687
67%
Mapquest
52,793
29%
Casale Media Network**
117,118
65%
Blue Lithium**
115,751
64%
Undertone Networks**
50,890
28%
AOL Media Network
114,522
63%
Business.com Network
45,527
25%
Traffic Marketplace**
108,006
60%
YOUTUBE.COM
44,894
DRIVEpm**
105,483
58%
AMAZON.COM
43,976
24%
MSN-Windows Live
104,207
57%
Kontera**
41,275
23%
24/7 Real Media**
103,259
EBAY.COM Home Page
40,260
22%
YAHOO.COM Home Page
95,363
53%
ABOUT.COM
38,320
21%
AOL
92,740
51%
19%
Tremor Media
92,548
WEATHER.COM
29,226
16%
Interclick**
85,712
47%
WALMART.COM
26,101
14%
CPX Interactive**
80,507
44%
Real Cities Network
25,668
Burst Media**
80,278
adconion media group**
78,449
43%
Nick Kids & Family
25,052
ContextWeb**
76,634
42%
CNN
24,214
13%
Centro
76,481
PHOTOBUCKET.COM
23,246
PrecisionClick**
71,589
IMDB.COM
22,207
12%
AdBrite**
71,522
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in August. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 74 percent of the more than 181 million Internet users in August.* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.** Denotes an advertising network.
About Comscore MMX
Comscore MMX 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 MMX reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. Comscore MMX syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies. About Comscore Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) 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 www.comscore.com.
Contact:Sarah RadwanickDirector, Regional Product MarketingComscore, Inc. +44 (0) 20 7099 1784worldpress@comscore.com