Travel, online gaming and teen sites all surged in popularity between May and June 2010, according to [pdf] comScore Media Metrix data.
Travel Season Starts Strong
Travel site categories experienced a gain in activity in June 2010 as Americans kicked off the unofficial start to the summer travel season. More than 100 million Americans visited the category during the month, affecting the following travel sub-categories: transactions, hotels/resorts, ground/cruise, and airplanes.
Travel-Transactions sites ranked as the top gaining category for the month of June 2010, growing 32% to 5.2 million visitors. Viator.com ranked first in the category with 1.1 million visitors, followed closely by TravelPN.com with 1.1 million (rounding results in having the same figure). OneTime.com grew to 853 million unique visitors, while WWTE.com attracted 457 million visitors.
Hotels/Resorts sites also saw strong growth during the month with 36.6 million Americans turning to these sites for lodging options. Marriott ranked as the top property, growing 16% to 6.5 million visitors. Hilton Hotels attracted 6 million visitors (up 13%), followed by InterContinental Hotels Group with 5.1 million (up 14%), Wyndham Worldwide with 4 million (up 9%), and Disney Travel with 3.6 million (up 5%).
Teen Sites Popular during Summer Vacation
Activity flourished at Teen sites as students on summer vacation looked for ways to spend their free time. The category attracted more than 40 million Americans in June 2010, representing a 21% month-over-month increase. Alloy Digital Network took the top spot with 16.9 million unique visitors, followed by IMVU with 6 million (up 18%), MyYearbook.com with 4.4 million, GN Teens (Gorilla Nation) with 4.3 million, and Zwinky with 3.7 million (up 15%).
Online Gaming in Play
Americans looked to online gaming for entertainment in June 2010, with online gaming sites attracting nearly 103 million visitors during the month. WildTangent Network took the top spot with 17.3 million visitors, up 6% from the prior month. GSN Games Network And CPMStar came next with 16.9 million visitors each, followed by Nickelodeon Casual games with 15.3 million (up 14%), EA Online with 15.1 million (up 2%), and Disney Games with 14.9 million (up 15%).
Soccer Drives Traffic Gains
The official site of the world soccer governing body FIFA saw its monthly visitor total grow 487%, from 1.39 million to 8.18 million, making it the number one gaining property in terms of rate of visitor growth. Spanish-language property Univision reported a 26% monthly visitor increase, from 5 million to 6.3 million, ranking it seventh in terms of visitor growth rate. The June World Cup soccer championship most likely drove these results.
Overall US internet visitor traffic remained virtually flat at 215 million for the month.
Google Leads Top 50 Properties
Google Sites ranked as the number one property in June 2010 with 179 million visitors, followed by Yahoo Sites with 170 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 161 million visitors. Adobe Sites jumped 10 positions in the ranking with 37.5 million visitors, while ESPN climbed 12 spots to 30.6 million visitors, as the World Cup attracted heavy interest.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
BrightRoll Video Network led the June 2010 Ad Focus ranking with a potential reach of 94% of Americans online. SpotXchange Video Ad Network ranked second (92% reach), followed by BBE (88% reach).
Flowers, Sports, Entertainment Leading May Categories
Most likely spurred by the traditional flower-giving holiday of Mother’s Day (May 9, 2010), in May 2010 the online flowers/gifts/greetings category grew 23%, from 29.3 million unique visitors to 36.1 million unique visitors, according to previous comScore data.. In addition, The NBA and NHL playoffs drove a 20% overall jump in the sports category during May 2010. Sports sites attracted 140.5 million unique visitors, compared to 117 million in April 2010.
In addition, the entertainment news category reached an all-time high of nearly 100 million unique visitors during May 2010, representing a 20% gain from 83.6 million in April 2010.
