Comscore MMX Releases Top 50 Web Rankings for May

Summer Movie Season and Political Interest Boost Traffic to Sites in May

RESTON, VA, June 15, 2007 – Comscore MMX today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties for May 2007, which saw traffic increase to movie-related sites as the summer movie season kicked off, political sites with the presidential debates fueling interest, and e-commerce sites as consumers shopped for and purchased Mother’s Day gifts.

“With this year’s impressive lineup of big-money summer blockbusters, it’s no surprise that Americans flocked to movie sites in May,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of Comscore MMX. “Whether searching for show-times or reviews, purchasing movie tickets or buying DVDs, the Internet is playing an increasingly significant role in the promulgation of movie information and monetization of the industry.”

Summer Movie Season Kickoff Heats Up Web Traffic in May

The launch of summer movie season saw traffic increase to several movie-related sites over the month. The tickets category gained 12 percent versus April to 40.8 million visitors, buoyed by strong growth at MovieTickets.com (up 55 percent to 5 million visitors) and Fandango.com (up 50 percent to 7 million visitors). The retail movies category experienced a 7-percent increase to 27.6 million visitors, while movie social networking site Flixster.com saw its traffic surge 65 percent to 4.5 million visitors.

Political Sites Get Boost from the Debates

With both Republican and Democratic presidential debates swinging into action, the politics category saw a 17-percent increase to 9 million visitors in May, making it the top-gaining category overall for the month. Traffic to Politico.com, which sponsored the Republican Presidential debate on May 3, jumped 162 percent for the month to 648,000 visitors, while MoveOn.org’s traffic surged 246 percent to 689,000 visitors due in large part to an online petition against gas price increases. Several presidential candidate websites also saw their traffic increase, led by BarackObama.com (up 13 percent to 298,000 visitors) and HillaryClinton.com (up 3 percent to 217,000 visitors).

Remembering Mom Brings Traffic to Gift Websites in May

Whether searching for that perfect gift for Mom or buying it online, Mother’s Day fueled growth in several online retail categories. The flowers, gifts & greetings category saw an 11-percent increase to 35.6 million visitors, led by a 365-percent surge at Trilegiant Corporation sites, which includes 1-800-FLOWERS.com, to 5 million visitors. The jewelry, luxury goods & accessories category rounded out the top ten gaining properties for the month with a 6-percent increase to 16.9 million visitors.

Planning for Summer Vacations Sparks Traffic to Travel Sites

With summer vacation plans looming, travel categories saw an increase in traffic during May. The travel information category grew 7 percent to 42 million visitors, led by Yahoo! Travel with 9.9 million visitors (up 7 percent), TripAdvisor.com with 6.5 million visitors (up 8 percent), and the Travel Ad Network with 6 million visitors (up 23 percent). The car rental category also experienced gains, climbing 6 percent to 6.2 million visitors. The category was led by Avis Budget Group with 2.6 million visitors (up 19 percent), Enterprise.com with 2.4 million visitors (up 9 percent), and Hertz with 1.7 million visitors (up 7 percent).

Top 50 Properties

In May, Yahoo! Sites and Time Warner Network remained in the number one and two positions, respectively. Both Amazon Sites and Ask Network gained one position within the top ten, each attracting more than 50 million visitors in May. ARTISTdirect Network, a group of sites featuring multi-media music content, enjoyed a 13-percent increase in visitors and gained six spots in the ranking, while Yellowpages.com Network increased by 11 percent to secure the number 33 spot. Photobucket.com LLC moved up four positions to number 29, drawing more than 21 million visitors.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

Advertising.com reached 87 percent of Americans online in May, keeping it atop the Ad Focus Ranking. Within the top ten, Yahoo! inched up a spot to number two, and Blue Lithium moved up two positions from number eight. Centro entered the ranking at number 20, reaching 42 percent of the U.S. online population, while Undertone Networks enjoyed a nine spot jump to number 29, more than doubling its reach.

TABLE 1

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in May 2007

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Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in May. For instance, Yahoo! was seen by 73 percent of the more than 177 million Internet users in May.
* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.
** Denotes an advertising network.

About Comscore MMX

Comscore 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 continues the tradition of quality and innovation established by its MMX syndicated Internet ratings – long used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers – while drawing upon Comscore's advanced technologies to address important new industry requirements. Comscore MMX syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About Comscore

Comscore, Inc. 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!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, MBNA, Starcom USA, 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