Online Vacation Planning Jumps in June
June heated up the Travel category as Americans sought seasonal getaways. The Airlines category ranked as the top gaining category for June, growing 22 percent to 33.2 million visitors. Also among the top gaining categories were Travel Transactions, Online Travel Agents, and Travel Information. Southwest Airlines, the top ranked site in the Airlines category, achieved particularly strong gains growing 64 percent to 16.4 million visitors and grabbing the #2 position among the top gaining properties.
Online travel agent sites also experienced growth in June, increasing 9 percent to 42.8 million visitors. Expedia led the category with 27 million visitors (up 12 percent), followed by Orbitz with 12.5 million visitors (up 10 percent), Priceline with 11.3 million (up 7 percent), and Travelocity with nearly 9.8 million visitors (up 8 percent).
Americans Say "Game On" in June
Online gaming sites saw a surge in activity in June, as the beginning of summer vacation provided students with more leisure time for such pursuits. The Gaming Information category attracted 50 million Americans in June, up 6 percent vs. the previous month. With school out for the summer, students found ways to spend their free time on sites such as GiantRealm and GameStop, with both sites ranking among the top 10 gaining properties in June. GiantRealm jumped 25 percent to more than 7 million visitors while GameStop grew 19 percent to nearly 5.8 million visitors.
Job-Seekers Make an Effort Online
Rising unemployment during the past year has led to an increasing number of Americans seeking jobs and career opportunities online. Both the Career Resources and Career Training & Education categories ranked among the top ten gaining categories for June as the unemployed, underemployed and recent grads scoured the Web for opportunities. The Career Resources category grew 6 percent to 46.8 million visitors, while Career Training & Education grew 13 percent to 6.7 million visitors.
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites continued to lead as the most visited property in June with nearly 157 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 154 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 127.4 million visitors. Facebook.com moved up two positions to #6 marking its highest-ever ranking. Career Builder ascended 6 spots to #39 with 21.7 million visitors, a reflection of the Career Services & Development category gain. The Mozilla Organization jumped 13 spots to #28 with nearly 27 million visitors, due to the release of Firefox 3.5 which includes numerous new and improved features. June also represented Twitter.com’s debut in the ranking of the top 50 properties, coming in at #46 with 20.1 million visitors.
“It’s hard to believe that Twitter.com had fewer than a million visitors in June 2008, and now attracts more than 20 million visitors a month and ranks among the top 50 U.S. properties,” Flanagan commented. “Twitter has clearly been able to generate wide interest and cultivate a substantial following in a very short period of time. If this momentum persists, then we will continue to see Twitter climb higher and higher in this ranking in the coming months.”
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Platform-A led the June Ad Focus ranking, reaching 91 percent of all Americans online. Yahoo! Network ranked second, reaching 88 percent of the population, while ValueClick Networks ranked third with an 84-percent reach. Fox Audience Network and 24/7 Real Media each climbed one spot grabbing the #7 and #8 positions, respectively.
