Web Users Travel Eco-Friendly to Green Sites; Toy Site and Teen Site Visitation Spikes During Summer Vacation
RESTON, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, released its monthly analysis of U.S. Web activity at the top online properties for July 2009 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Green Sites and Auto Manufacturer Sites saw gains after the launch of the federal ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program. Online visitation to toy sites and teen sites gained as students looked for ways to fill their summer vacation free time.
Americans Go Green for Extra Green
Americans sought information about green initiatives surrounding automotive transportation with the launch of the federal ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program, with visitation to Green sites growing 15 percent in July to 17.5 million visitors. NaturalPath Media led the category with 2.1 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Green with 1.9 million and ECOMII with 1 million.
Auto Manufacturer sites saw growth as well, jumping 14 percent to 27.1 million visitors, representing a high for the category in the past year. General Motors led the category with 7 million visitors (up 20 percent). Toyota grabbed the #2 position with 6.9 million (up 46 percent) and also ranked second among the top gaining properties in July. Ford Motor Company ranked third with 6.2 million (up 12 percent), followed by Honda with 4 million (up 23 percent) and Chrysler with 3.1 million (up 20 percent).
“The ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program contributed largely to the growth of Green sites and Auto Manufacturer sites in July,” said Jack Flanagan, comScore executive vice president. The combination of owning a more fuel-efficient car while receiving a cash-back bonus really sparked the interest of many Americans, who were prompted to visit these sites to gather information on the program and ultimately determine whether it was something from which they might benefit.”
Toy Sites and Teen Sites Keep Vacationing Students Busy
Summer vacation means more leisure time for children, prompting parents to scour toy sites for fun activities to keep their kids occupied. The category attracted 18.6 million visitors in July, representing a 14-percent increase versus the prior month. Toysrus Sites led the category with 6.6 million visitors, followed by the LEGO Group with 2.9 million and Disney Shopping with 1.6 million. Ty Trade LLC ranked fourth in the category with 1.4 million visitors, up 148 percent due to their Teenie Beanie Babies promotion for McDonald’s Happy Meals.
Teens are also not immune to summer boredom, and looked to the Web for amusement in July. The Teens category grew 10 percent to 29.7 million visitors during the month. Alloy Digital Network ranked #1 in the category with nearly 11.6 million visitors (up 15 percent). Zwinky had 6.8 million visitors (up 13 percent), followed by MYYEARBOOK.COM with 5 million visitors (up 8 percent) and Nickelodeon Teens with 3.2 million visitors.
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites continued to lead as the most visited property in June with nearly 158 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 156.5 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 129 million visitors. Facebook.com moved up again in the rankings to #5, marking its highest-ever ranking. Answers.com Sites ascended 5 spots to #26 with 28.4 million visitors. Gorilla Nation jumped 4 positions to #31, while Twitter moved up the rankings to the #42 position with 20.1 million visitors.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
AOL Advertising (renamed from Platform-A) led the July Ad Focus ranking, reaching 91 percent of all Americans online. Yahoo! Network ranked second, reaching 88 percent of the population, while ValueClick Networks ranked third with an 83-percent reach. Yahoo! Sites and Microsoft Media Network each climbed one spot grabbing the #5 and #9 positions, respectively. Google climbed two spots to the #8 position with a reach of 77 percent.
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Table 1
comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.)
July 2009 vs. June 2009
Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Jun-09 Jul-09 % Change Rank by
Unique
Visitors
Total Internet:Total Audience 193,896 195,538 1 N/A
Betawave Partners-Partial List 7,405 12,770 72 81
Toyota 4,762 6,931 46 167
Heavy Networks 3,762 5,302 41 227
Examiner.com Sites 4,367 6,097 40 200
EducationDynamics, LLC 3,650 5,078 39 234
Office Depot 3,564 4,791 34 250
GN Kids (Gorilla Nation) 3,612 4,823 34 247
Intergi Entertainment And Games 6,754 8,845 31 127
NFL Internet Group 6,035 7,862 30 141
Ganz 4,624 5,759 25 212
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in July 2009.
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Table 2
comScore Top 10 Gaining Site Categories* by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)
July 2009 vs. June 2009
Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Jun-09 Jul-09 % Change
Total Internet : Total Audience 193,896 195,538 1
Green 15,240 17,466 15
Toys 16,370 18,602 14
Auto Manufacturer 23,894 27,144 14
Consumer Goods 19,707 22,139 12
Incentives 13,342 14,920 12
Gay/Lesbian 3,189 3,552 11
Politics 12,977 14,421 11
Teens 26,892 29,692 10
e-cards 18,458 20,349 10
Beauty/Fashion/Style 24,861 27,358 10
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Please visit the following link to view the Top 50 Properties and the Ad Focus Ranking for July 2009: http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/7/comScore_Media_Metrix_Ranks_Top_50_U.S._Web_Properties_for_June_2009
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.
