Fox Interactive Media Ranks #1 in Page Views; Yahoo! Sites Attract the Most Unique Visitors

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Wednesday, December 20, 2006; 01:56 AM

comScore Media Metrix today released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties and categories for November. Fox Interactive Media topped all properties with 39.5 billion page views in November, primarily driven by the 38.7 billion pages consumed at MySpace.com, based on traffic from home, work and university locations.

While Fox Interactive Media supplanted Yahoo! Sites as the top Web property by page views in November, Yahoo! Sites retained the top spot in audience size with 129.9 million unique visitors. Further, Yahoo's increased integration of AJAX technology may have had a dampening effect on page views, as the technology enables real-time site updates without the need to refresh a page.

An additional comScore analysis released this week highlighted the importance of including home, work and university audiences in measuring the Web's largest properties. In fact, if university usage is omitted, the comparison of page views at Fox Interactive Media and Yahoo! Sites tells a very different story: Yahoo! Sites, with 35.6 billion page views for November, would rank higher than Fox Interactive Media with 34.9 billion.

"Inclusion of online activity occurring at university locations is critical to producing accurate online audience measurements," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. "The market was understandably perplexed by reports that offered seemingly conflicting opinions on whether Fox Interactive or Yahoo! had actually captured the top ranking in terms of page views."

"The difference lies in whether the online activity of college students, which represents nearly 15 million people, is included in the measurements -- a critically important detail when measuring activity at MySpace.com, which is included in the Fox Interactive property," Flanagan added. "Other research company reports claiming that Yahoo! had remained number one in page views did not include the important university segment. comScore is pleased to provide our clients with the unique ability to measure the full breadth of consumer activity online -- including the activity of college students."

Holiday Season Draws Online Shoppers to Retail Sites

Shopping was top of mind with American consumers in November, as nine of the ten top gaining categories for the month were retail-related. Online department stores represented the top gaining category in November (up 24 percent to 70.6 million visitors), led by Walmart.com, which grew 64 percent to 40.5 million visitors, Target Corporation with 33.2 million visitors (a 37-percent increase), and JCPenney Sites, which grew 44 percent to 16.8 million visitors. Much of Walmart.com's steep increase was attributable to the rise in visitation to Wal-Mart Electronics, which saw a 155-percent increase to 7.9 million visitors. BestBuy.com (up 66 percent to 21.1 million visitors) and Circuit City Stores (up 55 percent to 15.7 million visitors) topped the list of consumer electronics sites.

Luxury gift site RedEnvelope.com led the jewelry/luxury goods/accessories category with 2.5 million visitors (up 14 percent), followed by Coach.com, which increased 28 percent to 2.3 million visitors, and Tiffany & Co., which grew 44 percent to 1.5 million visitors. Overall, the category rose 21 percent to 18.1 million visitors.

The toy category saw a similar surge in traffic, growing 20 percent to 30.1 million visitors, highlighted by KB Toys's 108-percent increases versus the previous month to 3.6 million visitors, ranking as the second-fastest gaining site in November. Toys "R" Us Sites also demonstrated strong gains, growing 75-percent to 13.9 million visitors.

Online Promotions Popular in November

Online promotions also drove significant Web traffic in November, with the Xerox Corporation heading the list of top gaining sites with 3.7 million visitors. The 114-percent increase was largely driven by traffic to http://www.letssaythanks.com/, the Xerox-sponsored site that provides the opportunity to send a free postcard to American troops overseas. In addition, Chunky Soup's "Click for Cans" NFL promotion ranked the Campbell Soup Company seventh on the list of top gaining sites in November, growing 86 percent to 4.4 million visitors.

Top 50 Properties

In November, Yahoo! Sites again retained the number one position, attracting nearly 130 million unique visitors. Wal-Mart surged into the top 10, claiming the number nine spot with more than 43 million unique visitors, a 59-percent increase from October. Several other retail sites enjoyed increased traffic due to the start of the holiday shopping season as well. Best Buy Sites, Sears Sites, and JCPenney Sites all entered the top 50 at positions, ranking 30, 32, and 39, respectively. Target Corporation experienced a 37-percent increase in visitors, and jumped eight spots to number 15, while Overstock.com climbed 13 spots and drew 23 percent more unique visitors (17.1 million) than in October.

Top 50 Ad Focus

During November, Advertising.com slightly extended its reach to nearly 148 million Americans online, or 85 percent of the U.S. online population. Within the top 10, Casale Media Network inched up one spot to number five, reaching 64 percent of Americans online. Advertising networks Blue Lithium and AdDynamix.com each gained four spots, capturing the number 10 and 19 positions, respectively. Finally, Euroclick joined the Ad Focus ranking at number 22, while Bizrate.com and EA Online Games re-entered the ranking, with each entity reaching 9 percent of U.S. online population.

comScore Media Metrix, a division of comScore Networks, provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report -- with unmatched accuracy -- 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 continues the tradition of quality and innovation established by its Media Metrix syndicated Internet ratings -- long recognized as the currency in online media measurement among financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers -- while drawing upon comScore's advanced technologies to address important new industry requirements. All comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About comScore Networks

comScore Networks is a global leader in measuring the digital age. 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 consultants 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 global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Tribune Interactive, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestle, MBNA, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Merck and Expedia. For more information, visit http://www.comscore.com/ .