comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for March 2012

Mega Millions $656 Million Dollar Jackpot Causes Traffic to Spike at Lotto Sites

Americans Book Last-Minute Spring Break Plans and Look Ahead at Summer Getaways

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Apr 24, 2012, 04:30 ET

RESTON, Va., April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. web activity at the top online properties for March 2012 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Lotto sites witnessed a huge spike in traffic as the Mega Millions jackpot climbed towards its eventual $656 million total in March. Meanwhile, Travel sites were busy keeping up with spring break and summertime travel demand.

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"Americans were 'all-in' for the Mega Millions jackpot in March as the prize climbed to its greatest payout in U.S. history at $656 million," said Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of comScore. "Travel sites saw considerable pickup during the month as many looked to book last-minute spring break trips and summer travel."

Big Prize Money Draws Players to Lotto Sites
The Mega Millions jackpot had American hopefuls visiting Lotto sites to buy tickets or check to see if they held the winning ticket. The category drew nearly 29 million visitors in March, up 25 percent to rank as the top-gaining category for the month. MegaMillions.com ranked #1 with 6.4 million visitors, up 590 percent versus February to reach an all-time high for the property. CALottery.com ranked second with 3.2 million visitors (up 101 percent), followed by EPrize.net with 2.6 million, SwagBucks.com with 2.6 million (up 10 percent), LotteryPost.com with 1.5 million (up 62 percent) and PowerBall.com with 1.5 million.

Travel Tops the Charts in March
In March, Americans were seeking to book last-minute spring break travel or looking ahead to summertime getaways, which helped several travel subcategories rank among the top-gainers. For those looking to book a few months out, Travel Information sites were particularly helpful, drawing 69.7 million visitors during the month (up 10 percent). TripAdvisor Media Group led the pack with 18.1 million visitors (up 5 percent), followed by Travora Media with 15.5 million visitors (up 5 percent) and Yahoo! Travel with 11.1 million visitors (up 9 percent).

Airline sites grew 8 percent to 29.8 million visitors in March, with Southwest Airlines Co. ranking first in the category with 10.9 million visitors (up 17 percent). Delta Airlines secured the #2 spot with 6.1 million visitors (up 9 percent), followed by United Airlines with 5.4 million (up 61 percent), American Airlines with 4.8 million (up 8 percent), JetBlue Airways with 3.3 million (up 1 percent) and US Airways Group, Inc. with 2.6 million (up 8 percent).

Top 50 Properties
Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in March with 189.7 million visitors, followed by Microsoft Sites with 178.9 million, Yahoo! Sites with 175.4 million and Facebook.com with 158.9 million. Ask Network climbed to the #7 position, while ESPN jumped 6 positions to rank #26.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Google Ad Network led the March Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 91.7 percent of Americans online, followed by AOL Advertising (83.1 percent), Google (81.7 percent), Yahoo! Network Plus (81.4 percent) and AT&T AdWorks (81.1 percent).

Table 1

*comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.) March 2012 vs. February 2012 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix**
	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	Feb-12	Mar-12	% Change	Rank by Unique Visitors
Total Internet : Total Audience	219,988	224,020	2	N/A
PerformerSoft.com	3,660	9,225	152	186
Sun Microsystems, Inc.	5,986	8,410	40	201
Babylon.com	6,383	8,824	38	196
CollegeHumor Media	5,690	7,549	33	218
TheStreet Sites	5,418	7,079	31	234
MLB	7,863	9,758	24	177
DailyMotion.com	11,474	13,824	20	118
SB Nation	9,082	10,865	20	153
Instagr.am	6,906	8,208	19	204
ESPN	31,744	37,721	19	26

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in March 2012. Excludes entities whose growth was primarily due to tagging through unified digital audience measurement.

Table 2

comScore Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.) March 2012 vs. February 2012 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	Feb-12	Mar-12	% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience	219,988	224,020	2
Gambling – Lotto/Sweepstakes	23,158	28,970	25
Travel – Transactions	3,382	3,801	12
Travel – Information	63,312	69,705	10
News/Information – Politics	41,374	45,494	10
Retail – Tickets	26,793	29,193	9
Travel – Airlines	27,520	29,784	8
Entertainment – Humor	57,506	61,382	7
Travel – Car Rental	6,812	7,260	7
Travel – Hotels/Resorts	33,063	35,088	6
Career Resources & Development – Job Search	21,953	23,217	6

Table 3

comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.) March 2012 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix
Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)	Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)
	Total Internet : Total Audience	224,020
1	Google Sites	189,662	26	ESPN	37,721
2	Microsoft Sites	178,897	27	Technorati Media	37,455
3	Yahoo! Sites	175,356	28	LinkedIn.com	37,414
4	Facebook.com	158,926	29	AT&T Interactive Network	35,154
5	AOL, Inc.	109,921	30	Adobe Sites	35,078
6	Amazon Sites	106,305	31	NetShelter Technology Media	34,385
7	Ask Network	92,324	32	Disney Online	34,130
8	Wikimedia Foundation Sites	86,221	33	Tribune Interactive	33,825
9	CBS Interactive	82,530	34	Alloy Digital Network	32,160
10	Apple Inc.	81,157	35	Yelp.com	32,089
11	Turner Digital	80,897	36	Fox News Digital Network	31,227
12	Glam Media	78,337	37	Break Media	29,942
13	Comcast NBCUniversal	78,317	38	Everyday Health	28,870
14	New York Times Digital	75,703	39	Netflix.com	27,448
15	Viacom Digital	75,264	40	Internet Brands, Inc.	26,294
16	eBay	70,588	41	The Washington Post Company	26,121
17	Federated Media Publishing	65,949	42	Cox Enterprises Inc.	24,936
18	Demand Media	63,698	43	Myspace	24,720
19	VEVO	58,288	44	Discovery Digital Media Sites	24,543
20	Weather Channel, The	54,078	45	BitTorrent Network	24,199
21	craigslist, inc.	53,251	46	EA Online	24,084
22	Gannett Sites	50,258	47	Target Corporation	24,028
23	Answers.com Sites	45,088	48	Scripps Networks Interactive Inc.	23,835
24	Twitter.com	40,310	49	Yellowbook Network	23,734
25	Wal-Mart	39,050	50	WeatherBug Property	22,642

Table 4

comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.) March 2012 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix
Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)	% Reach	Rank	Property	Unique Visitors (000)	% Reach
	Total Internet : Total Audience	224,020	100.0
1	Google Ad Network**	205,443	91.7	26	Adconion Media Group**	124,611	55.6
2	AOL Advertising**	186,241	83.1	27	AdBlade Network**	122,353	54.6
3	Google	182,948	81.7	28	Undertone**	116,815	52.1
4	Yahoo! Network Plus**	182,319	81.4	29	AOL, Inc.	109,921	49.1
5	AT&T AdWorks**	181,602	81.1	30	CPX Interactive**	105,121	46.9
6	ShareThis	179,875	80.3	31	Smowtion Ad Network**	104,617	46.7
7	Yahoo! Sites	175,356	78.3	32	Meebo	93,614	41.8
8	24/7 Real Media Global Web Alliance**	174,856	78.1	33	Ask Network	92,324	41.2
9	ValueClick Networks**	174,168	77.7	34	Traffic Marketplace**	92,172	41.1
10	Specific Media**	173,422	77.4	35	AMAZON.COM*	89,850	40.1
11	Microsoft Media Network US**	171,328	76.5	36	Bing	89,731	40.1
12	Tribal Fusion**	166,927	74.5	37	WIKIPEDIA.ORG*	85,938	38.4
13	AdBrite**	161,068	71.9	38	Monster Career Ad Network (CAN)**	85,132	38.0
14	PulsePoint**	160,634	71.7	39	Rocket Fuel**	83,143	37.1
15	Casale Media - MediaNet**	159,040	71.0	40	Kontera**	82,938	37.0
16	FACEBOOK.COM	158,926	70.9	41	Glam Media	78,337	35.0
17	Collective Display**	156,507	69.9	42	Windows Live	72,194	32.2
18	Vibrant Media**	153,848	68.7	43	Technorati Media**	71,449	31.9
19	RadiumOne**	152,042	67.9	44	Federated Media Publishing	65,949	29.4
20	interclick**	148,022	66.1	45	Demand Media	63,698	28.4
21	Cox Digital Solutions - Network**	145,376	64.9	46	Dedicated Media**	62,182	27.8
22	AudienceScience**	142,824	63.8	47	Redux Media - Reach & Response Network**	59,599	26.6
23	Burst Media**	133,368	59.5	48	About	59,368	26.5
24	YOUTUBE.COM*	125,861	56.2	49	Brand.net Network**	56,581	25.3
25	MSN	125,719	56.1	50	Weather Channel, The	54,078	24.1

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in March. For instance, Yahoo! Sites was seen by 78.3 percent of the 224 million Internet users in March. * Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities. ** Denotes an advertising network.

About comScore Media Metrix
comScore Media Metrix provides industry-leading Internet audience measurement services that report details of online media usage, visitor demographics and online buying power for the home, work and university audiences across local U.S. markets and across the globe. comScore Media Metrix reports are used by financial analysts, advertising agencies, publishers and marketers. comScore Media Metrix syndicated ratings are based on industry-sanctioned sampling methodologies.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

SOURCE comScore, Inc.