comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for September 2011

Online Gambling Sites Collect Web Traffic Winnings

Students and Teachers Kick Off the New School Year at Education Sites

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Oct 20, 2011, 04:22 ET

RESTON, Va., Oct. 20, 2011 /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 September 2011 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Online Gambling sites witnessed the strongest lift in traffic in September with sports betting front-and-center as the NFL season kicked off. The new school year also swung into gear in September, which encouraged students and teachers to visit Education Information and Resource sites.

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"In September, Americans browsed a variety of web content, with Online Gambling, Education and Political News sites ranking at the top of our fastest-growing categories list," said Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of comScore. "Fall television lineups also premiered in September, earning ABC Television and TV Guide Online Network spots on the list of top-gaining properties, along with NFL Internet Group and ESPN as the long-awaited NFL season began."

Americans All-In For Online Gambling

Online Gambling sites represented the fastest growing category in September, up 13 percent to 9.7 million visitors. PokerStars ranked first in the category with 1.1 million visitors (up 11 percent), followed by UPickEm.net with 993,000 (up 36 percent), FullTiltPoker with 753,000, SimSlots, Inc. with 655,000 (up 5 percent) and Wooga.com with 520,000 (up 85 percent).

Classes Resume at Education Sites

Education Information sites saw increased pickup in September, growing 12 percent to 82.7 million visitors. Pearson Education ranked as the category leader with 22.3 million visitors (up 43 percent), while HotChalk drew17.2 million visitors (up 27 percent), earning both a spot on the top-gaining properties list. About.com Education attracted 9.5 million visitors (up 49 percent), followed by ClassesUSA.com with 6.4 million and Coolmath.com Inc with 5.5 million (up 47 percent).

Political News Buzzes Online

Interest in Political News sites spiked in September between President Obama's jobs plan announcement and the heating up of the Republican presidential primary battled. The category rose 12 percent to 35.4 million visitors. HuffPost Politics ranked #1 in the category with 9.9 million visitors (up 8 percent), while CNN Politics drew 8.1 million (up 11 percent). Politico.com ranked third with 4.8 million visitors (up 8 percent), followed by RealClearPolitics.com with 2.5 million (up 15 percent), The Economist Group with 2.5 million (up 4 percent) and BarackObama.com with 1.6 million.

Top 50 Properties

Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in September with 184.6 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 177.1 million and Microsoft Sites with 176.9 million. ESPN, Technorati Media and NBC Universal each jumped 4 positions, to rank at #20, #26 and #41, respectively. NFL Internet Group was a newcomer to the list this month at #40 as the season commenced in September.

Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking

Google Ad Network led the September Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 92.8 percent of Americans online, followed by Yahoo! Network Plus (86.1 percent) and AOL Advertising (84.8 percent). AT&T AdWorks maintained its position at #4 with an 82.6-percent reach, while ValueClick Networks rounded out the top five at 81.6-percent.

Table 1
*comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.) September 2011 vs. August 2011 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix**
	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	Aug-11	Sep-11	% Change	Rank by Unique Visitors
Total Internet : Total Audience	216,006	218,536	1	N/A
ABC Television	6,962	10,736	54	153
Pearson Education	15,552	22,288	43	63
Encyclopaedia Britannica	9,810	12,976	32	127
FedEx	14,610	19,322	32	86
PBS	10,161	13,393	32	124
NFL Internet Group	21,474	28,197	31	40
BuzzFeed.com	5,058	6,556	30	237
TV Guide Online Network	7,198	9,186	28	176
HotChalk	13,584	17,199	27	99
ESPN	41,624	52,198	25	20

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in September 2011. 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.) September 2011 vs. August 2011 Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	Aug-11	Sep-11	% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience	216,006	218,536	1
Gambling – Online Gambling	8,608	9,736	13
Education – Information	73,730	82,670	12
News/Information – Politics	31,675	35,394	12
Retail – Flowers/Gifts/Greetings	21,817	24,290	11
Directories/Resources – Shipping	32,361	35,785	11
Automotive – Manufacturer	22,625	24,839	10
Health – Pharmacy	5,438	5,943	9
Retail – Computer Software	38,144	40,435	6
Community – Beauty/Fashion/Style	62,757	66,505	6
Services – Web Hosting	42,177	44,508	6

Table 3
comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.) September 2011 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	218,536
1	Google Sites	184,582	26	Technorati Media	39,563
2	Yahoo! Sites	177,123	27	Wal-Mart	38,255
3	Microsoft Sites	176,856	28	Adobe Sites	37,261
4	Facebook.com	163,021	29	NetShelter Technology Media	36,359
5	AOL, Inc.	105,861	30	LinkedIn.com	35,842
6	Amazon Sites	103,709	31	AT&T Interactive Network	35,582
7	Ask Network	91,994	32	Tribune Interactive	34,288
8	Turner Digital	89,981	33	Twitter.com	32,310
9	Glam Media	88,303	34	Yelp.com	31,975
10	Wikimedia Foundation Sites	83,836	35	Myspace	30,554
11	CBS Interactive	83,463	36	Disney Online	30,537
12	Viacom Digital	79,558	37	Superpages.com Network	29,900
13	eBay	73,830	38	iVillage.com: The Womens Network	29,866
14	New York Times Digital	72,849	39	Everyday Health	28,569
15	Apple Inc.	72,685	40	NFL Internet Group	28,197
16	VEVO	62,183	41	NBC Universal	27,984
17	Weather Channel, The	61,751	42	Netflix.com	27,983
18	Demand Media	59,624	43	Break Media	27,675
19	craigslist, inc.	54,152	44	WebMD Health	27,238
20	ESPN	52,198	45	Target Corporation	25,728
21	WordPress	48,475	46	Fox News Digital	25,610
22	Comcast Corporation	48,256	47	Internet Brands, Inc.	25,601
23	Answers.com Sites	46,587	48	Verizon Communications Corporation	25,043
24	Federated Media Publishing	44,176	49	The Washington Post Company	24,669
25	Gannett Sites	42,968	50	Discovery Digital Media Sites	24,282

Table 4
comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.) September 2011 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	218,536	100.0
1	Google Ad Network**	202,775	92.8	26	MSN	123,996	56.7
2	Yahoo! Network Plus**	188,053	86.1	27	ContextWeb**	121,243	55.5
3	AOL Advertising**	185,248	84.8	28	Undertone**	109,001	49.9
4	AT&T AdWorks**	180,473	82.6	29	CPX Interactive**	108,572	49.7
5	ValueClick Networks**	178,289	81.6	30	AdBlade Network**	108,566	49.7
6	24/7 Real Media Global Web Alliance**	177,430	81.2	31	AOL, Inc.	105,861	48.4
7	Yahoo! Sites	177,123	81.1	32	Bing	100,644	46.1
8	Google	175,574	80.3	33	Meebo	92,859	42.5
9	Specific Media**	174,991	80.1	34	Brand.net Network**	92,382	42.3
10	ShareThis	169,571	77.6	35	Ask Network	91,994	42.1
11	Tribal Fusion**	166,092	76.0	36	Glam Media	88,303	40.4
12	Facebook.com	163,021	74.6	37	Kontera**	85,973	39.3
13	Collective Display**	162,497	74.4	38	WIKIPEDIA.ORG	83,505	38.2
14	AdBrite**	158,088	72.3	39	Windows Live	81,488	37.3
15	Casale Media - MediaNet**	157,008	71.8	40	Amazon.com*	79,016	36.2
16	interclick**	150,591	68.9	41	Monster Career Ad Network (CAN)**	69,279	31.7
17	Burst Media**	149,882	68.6	42	Technorati Media**	64,525	29.5
18	AudienceScience**	146,241	66.9	43	Weather Channel, The	61,751	28.3
19	Microsoft Media Network US**	145,454	66.6	44	Dedicated Media**	61,696	28.2
20	Cox Digital Solutions - Network**	145,369	66.5	45	Demand Media	59,624	27.3
21	FOX Audience Network**	141,649	64.8	46	MTV Networks Music	55,981	25.6
22	Traffic Marketplace**	141,180	64.6	47	ESPN	52,198	23.9
23	Vibrant Media**	134,518	61.6	48	Redux Media Network**	49,229	22.5
24	Adconion Media Group**	128,342	58.7	49	RMM (formerly Red McCombs Media)**	46,238	21.2
25	YouTube.com*	125,092	57.2	50	About	46,150	21.1

Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in September. For instance, Yahoo! Sites was seen by 81.1 percent of the 218 million Internet users in September.
* 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.

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