Reston: 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 December 2012 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service.
Retail sites encountered their busiest month of the year in December as Americans bombarded the Web to score big deals on holiday shopping. Consumers and businesses looked to Shipping sites to ensure delivery of packages in time for the holidays, while some looked to Tax sites for financial support as the year drew to a close.
“With every year that passes, we consistently see online buying becoming a more pivotal part of consumers’ holiday shopping strategy. The 2012 season was no different, generating $42.3 billion in spending throughout November and December, which is up 14 percent from last year,” said Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of comScore. “Critical to the success of e-commerce are shipping companies, who saw their highest online traffic peak this holiday season with nearly 40 million visitors.”
Retail Roars across Web as Holidays Near
As the holidays approached in December, the Retail category witnessed a record-breaking traffic volume of 194 million Americans, or 9 out of 10 Web users in December. Flowers, Gifts and Greetings sites ranked second among the top-gaining categories with 32 million visitors, a 24-percent increase versus November. AmericanGreetings Property ranked at the top of the category with 4.9 million visitors (up 35 percent), followed by Gifts.com with 3.8 million (up 3 percent), 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. with 2.6 million (up 57 percent), Hallmark.com with 2.5 million (up 77 percent) and PersonalizationMall.com with 2.1 million (up 20 percent).
Americans shopping for finer goods visited Jewelry, Luxury Goods and Accessories sites, causing an 18-percent spike with 29 million visitors. Leading the category, 6PM.com drew 3.4 million visitors (up 4 percent), followed by Zale Corporation with 2.3 million (up 32 percent), Kay Jewelers with 2.2 million (up 43 percent), BradfordExchange.com with 1.9 million (up 19 percent) and RedEnvelope.com with 1.7 million (up 66 percent).
Shipping Sites Ensure Happy Holidays with On-Time Delivery
The Shipping category soared to its highest traffic level on record in December with nearly 40 million visitors, up 22 percent for the month to rank as the third top-gaining category. UPS Sites secured the #1 position with 21.2 million visitors (up 26 percent), followed by USPS with 16.1 million (up 26 percent), FedEx with 15.7 million (up 29 percent) and Stamps.com Inc. with 1.5 million. Bongous.com rounded out the top 5 with 876,000 visitors, representing a 7-percent increase.
Tax Sites Boom as Year Draws to a Close
Tax sites experienced a seasonal spike in December, providing businesses with resources to close their financial books for the year, and giving consumers a head-start in preparing their annual tax filing. The category grew 31 percent to 6.7 million visitors to rank as the top-gaining category in December.
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in December with 191 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 185 million, Microsoft Sites with 169 million and Facebook.com with 150 million. Holiday shoppers nudged Apple Inc into the top 10 with nearly 84 million visitors. Netflix.com and Pinterest.com each jumped 8 positions in the ranking to #40 and #42, respectively.
Ad Focus Rankings
comScore has expanded its ad focus reporting to provide additional granularity in the classification of ad publishers, networks and other platforms that comprise the ecosystem.
Among syndicated Ad Focus
entities, ShareThis ranked first in December with a 95.2-percent reach of Americans online, followed by Google (83.6 percent), Yahoo! Sites (83.5 percent), Outbrain (79.6 percent) and Facebook.com (67.5 percent).
For Advertising Networks and Buy Side Networks, Google Ad Network ranked #1 with a 93.9-percent reach, followed by Specific Media (89.5 percent), Federated Media Publisher Network (87.3 percent), AOL Advertising (84.2 percent) and AT&T AdWorks (83.9 percent).
Among DSPs, SSPs and Ad Exchanges (which will include several additional entities in the coming months), Rubicon Project REVV Platform reached 96.7 percent of Americans online.
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in December. For instance, Yahoo! Sites was seen by 83.5 percent of the 221 million Internet users in December. * Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities
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.
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