Facebook Moves Up to #4 in Top U.K. Property Ranking
Online Dating Picks-up Amidst Christmas Festivities
LONDON, U.K., January 27, 2009 –Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its December rankings of the largest and fastest-growing Internet properties and site categories in the U.K. based on data from the Comscore World Metrix audience measurement service.
The onset of the Christmas shopping season brought increased traffic to online retail sites, with the jewelry/luxury goods/accessories category experiencing the strongest growth, followed by the mall, music, and flowers/gifts/greetings categories. High street retailers were particularly influenced by the seasonal uptick, with retailers such as HMV, the John Lewis Partnership and the Dixons Stores Group all enjoying strong visitor growth.
The e-Cards and Shipping categories also achieved gains, while the Royal Mail Group property grew 31 percent to more than 4 million visitors.
Interestingly, visitation to online dating sites also grew significantly in December, as lonely hearts reached out to one another during the Christmas season. Meanwhile, Facebook.com continued its ascension towards the top of the online rankings - having captured the fifth spot in the ranking in September, the social networking property moved up yet again in December to rank as the fourth most popular property.
Top Gaining Site Categories for December 2008
Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Number of U.K. Unique Visitors December 2008 vs. November 2008 Total U.K., Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations* Source: Comscore World Metrix
Site Category
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Nov-2008
Dec-2008
% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience
36,568
36,664
0%
e-cards
3,108
4,553
46%
Retail - Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories
3,245
4,094
26%
Shipping
4,225
5,259
24%
Retail - Music
10,140
11,805
16%
Retail - Mall
11,768
13,689
Retail - Flowers/Gifts/Greetings
4,775
5,522
Retail - Department Stores
9,701
11,087
14%
Online Dating
3,821
4,354
Retail - Computer Hardware
16,203
18,425
Retail - Consumer Goods
6,148
6,917
12%
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top Gaining Properties for December 2008
Top 10 Gaining Properties by Number of U.K. Unique Visitors* December 2008 vs. November 2008 Total U.K., Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations* Source: Comscore World Metrix
Property
HMV
4,232
36%
Royal Mail Group
3,181
4,163
31%
John Lewis Partnership
2,748
3,524
28%
Dixons Stores Group
5,609
7,097
27%
Arcadia Group Limited
2,614
3,274
25%
NEXT Group
3,225
4,036
Metacafe
2,072
2,553
23%
Home Retail Group
9,134
11,169
22%
Debenhams
2,196
2,684
ValueClick Sites
2,164
2,578
19%
*Ranking based on the top 100 U.K. properties in December 2008.** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top 25 Properties for December 2008
Top 25 Properties by Number of U.K. Unique Visitors* December 2008 vs. November 2008 Total U.K., Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations* Source: Comscore World Metrix
Dec-08 Rank
Nov-08 Rank
Total Unique Visitors (000) Dec-08
N/A
1
Google Sites
32,907
2
Microsoft Sites
29,548
3
Yahoo! Sites
22,431
4
5
Facebook.com
21,165
eBay
20,520
6
BBC Sites
18,379
7
AOL LLC
16,519
8
10
Amazon Sites
15,465
9
Ask Network
14,082
Wikimedia Foundation Sites
13,750
11
Apple Inc.
12,088
12
14
13
Fox Interactive Media
9,938
Lycos Europe Sites
9,720
15
CBS Corporation
9,377
16
17
Glam Media
8,189
19
Tesco Stores
7,838
18
Sky Sites
7,408
21
Play.com Sites
7,391
20
25
DMGT
7,048
22
Adobe Sites
6,225
23
Yellow Book Network
6,029
24
News International
5,811
28
Shop Direct Group
5,77
About Comscore Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate
Ayaan MohamudComscore, Inc.+ 44 (0) 207-099-1775worldpress@comscore.com