Published: May 14, 2009
comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for April 2009
Swine Flu Concerns Cause Surge in Visitation to CDC.gov
Social Networking Category Has Record Month Led by Gains at Twitter and Facebook
RESTON, Va., May 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for April 2009 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. April saw Americans turn to the Web for the latest information related to the swine flu, causing traffic to soar at CDC.gov. The month also saw visitation to social networking sites reach record numbers, driven by growth at Twitter.com and Facebook.com, as well as an increase in visitation to real estate and home-related sites as the spring season prompted many Americans to consider home improvements. The tax category also experienced strong growth as procrastinating Americans tried to beat the April 15 deadline.
"When news of the swine flu pandemic erupted, many Americans turned to the Internet as their primary source of information for how to keep themselves and their families safe," commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "April also saw a record number of visitors at social networking sites with Facebook and Twitter each adding millions of new users as a result of continued media attention and overall interest in the sites."
Swine Flu Drives Americans Online in Search of Information
News of the swine flu outbreak prompted many concerned Americans to jump online in search of information about prevention, detection and treatment of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's site, CDC.gov, witnessed a 142-percent increase to 5.7 million visitors, making it the top-gaining property in April.
Social Networking Reports Record Visitation
The social networking category experienced a record month, growing 12 percent to nearly 140 million visitors, or nearly three-quarters of the U.S. online population. MySpace Sites led the category with 71 million visitors, followed by Facebook.com with 67.5 million visitors, an increase of 10 percent from the previous month. Twitter.com, now the third ranked social networking site, experienced another explosive month of visitor growth, jumping 83 percent to 17 million visitors.
Americans' Homes Top of Mind in April
Many Americans sought information related to their homes in April with the Real Estate category reporting a 10-percent increase to 48.4 million visitors and the Community - Home category gaining 10 percent to nearly 30 million visitors. Move Network led as the most visited real estate site attracting 13.2 million visitors (up 88 percent vs. March), followed by Yahoo! Real Estate with 6.8 million visitors (up 11 percent) and AOL Real Estate with 3.6 million visitors (up 15 percent).
The start of spring led many Americans to consider home repairs and remodeling, driving traffic to the Community - Home category. About.com Home & Garden led the category with nearly 4 million visitors (up 16 percent), followed by AOL Home with 3.8 million visitors (up 29 percent) and Better Homes & Gardens Network with 3.8 million visitors (up 13 percent).
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites continued to lead as the most visited property in April with more than 155 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 149 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 126.5 million visitors. Facebook.com climbed one spot in the ranking to #8 with 67.5 million visitors.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Platform-A led the April Ad Focus ranking, reaching 91 percent of the nearly 193 million Americans online. Yahoo! Network ranked second, reaching 87 percent, while Google Ad Network ranked third with an 85 percent reach. Specific Media moved up seven spots to #5 reaching 82 percent, while FOX Audience Network climbed three positions to #6 reaching 77 percent of Americans online.
Table 1
comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in
Unique Visitors* (U.S.)
April 2009 vs. March 2009
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Rank by
Unique
Mar-09 Apr-09 %Change Visitors
Total Internet : Total Audience 192,173 192,875 0 N/A
CDC.gov 2,371 5,736 142 214
CHINAONTV.COM 2,674 6,300 136 185
Move Network 7,002 13,191 88 77
Twitter.com 9,313 17,001 83 56
MLB.com 6,860 12,497 82 87
Betawave Partners - Partial List 3,972 7,145 80 163
Hollywood.Net - Hollywood Online Network 4,821 6,850 42 169
teen.com Network 5,495 7,806 42 145
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) 3,774 5,086 35 236
Wikia Sites 3,638 4,892 34 239
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in April 2009.
Table 2
comScore Top 10 Gaining Site Categories* by Percentage Change in Unique
Visitors (U.S.)
April 2009 vs. March 2009
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Mar-09 Apr-09 % Change
Total Internet : Total Audience 192,173 192,875 0
Community - Teens 19,947 24,142 21
Business/Finance - Taxes 18,311 20,585 12
Social Networking 124,406 139,781 12
Real Estate 43,924 48,357 10
Entertainment - Music 86,817 95,511 10
Community - Home 27,161 29,857 10
Retail - Computer Software 34,346 37,685 10
Retail - Flowers/Gifts/Greetings 28,356 31,019 9
Online Gambling 11,670 12,754 9
Gaming Information 40,637 44,370 9
Table 3
comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.)
April 2009
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Unique
Visitors
Rank Property (000)
Total Internet : Total Audience 192,875
1 Google Sites 155,319
2 Yahoo! Sites 149,118
3 Microsoft Sites 126,452
4 AOL LLC 107,469
5 Fox Interactive Media 87,830
6 Ask Network 73,491
7 eBay 72,899
8 FACEBOOK.COM 67,481
9 Wikimedia Foundation Sites 65,461
10 Amazon Sites 62,730
11 Apple Inc. 54,550
12 Glam Media 54,485
13 CBS Interactive 53,473
14 Turner Network 49,719
15 Viacom Digital 47,911
16 New York Times Digital 47,316
17 craigslist, inc. 46,469
18 Weather Channel, The 40,160
19 AT&T Interactive Network 33,670
20 Adobe Sites 33,081
21 Comcast Corporation 32,776
22 Verizon Communications Corporation 32,648
23 Wal-Mart 32,515
24 Superpages.com Network 29,225
25 Answers.com Sites 29,062
26 Demand Media 28,492
27 The Mozilla Organization 27,958
28 Disney Online 27,180
29 Target Corporation 26,961
30 Bank of America 26,736
31 WordPress 26,567
32 Time Warner - Excluding AOL 25,714
33 Gorilla Nation 25,142
34 Photobucket.com LLC 24,939
35 Expedia Inc 24,283
36 AT&T, Inc. 24,009
37 United Online, Inc 23,996
38 Everyday Health 23,668
39 CareerBuilder LLC 23,506
40 iVillage.com: The Womens Network 22,596
41 NBC Universal 21,671
42 WebMD Health 21,605
43 Gannett Sites 21,558
44 ESPN 21,384
45 JPMorgan Chase Property 21,264
46 Monster Worldwide 20,299
47 Weatherbug Property 20,293
48 NetShelter Technology Media 20,164
49 Shopzilla.com Sites 20,061
50 Real.com Network 19,904
Table 4
comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.)
April 2009
Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations
Unique Visitors (000)
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Unique
Visitors
Rank Property (000) % Reach
Total Internet : Total Audience 192,875 100.0
1 Platform-A** 176,455 91%
2 Yahoo! Network** 167,129 87%
3 Google Ad Network** 164,518 85%
4 ValueClick Networks** 160,307 83%
5 Specific Media** 158,012 82%
6 FOX Audience Network** 149,249 77%
7 Yahoo! Sites 149,118 77%
8 Google 148,511 77%
9 24/7 Real Media** 147,668 77%
10 Traffic Marketplace** 143,519 74%
11 Tremor Media - Potential Reach 141,971 74%
12 Microsoft Media Network US** 139,674 72%
13 Tribal Fusion** 138,274 72%
14 Casale Media - MediaNet** 137,884 71%
15 interCLICK** 134,834 70%
16 YuMe Video Network - Potential Reach 134,608 70%
17 Turn, Inc** 134,028 69%
18 Adconion Media Group** 133,498 69%
19 CPX Interactive** 130,370 68%
20 Collective Network by Collective Media** 129,808 67%
21 ADSDAQ by ContextWeb** 123,534 64%
22 Platform-A Video Network - Potential
Reach 121,949 63%
23 AudienceScience (formerly Revenue
Science)** 121,001 63%
24 Burst Media** 116,727 61%
25 Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) -
Potential Reach 112,646 58%
26 MSN-Windows Live 111,783 58%
27 AOL Media Network 107,469 56%
28 BrightRoll Video Network - Potential
Reach 99,911 52%
29 Undertone Networks** 97,053 50%
30 AdBrite** 91,033 47%
31 YOUTUBE.COM 89,697 47%
32 Pulse 360** 82,574 43%
33 Vibrant Media** 80,779 42%
34 Centro - Potential Reach 75,551 39%
35 NNN Total Newspapers: U.S. 74,415 39%
36 Ask Network 73,491 38%
37 Adify** 73,467 38%
38 Kontera** 72,870 38%
39 Monster Career Ad Network (CAN)** 72,225 37%
40 MYSPACE.COM* 70,954 37%
41 FACEBOOK.COM 67,481 35%
42 ITN Digital - Potential Reach 66,578 35%
43 TattoMedia** 63,379 33%
44 MSN.COM Home Page 57,753 30%
45 IAC Ad Solutions 57,650 30%
46 EBAY.COM 56,319 29%
47 Glam Media 54,485 28%
48 AMAZON.COM 52,058 27%
49 NNN Top 25 50,644 26%
50 Business.com Network 48,692 25%
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that
viewed a particular entity at least once in April. For instance, Yahoo!
Sites was seen by 77 percent of the nearly 193 million Internet users in
April.
* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated
entities.
** Denotes an advertising network.
About comScore Media Metrix
comScore Media Metrix 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 Media Metrix reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.
About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
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