2024 State of Gaming Report
Comscore MMX Releases March Top 50 Web Rankings and Analysis;
Social Networking Sites Experience Interesting Gains in March; Spring Brings Americans to Home Improvement, Real Estate and Automotive Sites
RESTON, VA, April 26, 2007 – Comscore MMX today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties and categories for March 2007. Among the significant changes seen during the month was a shift at the top of the Ad Focus ranking (seen in Table 4 below), with Yahoo! jumping one spot to claim the number two position, as Advertising.com remained in the lead. Unique to Comscore, the Ad Focus ranking lists the top ad-focused sites and networks in order of audience size.
“Shifts at the top of our Ad Focus ranking come at an interesting time with Google’s recent announcement that it would be acquiring Doubleclick,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of Comscore MMX. “As advertising networks cont inue to compete for online ad dollars, there is sure to be increased attention on which ones are reaching the widest audience.”
Other March highlights include increased traffic to home improvement, real estate, and automotive resource sites, as well as Major League Baseball’s official site, MLB.com, which saw an increase of 47 percent versus February to 8.2 million visitors. Those looking to both make and save money in March flocked to lotto and coupon sites, and Coca-Cola’s “My Coke Rewards” promotion spurred a 40-percent increase to the Coca-Cola Company property, which saw nearly 5 million visitors in March. Finally, several key players in the social networking space experienced gains in March, as did teen community sites, including several featuring prom-related content.
Key Social Networking and Video Sites Post Gains
One of the top-gaining social networking sites in March was Facebook.com, which surged 25 percent —and eight spots in the Top 50 ranking — to nearly 21 million visitors. Other notable gainers in the social networking/ video-sharing space included Xanga.com, which grew 60 percent versus February to 6 million visitors, and Reunion.com, which grew 30 percent to 7.9 million visitors. Heavy Networks was the month’s top gaining property, up 100 percent to 6.8 million visitors, driven in large part by a popular video spoof featuring Pamela Anderson as a cartoon superhero, while traffic to video site Metacafe surged 40 percent to 5.6 million visitors
Prom Season Makes an Impact in Traffic to Teen Sites
Prom season had an impact on Community-Teen sites, which represented the fastest-gaining category in March, jumping 25 percent versus the previous month. Promspot.com increased 520 percent to 174,000 visitors, while Promadvice.com increased 168 percent to 117,000 visitors. Other leaders in the category included Lycos Angelfire with 7.1 million visitors (up 2 percent), Alloy with 5.6 million visitors (up 9 percent), and Neopets.com with 4.3 million visitors (up 15 percent).
Home Improvement, Real Estate and Automotive Sites Also Gain in March
The beginning of spring had Americans pondering major lifestyle improvements and purchases. Real estate sites experienced a 13-percent overall increase in March, led by Move Network with 9.3 million visitors (up 21 percent), MSN Real Estate with 4.1 million visitors (up 92 percent), and Homegain.com with 3.8 million visitors (up 15 percent). Americans were also focused on home improvement, as evidenced by the 9-percent gain to the Hobbies/Lifestyle - Home category, led by The Home Depot Inc. with 9.9 million visitors (up 5 percent), Move Network with 9.3 million visitors (up 21 percent) and Lowes.com with 7.7 million visitors (up 11 percent). In addition, Meredith Corporation was a top gainer this month (up 33 percent to 6.6 million visitors), driven largely by increases in traffic to the Better Homes and Gardens site, BHG.com.
Automotive resource sites also caught the attention of Americans in March. eBay Motors U.S. led the category with 15.3 million visitors (up 21 percent), followed by AutoTrader with 6.3 million visitors (up 4 percent) and KBB.com (Kelley Blue Book) with 6 million visitors (up 7 percent).
Win Some, Save Some
With the April tax filing deadline looming and Americans looking for ways to fatten their pockets, traffic to both Lotto/Sweepstakes and Coupon sites increased in March. The Web site for Publishers Clearing House, PCH.com, led the Lotto/Sweepstakes category with 6.8 million visitors, followed by ePrize.net with 4.4 million visitors (up 20 percent) and PrizeAmerica.com with 2.7 million visitors (up 166 percent). State lottery sites garnering the most visitation for the month were CALottery.com with 2.2 million visitors (up 22 percent), NYLottery.org with 1.6 million visitors, MegaMillions.com with 1.5 million visitors (up 104 percent), Powerball.com with 1.4 million visitors (up 71 percent), and FLALottery.com with 1.3 million visitors (up 3 percent).
Similarly, coupon sites achieved substantial gains in March, as the category grew 10 percent. CoolSavings.com led the category with 6.2 million visitors (up 20 percent), followed by Eversave.com with 5.9 million visitors (up 20 percent) and Coupons.com with 3.5 million visitors (up 31 percent).
Top 50 Properties
In the March Top 50 Properties Ranking, Yahoo! Sites remained at number one, while Microsoft Sites gained one spot, capturing the number three position. Wikipedia Sites also moved up a spot to number eight with more than 47 million unique visitors in March. Beyond the top ten, Idearc Media enjoyed a 43-percent increase in claiming the number 27 spot. Other top movers included Facebook.com, which gained eight spots to number 28, and ESPN, jumped 12 positions to number 33 with 19 million visitors, attracting heavy interest with its NCAA tournament coverage.
Top 50 Ad Focus
Within the Ad Focus Ranking, March saw Advertising.com reach 86 percent of the U.S. online population, while Yahoo! inched up a spot to claim the number two position. Nickelodeon Kids & Family and Yellowpages.com Network both moved into the ranking in March, reaching 12 percent and 10 percent of the U.S. online population, respectively. Finally, CPX Interactive jumped eleven positions to number 18 in the ranking, reaching more than 76 million Americans.
TABLE 1
Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors*March 2007 vs. February 2007Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet UsersSource: Comscore MMX
Property
Feb-07 (000)
Mar-07 (000)
Percentage Change
Rank by Unique Visitors
Total Internet Population
175,653
177,372
1%
N/A
Heavy Networks
3,391
6,766
100
136
XANGA.COM
3,754
6,021
60
158
MLB.COM*
5,581
8,203
47
106
Idearc Media
15,236
21,727
43
27
Metacafe
4,009
5,626
40
171
Coca-Cola Company
3,543
4,953
189
CITY-DATA.COM
2,714
3,716
37
248
Meredith Corporation
4,934
6,555
33
142
NetShelter Branded Network (NSBN)
3,973
5,232
32
181
REUNION.COM
6,083
7,891
30
115
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in March 2007.
TABLE 2
Top 10 Gaining Categories by Unique VisitorsMarch 2007 vs. February 2007Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet UsersSource: Comscore MMX
Total Internet : Total Audience
Teens
22,912
28,741
25%
Genealogy
8,529
10,178
19%
Health Care
19,809
22,354
13%
Real Estate
36,930
41,653
Lotto/Sweepstakes
26,349
29,349
11%
Coupons
19,205
21,212
10%
Car Rental
5,377
5,937
Resources
40,646
44,576
Home
36,647
39,928
9%
Mall
27,356
29,640
8%
TABLE 3
Top 50 PropertiesMarch 2007Total U.S. – Home, Work and University LocationsUnique Visitors (000)Source: Comscore MMX
Rank
Unique Visitors (000)
Total Internet Users
1
Yahoo! Sites
131,227
26
Bank of America
21,848
2
Time Warner Network
123,321
3
Microsoft Sites
118,716
28
FACEBOOK.COM
20,896
4
Google Sites
118,492
29
CareerBuilder LLC
20,823
5
eBay
80,154
Gannett Sites
20,724
6
Fox Interactive Media
80,098
31
Disney Online
20,183
7
Amazon Sites
49,980
Travelport
19,925
8
Wikipedia Sites
47,011
ESPN
19,199
9
Ask Network
46,346
34
Real.com Network
18,988
10
New York Times Digital
41,464
35
Comcast Corporation
18,342
11
Viacom Digital
39,724
36
Yellowpages.com Network
18,122
12
Apple Computer, Inc.
37,736
Photobucket.com LLC
17,978
13
Weather Channel, The
36,189
38
WebMD Health
17,801
14
CNET Networks
30,984
39
CRAIGSLIST.ORG
17,793
15
Gorilla Nation
28,852
Shopzilla.com Sites
17,532
16
AT&T, Inc.
27,349
41
WhitePages
17,212
17
Expedia Inc
27,039
42
E.W. Scripps
16,343
18
Adobe Sites
26,842
Cox Enterprises Inc.
16,187
19
CBS Corporation
26,815
44
NBC Universal
15,902
20
Wal-Mart
25,679
45
Ticketmaster
15,810
21
Target Corporation
25,123
46
iVillage.com: The Womens Network
15,536
22
United Online, Inc
24,277
Weatherbug Property
15,474
23
Monster Worldwide
23,515
48
Citysearch
15,000
24
Verizon Communications Corporation
23,251
49
USPS.COM
14,993
25
Lycos, Inc.
22,387
50
ARTISTdirect Network
14,677
TABLE 4
Ad Focus RankingMarch 2007Total U.S. - Home, Work and University LocationsUnique Visitors (000)Source: Comscore MMX
Reach %
100%
Advertising.com**
153,345
86%
ContextWeb**
54,415
31%
Yahoo!
129,557
73%
MSN.COM Home Page
49,899
28%
ValueClick**
129,229
EBAY.COM Home Page
46,409
26%
Casale Media Network**
117,621
66%
Tribal Fusion**
116,027
65%
Vibrant Media**
44,823
AOL Media Network
114,160
64%
Business.com Network
41,513
23%
Google
111,677
63%
YOUTUBE.COM
36,494
21%
Vendare NetBlue - TrafficMarketplace**
109,187
62%
ABOUT.COM
36,040
20%
Blue Lithium**
108,259
61%
Interclick**
35,521
MSN-Windows Live
100,382
57%
WEATHER.COM
25,851
15%
Specific Media**
97,537
55%
Undertone Networks**
23,501
AOL
93,427
53%
CNN
22,482
DRIVEpm**
90,271
51%
Nickelodeon Kids & Family
22,125
12%
24/7 Real Media**
89,745
Lycos Network
22,041
YAHOO.COM Home Page
87,379
49%
SuperPages.com Network
21,702
EuroClick**
86,506
CareerBuilder Network
21,601
Tremor Media
76,709
43%
CPX Interactive**
76,581
The WebMD Health Network
20,429
Burst Media**
72,191
41%
EBAY.COM
71,263
40%
IMDB.COM
19,594
PrecisionClick**
68,578
39%
EXPEDIA.COM*
19,326
MYSPACE.COM
66,298
37%
AdBrite**
66,050
AdDynamix.com**
60,971
34%
PHOTOBUCKET.COM
17,282
Gorilla Nation Media
60,813
WhitePages Network
17,146
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in March. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 73 percent of the more than 177 million Internet users in March.* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.** Denotes an advertising network.
About Comscore MMXComscore MMX, a division of Comscore, Inc., 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 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 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.
PressBill DaddiDaddi Brand Communications646-370-1341press@comscore.com