Comscore Reveals U.K. Top Sites and Web Site Visitation Trends for November

London, U.K., December 29, 2006 – Comscore Networks, a leader in measuring the digital age, today revealed the top U.K. Internet properties for November, based on data collected through its Comscore World Metrix audience ratings service. Microsoft Sites ranked as the most-visited Web property in the U.K. in November, followed closely by Google Sites.

U.K. Unique Visitors, Age 15+
November 2006
Total U.K. – Home and Work Locations*
Source: Comscore World Metrix

Oct.-06 (000)

Nov.-06 (000)

Percentage Change

Total U.K. Internet Audience, Age 15+

29,553

29,498

0%

Microsoft Sites

24,798

24,976

1%

Google Sites

24,816

24,911

0%

eBay

19,905

20,686

4%

Yahoo! Sites

19,474

19,862

2%

BBC Sites

16,339

16,386

0%

Amazon Sites

12,386

13,648

10%

Time Warner Network

12,990

12,977

0%

Ask Network

11,771

11,790

0%

Fox Interactive Media

9,245

10,005

8%

Wikipedia Sites

8,630

9,297

8%

GUS

6,993

8,652

24%

Apple Computer, Inc.

7,528

7,984

6%

YOUTUBE.COM

7,252

7,942

10%

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB)

7,604

7,759

2%

Tesco Stores

6,674

7,459

12%

DMGT

7,958

7,420

-7%

CNET Networks

6,879

7,298

6%

France Telecom

6,906

7,149

4%

MULTIMAP.COM

6,964

6,712

-4%

NTL

6,663

6,376

-4%

* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

“Clearly, Google and Microsoft are locked in a battle to be the most visited site in the U.K. As expected, due to the holiday shopping season, the sites posting the strongest gains versus last month were predominantly online retailers, with GUS (Argus) leading the pack, up 24 percent from October to November,” said Bob Ivins, managing director of Comscore Europe.

Holiday Season Draws Online Shoppers to Retail Sites

Once again, retail sites dominated the list of top 20 gaining sites in the U.K., representing three-quarters of the list in November. In fact, 12 of the top 13 gainers were shopping sites, led by Boots Plc with 2.7 million visitors (a 65-percent increase) and ToysRus Sites with 2.6 million visitors (a 63-percent increase). Reappearing on the top list of gainers for the second consecutive month were:

  • HMV with 3.3 million visitors (a 37-percent increase)
  • Woolworths Group plc with 3.5 million visitors (a 36-percent increase)
  • Play.com Sites with 4.6 million visitors (a 27-percent increase)
  • Marks&Spencer with 3.1 million visitors (a 27-percent increase)
  • Wal-Mart with 2.9 million visitors (a 26-percent increase)
  • Littlewoods Shop Direct Group with 4.6 million visitors (a 17 percent increase)

The top gaining property in November was Deutsche Telekom (driven by its T-Mobile ISP service), with 3.9 million visitors (an 89-percent increase).

Top 20 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in U.K. Unique Visitors*
November 2006 vs. October 2006
Total U.K. Visitors, Age 15+ – Home and Work Locations**
Source: Comscore World Metrix

Oct.-06 (000)

Nov.-06 (000)

Percentage Change

Total U.K. Internet Audience, Age 15+

29,553

29,498

0%

Deutsche Telekom

2,106

3,943

87%

Boots Plc

1,649

2,725

65%

Toysrus Sites

1,604

2,611

63%

HMV

2,380

3,262

37%

Woolworths Group plc

2,602

3,542

36%

John Lewis Partnership

2,151

2,893

35%

Dixons Stores Group

4,177

5,393

29%

Play.com Sites

3,639

4,627

27%

Marks&Spencer

2,445

3,106

27%

Wal-Mart

2,277

2,870

26%

GUS

6,993

8,652

24%

Arcadia Group Limited

1,867

2,300

23%

Ticketmaster

2,704

3,261

21%

NATIONALLOTTERY.CO.UK

4,361

5,222

20%

Littlewoods Shop Direct Group

3,888

4,555

17%

Netsolut

1,804

2,097

16%

Sony Online

2,840

3,279

15%

Kingfisher

3,815

4,315

13%

ITV Sites

3,818

4,285

12%

NEXT Group

3,150

3,528

12%

*Ranking based on the top 100 U.K. properties in November 2006.
** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

About Comscore World Metrix

Comscore World Metrix is the first service to continuously measure and report online behaviour on a world-wide basis, providing visitation metrics and demographic characteristics for Web site audiences around the world. With active representation of countries that comprise the vast majority of the global Internet population, World Metrix provides its clients with worldwide Internet population estimates and harmonized online performance metrics based on a consistent methodology across all countries. More than 100 clients subscribe to Comscore’s World Metrix service, including 8 of the top 10 interactive advertising agencies.

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 behaviour, including online and offline purchasing. Comscore panellists 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 behaviour 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