Top 50 US Web Rankings Issued for July; Travel, Retail, Entertainment Do Well

August 15, 2008

This article is included in these additional categories:

Media & Entertainment | Paid Search | Retail & E-Commerce | Travel & Hospitality

It appears Google has now secured its top ranking among US Web properties, having successfully held off erstwhile leader Yahoo for four months, according to a comScore Media Metrix monthly analysis of US consumer activity at online properties.

Moreover, continuing the summer trends in web usage observed in June, leisure-oriented categories demonstrated gains in July, including travel, retail, tickets and entertainment news.

Below, the findings issued by comScore:

Top 50 Properties (Unique Visitors)

comscore-top-50-online-properties-us-july-2008.jpg

  • Google Sites maintained the top position in the Top Properties ranking, reaching 141.6 million Americans in July, while Yahoo Sites captured the second spot with 140.3 million and Microsoft Sites ranked third with 120.2 million visitors.
  • CBS Corporation jumped 27 spots to No. 10 due to its recent acquisition of CNET Networks, which resulted in an incremental gain of nearly 30 million visitors to the property.
  • Ask Network moved up two positions in the top 10 to No. 7 with 58.6 million visitors.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking (Advertising Reach)

comscore-ad-focus-ranking-us-july-2008.jpg

  • Platform-A, which includes Advertising.com, Quigo and other ad networks, led the Ad Focus ranking in July, reaching 90% of the 189 million Americans online.
  • Yahoo Network (85% reach) ranked second, followed by Google Ad Network (81% reach), and Specific Media (81% reach).

Top-Gaining Sites and Categories

“Ground travel and cruise sites gained once again, as many Americans sought more budget-friendly ways to enjoy their summer vacations amid economic and fuel price concerns,” said Jack Flanagan, EVP of comScore Media Metrix. “Summer blockbusters and big celebrity news also provided a boost to the entertainment categories.”

Top-gaining properties:

comscore-top-10-gaining-properties-us-july-2008.jpg

Top-gaining categories:

comscore-top-10-gaining-categories-us-july-2008.jpg

Traffic to Travel Sites Grows

Several travel categories gained in July as Americans left for summer vacations. The travel – ground/cruise category jumped 10% to 12.7 million visitors, making it the top-gaining category for the month, while the travel-information category grew 7% to 47.6 million visitors.

The hotels/resorts category gained 6% to more than 34 million visitors. Some of the top-gainers in the category included Hotels.com (up 6% to 5.2 million), Choice Hotels International (up 8% to 3.2 million) and HolidayInn.com (up 11% to 2.7 million).

Some Retail Categories Gain Despite Economy

Despite a sluggish retail economy in the US, a handful of retail categories achieved traffic increases in July, possibly due to consumers’ shopping online instead of using expensive gasoline to drive to the store.

Retail – consumer goods sites rose 8% to 22.5 million visitors, including double-digit growth by Staples.com Sites (up 22% to 6.5 million visitors), Office Depot (up 12% to 4.8 million visitors), and DisneyShopping.com (up 32% to 1.6 million visitors).

Meanwhile, the retail – mall category increased 7% to 28 million visitors, led by AOL Shopping with 6.3 million visitors (up 19%), MSN Shopping with 5.8 million visitors, and QVC Sites with 5 million visitors.

Summer Movies Drive Traffic to Ticket Sites

With the release of several highly anticipated summer films, most prominently The Dark Knight, retail – ticket sites grew 5% to more than 44 million visitors as movie goers pre-purchased tickets to avoid long lines and sell outs at theaters.

Moviefone led the category with 17.5 million visitors (up 12%), while Fandango posted a 29% gain to 9.3 million visitors, and MovieTickets.com jumped 13% to 4.7 million visitors.

Hot Celebrity Gossip Stories Prompt Growth

July was packed with major celebrity stories, including the birth of Angelina and Brad’s twins and Christie Brinkley’s public divorce, which helped boost the entertainment news category 5% to 52.7 million visitors.

Gossip site omg! led the category with more than 16 million visitors, a 19% gain from June, followed by TMZ with 9.7 million visitors (up 9%) and People with 8.8 million visitors (up 4%).

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