Holiday Shopping Drives Traffic to Retail Sites
Microsoft Sites Ranks as Top Canadian Web Property, Followed Closely by Google Sites
TORONTO, CANADA, January 21, 2008 – 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 Canada based on data from the Comscore World Metrix audience measurement service.
“Retail sites showed strong growth as online holiday shopping reached a fevered pitch in December,” said Brent Bernie, president of Comscore MMX, Comscore Canada. “Online commerce has become an increasingly important component of total consumer spending, and retailers have also been offering very attractive incentives this season to draw even more online consumers to their sites.”
Top Gaining Site Categories for December
With holiday shopping on Canadians’ minds, retail sites dominated the top-gaining site category rankings for December. The consumer goods category rose 70 percent to nearly 5 million visitors, while the consumer electronics category jumped 15 percent to 9.4 million visitors, led by Futureshop.ca Sites with 5.4 million visitors (up 39 percent).
Greetings sites also grew in December. The e-cards category experienced a 25-percent increase to 8 million visitors, while the flowers/gifts/greetings category gained 12 percent to 6.3 million visitors.
Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Number of Canadian Unique VisitorsDecember 2007 vs. November 2007Total Canada – Home and Work Locations*Source: Comscore World Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Nov-2007
Dec-2007
% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience
23,767
23,784
0
Consumer Goods
2,897
4,929
70
e-cards
6,423
8,020
25
Consumer Electronics
8,175
9,366
15
Online Gambling
4,695
5,328
13
Flowers/Gifts/Greetings
5,662
6,339
12
Shipping
4,527
5,044
11
Gay/Lesbian
330
367
Weather
9,001
9,921
10
Personals
5,071
5,574
Retail - Food
1,774
1,937
9
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top Gaining Properties for December
Bolstered by the popularity of its viral holiday greeting site ElfYourself.com, OfficeMax surged 395 percent to 2.7 million visitors, making it the top-gaining property for the month.
Photo-sharing site Slide.com increased 39 percent to 2.1 million visitors in December, while social networking destination Skyrock Network jumped 32 percent to 1.9 million visitors.
Online holiday shopping activity saw Best Buy Sites jump 32 percent to 6.8 million visitors, while Wal-Mart saw a 15-percent increase to 4.2 million visitors. The preparation of holiday meals also seemed to be foremost on Canadian minds, with Kraft Foods increasing by 27 percent to 2.9 million visitors.
Top 10 Gaining Properties by Number of Canadian Unique Visitors*December 2007 vs. November 2007Total Canada – Home and Work Locations**Source: Comscore World Metrix
Property
OfficeMax
551
2,727
395
Astral Media
2,573
3,781
47
Slide.com
1,530
2,125
39
Best Buy Sites
5,164
6,812
32
Skyrock Network
1,459
1,920
Kraft Foods
2,316
2,947
27
RDA Digital Network
1,879
2,228
19
EC.GC.CA
2,485
2,893
16
Canadapost.ca
3,012
3,471
Wal-Mart
3,643
4,184
*Ranking based on the top 100 Canadian properties in December 2007.
** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Top 25 Properties for December
Microsoft Sites maintained its position as the top property with nearly 22.5 million visitors, reaching 94 percent of the Canadian online population. Microsoft was followed closely by Google Sites with 22.3 million visitors, Yahoo! Sites with 16.3 million visitors and Facebook.com with 15.4 million visitors.
Driven by holiday shopping, Apple Inc. and Best Buy Sites both gained several spots in the December rankings, while The Weather Network Meteomedia (#12) and Telus Sites (#24) also moved up several positions.
Top 25 Properties by Number of Canadian Unique Visitors*December 2007 vs. November 2007Total Canada – Home and Work Locations**Source: Comscore World Metrix
December Rank
November Rank
Total Unique Visitors (000) Dec-07
N/A
1
Microsoft Sites
22,449
2
Google Sites
22,274
3
Yahoo! Sites
16,331
4
Facebook.com
15,378
5
eBay
13,770
6
Time Warner Network
12,070
7
Wikipedia Sites
10,585
8
Yellow Pages Group
9,788
Amazon Sites
9,418
Apple Inc.
8,776
Canoe Network
8,388
18
The Weather Network Meteomedia
7,900
CNET Networks
7,678
14
Fox Interactive Media
7,670
Ask Network
7,485
CTVglobemedia
7,396
17
New York Times Digital
6,964
22
Viacom Digital
6,702
20
Adobe Sites
6,226
21
CBC-Radio Canada Sites
5,894
24
WhitePages
5,294
23
Gorilla Nation
5,160
30
Telus Sites
4,945
TD Bank Financial Group
4,547
About Comscore Comscore, 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 800 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
Contact:Sarah RadwanickDirector, Regional Product MarketingComscore, Inc. +44 (0) 20 7099 1784worldpress@comscore.com