Consumers set up a blockbuster holiday season at the Box Office
Christmas Shopping Drives Traffic to Retail and Greetings Sites
Google Sites Maintains Position as Top Property, while Microsoft Sites and eBay Battle for Second
LONDON, U.K., January 30, 2008 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its December rankings of the largest and fastest-growing Internet properties and site categories in Germany based on data from the Comscore World Metrix audience measurement service.
“While Google and Microsoft remain the most popular properties in Germany, the biggest gainers in December were online retailers,” said Bob Ivins, EVP of European Markets for Comscore. “Despite a relatively soft season for online retail traffic in Germany, five of the top ten gaining properties were retail sites, highlighting the importance of the Christmas season in driving online traffic during December.”
Top Gaining Site Categories for December
Online retail factored prominently into the top-gaining site category rankings for December, including Flowers/Gifts/Greetings (up 33 percent to 3 million visitors), Tickets (up 30 percent to 2.9 million visitors), and Fragrances/Cosmetics (up 16 percent to 2.7 million visitors).
The holiday season also drove traffic to several other categories, including Hobbies/Lifestyle – Food (up 40 percent to 3.9 million visitors), as Germans consulted the Internet for holiday recipes. E-cards (up 28 percent to 5.9 million visitors) and Shipping sites (up 17 percent to 4.4 million visitors) also experienced seasonal gains.
Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by German Unique Visitors Age 15+December 2007 vs. November 2007Total Germany, Home and Work Locations*Source: Comscore World Metrix
Site Category
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Nov-2007
Dec-2007
% Change
Total German Internet Audience
33,539
33,721
1%
Hobbies/Lifestyle - Food
2,806
3,937
40%
Flowers/Gifts/Greetings
2,278
3,034
33%
Tickets
2,226
2,894
30%
e-cards
4,641
5,927
28%
Hotels/Resorts
3,097
3,663
18%
Online Trading
943
1,111
Online Travel Agents
6,921
8,123
17%
Shipping
3,788
4,439
Fragrances/Cosmetics
2,294
2,652
16%
Teens
3,131
3,611
15%
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top Gaining Properties for December
Online directory specialist Allesklar.com AG Sites increased 42 percent to 4.4 million visitors, while women’s community site, auFeminin.com Network jumped 18 percent to 2.3 million visitors.
Top 10 Gaining Properties by German Unique Visitors Age 15+*December 2007 vs. November 2007Total Germany, Home and Work Locations**Source: Comscore World Metrix
Property
Jochen-Schweizer.de
978
1,590
63%
Allesklar.com AG Sites
3,091
4,396
42%
Sony Online
2,041
2,701
32%
Weltbild Publishing Group
2,258
2,881
idealo Internet
2,469
2,989
21%
auFeminin.com Network
1,970
2,320
Guenstiger.de
1,274
1,489
Deutsche Post AG Sites
3,073
3,537
TUI Group
3,329
3,803
14%
Expedia Inc
2,744
3,129
*Ranking based on the top 100 German properties in December 2007.
** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top 25 Properties for December
Google Sites maintained its position as the top property in Germany with 23.7 million visitors, reaching 70 percent of the German online population. Microsoft Sites gained one spot to move into the second position with 17.8 million visitors, followed closely by eBay with 17.5 million. Amazon Sites (#11) and Fox Interactive Media (#20) each gained three spots in the December ranking versus November.
Top 25 Properties by German Unique Visitors Age 15+*December 2007 vs. November 2007Total Germany, Home and Work Locations**Source: Comscore World Metrix
December Rank
November Rank
Total Unique Visitors (000) Dec-2007
N/A
1
Google Sites
23,736
2
3
Microsoft Sites
17,763
eBay
17,493
4
Time Warner Network
15,750
5
United-Internet Sites
15,369
6
Otto Gruppe
14,713
7
Arcandor AG
13,819
8
Wikipedia Sites
13,646
9
T-Online Sites
13,221
10
11
Deutsche Telekom
12,289
14
Amazon Sites
12,046
12
Yahoo! Sites
11,795
13
ProSiebenSat1 Sites
11,775
Vodafone Group
11,107
15
Freenet.de Sites
9,998
16
Lycos Europe Sites
9,822
17
The Mozilla Organization
8,459
18
20
Vogel Burda Communications
7,206
19
Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck
6,999
23
Fox Interactive Media
6,545
21
ARD Sites
5,768
22
Axel Springer Verlag
5,559
RTL Group Sites
5,520
24
Ciao Sites
5,467
25
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe
4,940
*Ranking based on the top 25 German properties in December 2007.
About ComscoreComscore, 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 800 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
Ayaan MohamudComscore, Inc.+ 44 (0) 207-099-1775worldpress@comscore.com