With the Olympics underway--no surprise--there's a huge surge
of traffic to Olympic-related web sites.
What may be surprising, considering concerns over TV viewership levels,
is just how strong that surge is. Actual traffic numbers won't be available until later
this week, but a strong indication comes in early data from Hitwise, which tracks sites'
market share in terms of visitors.
For the week ending Aug. 14, which was the first full day of Olympic
competition, Hitwise reports that NBC Olympics (www.NBCOlympics.com) was the most popular Olympic-related
web site, with 3.01 percent of all internet visits.
Athens 2004 (www.Athens2004.com),
the official site of the Olympics, was second with 1.52 percent of the market share of
visits. SI.com Olympics (www.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/Olympics) was at No. 3 with 0.41
percent of all internet visits.
Do these numbers look small? Yes, until you compare them to where the sites
were a week earlier and look how much they've risen.
During the week ended Aug. 14, Olympics.com, which directs visitors to
Athens2004.com, increased its market share of visits by some 4,374 percent over the
previous week.
SI.com Olympics was the second-fastest-growing Olympics site, increasing its
share by 3,536 percent over the previous week.
NBC Olympics increased its share by 2,567 percent.
The 2000 Games in Sydney became known as the
first internet Olympics, and at the time it was the most popular internet event in
history. The official Olympics web site attracted about 11.3 billion hits, 18 times the
number the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano received.
But the web also played a role in NBC coming up short on its ratings
prediction for the 2000 games, many analysts believe.
NBC had hoped for something between a 17.5 and 18.5 average primetime
household rating but instead delivered below a 14.0 average. With the internet making
available instant results, fans were quick to go to the web for final scores and less
inclined to wait around to watch the event in its entirety on tape.
Top
25 parent companies
Through August 8 |
| # |
Parent |
Unique
Audience (000) |
Reach
% |
Time
spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
1 |
Microsoft |
54,962 |
52.4 |
0:32:35 |
2 |
Time
Warner |
47,232 |
45.0 |
1:29:12 |
3 |
Yahoo! |
47,141 |
44.9 |
0:43:36 |
4 |
Google |
24,368 |
23.2 |
0:08:06 |
5 |
eBay |
16,296 |
15.5 |
0:46:07 |
6 |
Ask
Jeeves |
10,490 |
10.0 |
0:10:57 |
7 |
United
States Government |
9,807 |
9.3 |
0:10:26 |
8 |
RealNetworks |
8,899 |
8.5 |
0:26:33 |
9 |
Walt
Disney Internet Group |
8,631 |
8.2 |
0:21:58 |
10 |
InterActiveCorp |
8,351 |
8.0 |
0:11:58 |
11 |
Amazon |
8,142 |
7.8 |
0:09:38 |
12 |
United
Online |
7,339 |
7.0 |
0:41:15 |
13 |
Landmark
Communications |
6,267 |
6.0 |
0:05:04 |
14 |
Viacom
International |
6,238 |
5.9 |
0:14:28 |
15 |
AWS
Convergence Technologies |
5,884 |
5.6 |
0:29:13 |
16 |
Terra
Lycos |
5,622 |
5.4 |
0:06:02 |
17 |
EarthLink |
5,322 |
5.1 |
0:29:26 |
18 |
Comcast
Corp. |
4,709 |
4.5 |
0:17:01 |
19 |
Verizon
Communications |
4,483 |
4.3 |
0:10:26 |
20 |
Bank
of America |
4,338 |
4.1 |
0:19:38 |
21 |
CNET
Networks |
4,289 |
4.1 |
0:06:40 |
22 |
Apple
Computer |
4,168 |
4.0 |
0:11:28 |
23 |
Gannett |
4,080 |
3.9 |
0:08:43 |
24 |
Monster
Worldwide |
3,993 |
3.8 |
0:09:23 |
25 |
About-Primedia |
3,853 |
3.7 |
0:04:43 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings |
Top 25 brands
Through August 8 |
|
Parent |
Unique
Audience (000) |
Reach
% |
Time
spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
1 |
Yahoo! |
45,620 |
43.5 |
0:44:56 |
2 |
MSN |
44,499 |
42.4 |
0:30:48 |
3 |
Microsoft |
38,112 |
36.3 |
0:11:00 |
4 |
AOL |
34,783 |
33.1 |
1:49:49 |
5 |
Google |
23,987 |
22.9 |
0:08:01 |
6 |
eBay |
15,505 |
14.8 |
0:45:25 |
7 |
Real |
8,660 |
8.3 |
0:25:50 |
8 |
MapQuest |
6,805 |
6.5 |
0:07:03 |
9 |
Amazon |
6,687 |
6.4 |
0:09:19 |
10 |
Weather Channel |
6,164 |
5.9 |
0:05:03 |
11 |
WeatherBug |
5,866 |
5.6 |
0:29:17 |
12 |
Netscape |
5,290 |
5.0 |
0:10:33 |
13 |
Lycos Network |
5,288 |
5.0 |
0:05:31 |
14 |
CNN |
5,140 |
4.9 |
0:09:33 |
15 |
EarthLink |
4,209 |
4.0 |
0:30:11 |
16 |
Apple |
4,168 |
4.0 |
0:11:28 |
17 |
Comcast |
4,147 |
4.0 |
0:18:28 |
18 |
Paypal |
3,787 |
3.6 |
0:12:14 |
19 |
Bank of America |
3,763 |
3.6 |
0:19:58 |
20 |
ESPN |
3,755 |
3.6 |
0:18:45 |
21 |
Gator Network |
3,630 |
3.5 |
0:01:08 |
22 |
McAfee |
3,564 |
3.4 |
0:13:24 |
23 |
EA Online |
3,454 |
3.3 |
0:57:36 |
24 |
Gorilla Nation Media |
3,404 |
3.2 |
0:08:04 |
25 |
My Way |
3,272 |
3.1 |
0:05:12 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings |
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through Aug. 8 |
| # |
Company |
Impressions
(000) |
1 |
Netflix, Inc. |
389,369 |
2 |
Dell Computer
Corporation |
367,336 |
3 |
InterActiveCorp |
343,986 |
4 |
MatchNet plc |
342,888 |
5 |
AT&T Wireless
Services, Inc. |
331,000 |
6 |
LoanLinks.com |
308,175 |
7 |
Fun Web Products |
284,391 |
8 |
Apollo Group, Inc. |
261,046 |
9 |
Ameriquest Mortgage
Company |
240,166 |
10 |
LowerMyBills.com,
Inc. |
240,073 |
11 |
SBC Communications,
Inc. |
231,809 |
12 |
Ameritrade Holding
Corporation |
214,787 |
13 |
Scottrade, Inc. |
211,728 |
14 |
Verizon
Communications, Inc. |
198,200 |
15 |
Orbitz |
195,483 |
16 |
BellSouth
Corporation |
192,769 |
17 |
Classmates Online,
Inc. |
185,804 |
18 |
Best Buy Co., Inc. |
172,728 |
19 |
Samsung Electronics
Co., Ltd. |
171,904 |
20 |
GUS Plc |
163,637 |
21 |
Monster Worldwide,
Inc. |
160,334 |
22 |
Weight Watchers
International, Inc. |
151,115 |
23 |
EarthLink, Inc. |
148,287 |
24 |
Lavalife Inc. |
146,031 |
25 |
Classes USA, Inc. |
143,012 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through August 8 |
| |
Company |
Impressions
(000) |
1 |
Yahoo! |
4,258,193 |
2 |
MSN |
2,511,213 |
3 |
iWon |
581,365 |
4 |
eBay |
472,598 |
5 |
CNN |
451,350 |
6 |
Excite |
291,791 |
7 |
Juno |
280,739 |
8 |
ESPN.com |
277,283 |
9 |
AT&T Worldnet |
249,261 |
10 |
Classmates |
238,791 |
11 |
MSNBC |
236,524 |
12 |
The Weather Channel |
220,752 |
13 |
The New York Times |
216,879 |
14 |
EarthLink |
206,138 |
15 |
NetZero |
199,050 |
16 |
Netscape |
197,736 |
17 |
AOL.com |
176,755 |
18 |
Monster.com |
156,398 |
19 |
Realtor.com |
152,553 |
20 |
FOXNEWS.COM |
148,822 |
21 |
The Weather
Underground |
138,532 |
22 |
About.com |
124,999 |
23 |
Pogo |
120,639 |
24 |
CBS MarketWatch |
113,681 |
25 |
eBaum's World |
100,475 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
Average use
Through August 8 |
|
|
Current Week |
Last Week |
% Change |
|
Sessions/Visits
per Person |
10 |
10 |
0.00 |
|
Domains
Visited per Person |
22 |
22 |
0.00 |
|
PC Time
per Person |
7:52:42 |
7:58:37 |
-1.24 |
|
Active
Digital Media Universe |
105,611,273 |
105,974,244 |
-0.34 |
|
Current
Digital Media Universe Estimate |
201,660,590 |
202,452,249 |
-0.39 |
| Source: Nielsen//Net Ratings AdRelevance |
|
