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Compete Ranks Top 50 Web Sites for September 2009
Football Season Kicks Off and Fall TV Scores Big; Consumers Seek H1N1 Answers
BOSTON –
(October 21, 2009) –
Compete, a TNS Media company, today released its ranking of the top 50
Web sites for September 2009. This month, football fans drove
traffic to sports news sites and TV enthusiasts tuned in online with
new shows on the air. The football category saw a 28 percent
increase in unique visitors (UVs) over August 2009, and has increased
15 percent year-over-year. Online visitor counts at
television sites have also increased 13 percent year-over-year with
more than 75.2 million UVs in September 2009. The list of top 50 most
heavily trafficked Web sites remained largely unchanged in September,
with search, social networking, retailers and job search sites leading
online interest.
Are you ready for some football?
College football and NFL teams hit the field in September, sending an online traffic spike to sports-focused Web sites. Of the top 20 traffic increases last month, seven can be tied to sports news or football season. College football site rivals.com grew 152 percent over August 2009 to reach more than 7.4 million online fans in September. NBC.com (6.4 million UVs), CBSsports.com (6.6 million UVs) and FOXsports.com (6.5 million UVs) also saw dramatic traffic increases.
Both CBSsports.com and
FOXsports.com are bidding on football related search terms
(“college football”, “fantasy
football”, etc). Each site is among the top ten
traffic-generating destinations from searches containing
“college football”. By contrast, EPSN.com
that also bid on that search term ranks 46th on the list.
A New Breed of Couch Potato
As the networks rolled out their fall TV lineups, TV fans flocked to the Web to find schedules, watch trailers and catch up on missed season premiers. NBC.com (6.4 million UVs), the home of The Biggest Loser and America’s Got Talent saw 58 percent growth over August 2009; while CBS.com (6.9 million UVs) the home of Medium and Survivor: Samoa, attracted 45 percent more visitors. TVGuide.com also had a high growth September, reaching more than 6.9 million UVs (28 percent increase). Finally, Hulu.com saw 7.2 million UVs, a 14 percent increase in online video traffic over the previous month.
“Sports is always a huge traffic generator,” said Cynthia Stephens, director of marketing at Compete. “In addition to helping marketers gain a better understanding of where they can reach NFL and college football enthusiasts online, this month’s ranking gives us insight into which networks are likely to attract loyal fans, and in turn, which networks will draw new advertising dollars.”
A Shot in the Arm
The
threat of a swine flu pandemic and a newly available vaccine sent
consumers searching for answers in September. Traffic to
CDC.gov increased 37 percent over August to reach 5.1 million visitors,
and NIH.gov experienced 12 percent growth, reaching 9.6
million. Health information site WebMD also continued its run
in the top 50 sites, ranking at number 46 in terms of overall traffic
at 19.8 million unique visitors in September.
Compete, a unit of TNS Media, helps the world’s top brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Leading marketers such as Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Hyundai Motor America, Upromise, Chrysler, and Verizon Wireless rely on Compete's services to create effective online experiences and highly profitable advertising campaigns. Compete’s online behavior database—the largest in the industry—makes the web as ingrained in marketing as it is in people’s lives.
Compete was founded in 2000 and
is located in Boston, MA, with offices
throughout the U.S. For more information about us, please
visit http://www.competeinc.com/,
or to join the conversation visit
http://www.compete.com/.
About TNS media
Established in more than 30
countries, TNS Media explores
all the media—print, radio, TV, Internet, social media,
cinema and outdoors worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and
offers a full range of insights, analyses and audience measurement
services.
TNS Media combines the deepest expertise in the industry to provide
media and marketing intelligence including advertising expenditure
monitoring, advertising creation monitoring, audience measurement,
market influence analytics, online consumer behavior tracking, news
monitoring, sports sponsorship evaluation and more. The TNS
Media companies track more than 3 million brands and provide vital
market intelligence to 16,000 customers in the world. http://www.tnsmediagroup.com
About
Kantar Group
The Kantar Group is one of
the world's largest research,
insight and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of
more than 20 specialist companies – including the
recently-acquired TNS – the group aims to become the
pre-eminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the
global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80
countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy
disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at
each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group’s
services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500
companies. The Kantar Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of
WPP Group plc. For further information, please visit http://www.kantargroup.com