Holiday Festivity Drove Web Activity in December, According to comScore Media Metrix Top 50 Online Property Rankings

RESTON, Va., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- comScore Media Metrix 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 Media Metrix. "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 Media Metrix'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

  Top Ten Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*
  December 2004 vs. November 2004
  Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
  Source: comScore Media Metrix

                                                                 Rank by
  Property                 Nov-04      Dec-04     Percentage      Unique
                            (000)       (000)         Change     Visitors
  Total Internet
  Population             159,736      161,142           1%           N/A
  DONOTCALL.GOV            1,778        7,416         317%           92
  KB Toys                  3,236        4,969          54%          147
  RADIOSHACK.COM           2,052        3,142          53%          245
  Limitedbrands            4,566        6,850          50%          104
  Deutsche Telekom         4,630        6,920          49%          102
  UPS Sites                9,446       14,057          49%           39
  Drugstore.Com, Inc.      2,878        4,259          48%          176
  GSI Network              8,039       11,836          47%           57
  1-800-Flowers            2,287        3,283          44%          234
  USPS.COM                 8,357       11,640          39%           59
  *Ranking based on the top 250 properties in December

  TABLE 2

  Top Ten Gaining Categories by Unique Visitors
  December 2004 vs. November 2004
  Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users
  Source: comScore Media Metrix

                                   Nov-04         Dec-04     Percentage
                                    (000)           (000)        Change
  Total Internet Population       159,736         161,142            1%
  Services - Shipping              21,241          27,867           31%
  Retail - Jewelry/Luxury Goods/
           Accessories             13,014          16,983           30%
  Retail - Sports/Outdoor          20,159          24,554           22%
  Services - e-cards               39,540          47,784           21%
  Retail - Department Stores       47,937          57,759           20%
  Retail - Flowers/Gifts/Greetings 32,949          39,535           20%
  Retail - Toys                    21,861          25,949           19%
  Business/Financial - Taxes        5,302           6,145           16%
  Health - Pharmacy                11,983          13,672           14%
  Services - Coupons               19,519          22,217           14%


  TABLE 3

  Top 50 Properties
  December 2004
  Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
  Unique Visitors (000)
  Source: comScore Media Metrix


                              Unique                             Unique
                            Visitors                            Visitors
  Rank     Property            (000)     Rank    Property          (000)
        Total Internet Users  161,142
  1     Yahoo! Sites          119,454      26  OVERSTOCK.COM       18,178
  2     Time Warner Network   114,930      27  Intermix Media      17,938
  3     MSN-Microsoft Sites   113,506      28  Shopzilla.com Sites 17,169
  4     Google Sites           71,660      29  AmericanGreetings
                                               Property            17,118
  5     eBay                   66,511      30  Expedia Travel      16,972
  6     Amazon Sites           48,216      31  iVillage.com:
                                               The Womens Network  16,930
  7     Ask Jeeves             41,411      32  Bank of America     16,656
  8     About/Primedia         38,374      33  Dell                16,162
  9     Wal-Mart               33,951      34  Gannett Sites       15,882
  10    Symantec               33,929      35  Sony Online         15,646
  11    Viacom Online          33,595      36  Sears Sites         15,484
  12    CNET Networks          29,523      37  ORBITZ.COM          15,348
  13    Verizon Communications
        Corporation            29,202      38  ESPN Network        14,813
  14    Lycos, Inc.            28,891      39  UPS Sites           14,057
  15    Weather Channel, The   28,243      40  JPMorgan
                                               Chase Property      13,554
  16    Walt Disney Internet
         Group (WDIG)          27,875      41  Classmates.com
                                                Sites              13,480
  17    Monster Worldwide      26,525      42  NFL Internet Group  13,165
  18    AT&T Properties        26,242      43  SBC Communications  13,138
  19    Shopping.com Sites     25,344      44  Comcast Corporation 13,077
  20    Real.com Network       22,337      45  JCPenney Sites      12,818
  21    Target Corporation     21,898      46  E.W. Scripps        12,654
  22    InfoSpace Network      20,804      47  Macromedia          12,648
  23    Gorilla Nation Media   19,875      48  Apple Computer,
                                               Inc.                12,611
  24    Weatherbug.com
         Property              19,676      49  Sprint              12,611
  25    Best Buy Sites         18,461      50  Cox Enterprises
                                                Inc.               12,432


  TABLE 4

  Ad Focus Ranking
  Unique Visitors (000)
  Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
  December 2004
  Source: comScore Media Metrix


  Rank     Property       Unique  Reach Rank   Property     Unique Reach
                          Visitors   %                      Visitors  %
                           (000)                             (000)
        Total Internet
         Users           161,142   100%
  1   Advertising.com**  123,956    77%   26  CNN            21,721  13%
  2   Yahoo!             117,983    73%   27  MSNBC          21,721  13%
  3   Fastclick**        113,929    71%   28  GATOR (App)    21,575  13%
  4   MSN                100,031    62%   29  WeatherBug     19,394  12%
  5   Traffic
      Marketplace**       91,189    57%   30  REAL.COM       18,043  11%
  6   AOL                 87,315    54%   31  Netscape       17,658  11%
  7   Casale Media
       Network**          79,464    49%   32  Expedia
                                               Travel        16,972  11%
  8   YAHOO.COM
       Home Page          75,449    47%   33  iVillage.com:
                                               The Womens
                                               Network       16,930  11%
  9   GOOGLE.COM          69,359    43%   34  Disney Online  16,569  10%
  10  EBAY.COM            63,667    40%   35  SuperPages
                                               Network       16,238  10%
  11  Tribal Fusion**     63,446    39%   36  ORBITZ.COM     15,348  10%
  12  ValueClick Media**  59,401    37%   37  BIZRATE.COM    15,003   9%
  13  MSN.COM Home Page   51,678    32%   38  ESPN Network   14,813   9%
  14  24/7 Real Media**   43,310    27%   39  EA Online
                                               Syndicated
                                               Games         14,278   9%
  15  BURST! Media**      41,751    26%   40  CLASSMATES.COM 13,480   8%
  16  Ask Jeeves          41,411    26%   41  MONSTER.COM    13,319   8%
  17  EBAY.COM
       Home Page          39,556    25%   42  CareerBuilder
                                               Network       12,945   8%
  18  Vendare Group
       Search-New.Net
       Sites              36,112    22%   43  Travelocity
                                               All           12,560   8%
  19  MAPQUEST.COM        34,274    21%   44  INFOSPACE.COM  11,705   7%
  20  Lycos Network       28,797    18%   45  EA Online
                                               Games         11,476   7%
  21  ClickAgents
       Network**          28,775    18%   46  WebMD Medscape
                                               Health
                                               Network       11,101   7%
  22  WEATHER.COM         27,049    17%   47  IMDB.COM       10,889   7%
  23  ABOUT.COM           24,369    15%   48  EARTHLINK.NET  10,341   6%
  24  CNET                23,768    15%   49  GO.COM         10,112   6%
  25  MaxOnline**         23,743    15%   50  LAUNCH.COM
                                               Home Page      9,751   6%
  **Indicates that the entity is an advertising network.


  About comScore Media Metrix

comScore Media Metrix, 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 Media Metrix continues the tradition of quality and innovation established by its Media Metrix 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 Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About comScore Networks

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