Compete Ranks Top 50 Web Sites for October 2009

Boston MA, – (November 19, 2009) -- Compete, a Kantar Media company, today released its ranking of the top 50 Web sites for October 2009.  In October, online shoppers drove gains in retail traffic by searching for Halloween costumes, while culinary consumers logged on for new recipes in anticipation of the holiday season.  Hungry for news and online entertainment, individuals also turned to alternative news sources for the latest breaking news stories.  October’s top 50 most heavily trafficked Web sites were largely unchanged compared with September’s ranking; search, social networking and online retailers continue to lead online interest.

Trick or Treat? 
Halloween was responsible for October’s largest traffic spike, as 7.4 million unique visitors (UVs) visited buycostumes.com to find the perfect spooky disguise.  Ranking at number 144 of the Compete 250 (a category made up of the top 250 trafficked sites across the web), buycostumes.com saw a traffic increase of 77.2 percent over September 2009 and a 29.3 percent spike from October of last year.  For more on how retailers can take advantage of heavy search traffic holidays like Halloween, see the recent article “Get Your Search House In Order For The Holidays” by Compete’s Stephen DiMarco here.

With Halloween marking the beginning of the holiday season, consumers also flocked to popular retailers in October.  Kmart.com saw a 34.3 percent increase in traffic over September 2009 with 10.1 million UVs. Year-over-year, this represents an 81.1 percent increase for the retailer. Sears.com (17.9 million UVs), toysrus.com (10.5 million UVs) and shopping.com (5.9 million UVs) also saw dramatic traffic increases over the last month.

A Lot of Cooks in the Kitchen
The beginning of Fall also sent food-minded consumers online in October.  Bettycrocker.com experienced the largest traffic spike among major food sites in October, with 5.5 million UVs logging onto the site to find new recipes and get advice from online experts. This marks a 49.2 percent increase in traffic from October 2008 and a 27.7 percent spike over September 2009.  Allrecipes.com (12.1 million UVs) also experienced a 43.8 percent year-over-year increase, and foodnetwork.com (10.5 million UVs) was up 46.8 percent compared to October of last year.

“The beginning of the holiday season traditionally sparks a flurry of online activity across categories,” said Cynthia Stephens, director of marketing at Compete.  “Knowing when and where to target consumers can turn their online searching behavior into holiday purchases.”

Tell Me More
As the traditional media landscape undergoes rapid changes, consumers continue to turn to alternative online portals for the latest news and information. Independent online magazine Suite101.com saw 8.3 million UVs in October 2009, a whopping 112.3 percent lift from October 2008. Associatedcontent.com (10.6 million UVs), hubpages.com (6.3 million UVs) and huffingtonpost.com (8.4 million UVs) also saw significant traffic increases in October. 

About Compete
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
Kantar is one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 95 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.

 
For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com