Leading User-Generated Content Sites See Exponential Growth in UK Visitors During the Past Year

Wikipedia Sites Ranks as 16th Most-Visited UK Internet Property; MySpace.com Ranks 27th

London, UK, September 11, 2006 – Comscore World Metrix, the leader in global digital media measurement, today released an analysis of UK Internet users’ activity at the leading sites that feature mainly free, user-generated content (UGC). Significant traffic growth versus year ago propelled several of these sites into the Top 50 UK Web property rankings in July 2006. The top UGC property, Wikipedia Sites, ranked as the sixteenth most visited property in July with 6.5 million visitors (up 253 percent versus year ago). Other UGC sites on the Top 50 UK list include MySpace.com (up 467 percent to 5.2 million visitors), Piczo.com (up 393 percent to 4 million visitors), YouTube.com (3.9 million visitors), and Bebo.com (up 328 percent to 3.9 million visitors).

*eBay is excluded from list of user-generated content sites because it is primarily a retail site.

“Web 2.0 is clearly architected for participation, as it attempts to harness the collective intelligence of Web users,” commented Bob Ivins, managing director of Comscore Europe. “Many of the sites experiencing the fastest growth today are the ones that understand their audience’s need for expression and have made it easy for them to share pictures, upload music and video, and provide their own commentary, thus stimulating others to do the same. It is the classic network effect at work.”

User-Generated Content Attracts High Engagement among Visitors

While uniformly demonstrating strong traffic growth, UGC sites are also adept at keeping users engaged. As part of its study, Comscore analyzed engagement levels among visitors to the top 5 UGC sites and those visiting the remaining sites that comprise the Top 50 Properties in July. The results show that, on average, the top 5 UGC sites exhibit higher levels of user engagement than their counterparts across all engagement metrics. Collectively, the leading UGC sites draw more frequent visits than non-UGC sites (4.2 vs. 3.5 average usage days per month), longer periods of engagement (79.9 vs. 33.2 average minutes per visitor), and more pages viewed (217 vs. 52 average pages per visitor).

Users of the top social networking sites demonstrate particularly high levels of engagement, with visitors to MySpace.com and Bebo.com averaging at least 5 usage days, 2 hours of use, and 300 pages viewed per visitor during July.

“By analyzing a variety of engagement metrics it is clear that UGC sites – and in particular social networking sites – represent potentially fertile ground for advertisers and marketers,” continued Mr. Ivins. “Users on these sites visit more frequently, stay longer, and view more content, which means more opportunities for marketers to communicate key messages. The challenge right now is to determine effective ways to integrate this messaging while maintaining a positive user experience.”

About Comscore Europe

Comscore Europe is an operating division of Comscore Networks, Inc., the leader in digital media measurement. Comscore Europe provides details of visitation, demographics and online buying power for Web site audiences across European and global markets.

About Comscore Networks

Comscore Networks is a global leader in measuring the digital age. 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 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, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

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