Financial Tsunami Sends Flood of Traffic to Business & Finance Sites
Facebook Displaces BBC Sites as the U.K.’s Fifth Largest Property
LONDON, U.K., November 3, 2008 –Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its September 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 global financial crisis, coupled with interest in the forthcoming U.S. Presidential elections, led to increases in the politics, business/finance – online trading, government, career services & development and business/finance – news/research categories. Interest in the credit crunch was also reflected at the site level, where Lloyds TSB and HBOS were amongst the strongest gaining sites in the U.K., experiencing 15 percent and 13 percent increases, respectively. Facebook.com broke into the top 5 most visited properties in the U.K. for the first time in its history in September, reaching 18.4 million visitors.
Top Gaining Site Categories for September 2008
Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Number of U.K. Unique VisitorsSeptember 2008 vs. August 2008Total U.K., Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations*Source: Comscore World Metrix
Property
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Aug-2008
Sep-2008
% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience
35,608
35,980
1%
Politics
1,494
1,900
27%
Business/Finance - Online Trading
740
900
22%
Education
12,800
15,064
18%
Genealogy
1,911
2,140
12%
Government
13,181
14,705
Hobbies/Lifestyle - Food
3,362
3,746
11%
Career Services and Development
9,419
10,469
Retail - Books
11,674
12,915
Health
10,026
11,074
10%
Business/Finance - News/Research
8,011
8,843
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top Gaining Properties for September 2008
Top 10 Gaining Properties by Number of U.K. Unique Visitors*September 2008 vs. August 2008Total U.K., Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations**Source: Comscore World Metrix
Answers.com Sites
3,249
4,290
32%
EA Online
1,705
2,236
31%
Megavideo.com
1,628
2,095
29%
NetShelter Technology Media
3,074
3,785
23%
ITV Sites
3,413
4,038
DIRECT.GOV.UK
4,093
4,746
16%
Lloyds TSB
3,536
4,073
15%
Wikimedia Foundation Sites
11,871
13,641
NEXT Group
2,632
3,018
HBOS
3,594
4,077
13%
*Ranking based on the top 100 U.K. properties in August 2008.
** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top 25 Properties for September 2008
Top 25 Properties by Number of U.K. Unique Visitors*September 2008 vs. August 2008Total U.K., Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations**Source: Comscore World Metrix
Sept-08 Rank
Aug-08 Rank
Total Unique Visitors (000) Sep-08
N/A
1
Google Sites
31,769
2
Microsoft Sites
28,828
3
Yahoo! Sites
21,015
4
eBay
19,769
5
6
FACEBOOK.COM
18,410
BBC Sites
18,181
7
AOL LLC
16,793
8
9
Ask Network
13,565
10
Amazon Sites
11,417
11
12
Apple Inc.
10,168
Fox Interactive Media
9,989
13
Lycos Europe Sites
9,529
14
DMGT
8,688
15
CBS Corporation
8,470
16
Sky Sites
7,706
17
27
Glam Media***
6,845
18
19
Tesco Stores
6,487
Home Retail Group
6,423
20
Yellow Book Network
6,367
21
News International
6,102
22
24
Adobe Sites
5,937
23
30
WordPress
5,422
Viacom Digital
5,213
25
26
The Royal Bank Of Scotland
5,181
***As of September 2008 Womensforum Glam Network has been incorporated into the Glam Media property.
About ComscoreComscore, 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