The gaming, retail and travel site categories were among the most popular with US consumers in July 2010, according to Media Matrix data from comScore.
Poker Tournament Drives Traffic
The “main event? of the World Series of Poker annual tournament took place in July 2010, likely spurring interest in the game among Americans. More than 13.4 million people visited an online gambling site during the month, an 11% increase from the previous month.
PokerStars ranked as the category leader with 2.4 million visitors (up 8%), followed by FullTiltPoker with 2.3 million visitors (up 14%), Kingolotto Network with 2 million visitors (up 31%), and UltimateBet.com Online Poker with 1 million visitors (up 33%).
Toy, Mall Sites Spur Retail Growth
Several retail sub-categories ranked among the top gaining categories for the month, including toys, mall, tickets and consumer goods. Toys sites rose 11% in July 2010 to 18.4 million visitors. Toysrus Sites ranked first in the category with 6.6 million visitors during the month (up 4%), followed by The Lego Group with 2.9 million (up 24%), Disney Shopping with 1.7 million (up 7%) and AmericanGirl.com with 1.3 million (up 75%).
Mall sites also flourished during the month, growing 11% to 18.1 million visitors. Sam?s Club ranked first in the category with 4.7 million visitors (up 6%). HSN.com followed in second with 3.6 million visitors (up 18%), while FingerHut.com had 2 million visitors (up 24%) and MyDealMatch.com had 1.8 million visitors (up 9%).
Travel Information Sites Soar through July
The travel information site category saw strong growth during the month with 59.2 million visitors, up 11% from June 2010 to reach the all-time high for the category. TravelAdNetwork ranked first with 18.9 million visitors, representing a 16% month-over-month increase.
TripAdvisor Sites ranked second with 13.1 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Travel with 11 million visitors (up 14%), AOL Travel with 5.1 million (up 7%) and Bing Travel with 4.9 million (up 6%).
Google Sites Leads Top 50 Properties
Google Sites ranked again as the number one property in July 2010, continuing a long-term trend with 178 million visitors, followed by Yahoo Sites with 174 million and Microsoft Sites with 165 million. The Mozilla Organization jumped 10 positions in the ranking with 35.1 million visitors, while The Washington Post Company climbed five spots to 27.7 million visitors.
BrightRoll Video Leads Ad Reach
BrightRoll Video Network led the July 2010 Ad Focus ranking with a potential reach of 96% of Americans online, followed by SpotXchange Video Ad Network with a 93% reach. YuMe Video Ad Network climbed four spots to capture the number three ranking with an 89% reach.
Travel Sites Surge in June
Travel, online gaming and teen sites all surged in popularity between May and June 2010, according to earlier comScore Media Metrix data. 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.
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.
And Americans looked to online gaming for entertainment in June 2010, with online gaming sites attracting nearly 103 million visitors during the month.
