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Long slow win
over illegal downloads
Visits climb to legal sites while slumping to P2Ps
By Diego Vasquez
People scoffed when the Recording
Industry Association of America began suing music file sharers two
years ago, skeptical that the scare tactic would have any real
effect on illegal downloading. Suits like the one that's being heard
by the Supreme Court today, which go after the actual peer-to-peer
networks, seemed more practical and less of a public relations
nightmare.
No one is scoffing anymore. There’s growing evidence that
the slow battle over illegal music downloads is finally being won by
the recording industry.
Visits to peer-to-peer networks where people share songs
for free are down while more people are checking out retail music
sites such as iTunes.
ComScore Networks numbers from February show visits to
five P2P sites such as Kazaa, LimeWire and WinMX slipped by a 36.8
percent versus February 2004, from 30.86 million to just under 19.50
million.
For the same period, comScore numbers show visits to
the top 10 retail music sites were up 8 percent, from 24.42 million
to 26.44 million. ComScore numbers include people using the internet
at home, at work and at college and university locations.
Leading the way among paid music sites during February
was Barnes & Noble with 6.08 million visitors in February,
though that was actually down 3 percent versus a year earlier.
AOLShop.com (up 92 percent to 654,000 visitors), BMG (up 34 percent
to 5.43 million visitors) and TowerRecords.com (up 28 percent to
733,000 visitors) were the fastest-growing sites among the top 10.
Apple’s iTunes ranked as February’s No. 4 retail
music site, according to comScore, with 4.16 million visitors, up 2
percent versus February 2004.
There's offline evidence that people are paying for
music again, too. Last week the RIAA said CD unit sales in the
United States were up 5.3 percent versus 2003, while revenue was up
2.7 percent to $10.7 billion. That's the first time in several years
that sales did not decline.
The trends are supported by the latest research from
the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
In a phone survey of 1,421 internet users between Jan.
13 and Feb. 9 of this year, the group found the percentage of music
downloaders who have tried paid music services was at 43 percent, up
from just 24 percent in 2004 . The group notes respondents may now
be less likely to report peer-to-peer usage because of the recent
stigma associated with such applications, but the comScore data
shows otherwise.
The Pew study found that 27 percent of internet users
currently download music from service sites like iTunes or
BuyMusic.com while 16 percent currently use P2P networks.
Elsewhere online, the Terri Schiavo saga has made its
way to the web. According to web tracking company Hitwise, the term
“terri schiavo” was the 35th most-popular search term driving
traffic to news and media sites during the four weeks ending March
19. During that period the term was more popular than “scott
peterson” and “michael jackson.”
On the charts, Microsoft, Time Warner, Yahoo, Google and eBay
remained the top five parent companies during the week ending March
20, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
Average usage stayed even at 16 visits per person and
34 domains visited per person, but PC time per person fell 2.01
percent to just over 15 hours and 20 minutes.
|
Top 10
retail music sites
February 2004 versus 2005 |
|
# |
Site |
Visitors
Feb. ‘04 |
Visitors
Feb. ‘05 |
Percent
change |
|
1 |
Barnes & Noble |
6,295 |
6,080 |
-3% |
|
2 |
BMG Direct Sites |
4,057 |
5,432 |
34% |
|
3 |
Columbia House Sites |
6,790 |
5,408 |
-20% |
|
4 |
iTunes |
4,094 |
4,160 |
2% |
|
5 |
RealPlayer Music Store |
N/A |
1,489 |
N/A |
|
6 |
MUSICIANSFRIEND.COM |
1,104 |
1,176 |
7% |
|
7 |
SHEETMUSICPLUS.COM |
908 |
919 |
1% |
|
8 |
CDUNIVERSE.COM |
982 |
887 |
-10% |
|
9 |
Towerrecords Sites (MTS
Inc.) |
573 |
733 |
28% |
|
10 |
AOLSHOP.COM |
340 |
654 |
92% |
|
Source: comScore Media
Metrix |
|
P2P
Sites
February 2004 versus 2005 |
|
# |
Site |
Visitors
Feb. ‘04 |
Visitors
Feb. ‘05 |
Percent
change |
|
1 |
KaZaa Media Desktop
(App) |
20,111 |
5,825 |
-71% |
|
2 |
WinMX (App) |
5,808 |
5,606 |
-3% |
|
3 |
LimeWire (App) |
221 |
4,368 |
1876% |
|
4 |
Kazaa Lite (App) |
3,438 |
2,055 |
-40% |
|
5 |
BearShare (App) |
1,277 |
1,643 |
29% |
|
Source: comScore Media
Metrix |
|
Top 25
parent companies
Week Ended March 20 |
|
# |
Parent |
Unique
Audience (000) |
Reach % |
Time
spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
|
1 |
Microsoft |
75,401 |
59.9 |
0:40:18 |
|
2 |
TimeWarner |
66,823 |
53.1 |
1:47:08 |
|
3 |
Yahoo! |
63,973 |
50.8 |
1:04:21 |
|
4 |
Google |
45,677 |
36.3 |
0:15:17 |
|
5 |
eBay |
26,324 |
20.9 |
1:01:34 |
|
6 |
UnitedStatesGovernment |
24,175 |
19.2 |
0:16:01 |
|
7 |
WaltDisneyInternetGroup |
16,633 |
13.2 |
0:23:43 |
|
8 |
RealNetworks |
16,100 |
12.8 |
0:20:13 |
|
9 |
InterActiveCorp |
15,745 |
12.5 |
0:13:31 |
|
10 |
Amazon |
14,957 |
11.9 |
0:12:32 |
|
11 |
AskJeeves |
13,821 |
11.0 |
0:13:42 |
|
12 |
LandmarkCommunications |
13,818 |
11.0 |
0:07:47 |
|
13 |
UnitedOnline |
13,512 |
10.7 |
0:32:46 |
|
14 |
ViacomInternational |
12,550 |
10.0 |
0:18:28 |
|
15 |
AppleComputer |
9,984 |
7.9 |
0:20:44 |
|
16 |
VerizonCommunications |
9,749 |
7.7 |
0:13:05 |
|
17 |
CNETNetworks |
9,468 |
7.5 |
0:09:48 |
|
18 |
DaumCommunications |
8,887 |
7.1 |
0:05:33 |
|
19 |
Gannett |
8,529 |
6.8 |
0:10:57 |
|
20 |
About-Primedia |
8,324 |
6.6 |
0:03:46 |
|
21 |
NetworkAssociates |
8,129 |
6.5 |
0:15:12 |
|
22 |
ComcastCorp. |
7,897 |
6.3 |
0:21:42 |
|
23 |
AWSConvergenceTechnologies |
7,562 |
6.0 |
0:10:09 |
|
24 |
SBCCommunications |
7,518 |
6.0 |
0:12:06 |
|
25 |
EarthLink |
7,317 |
5.8 |
0:38:17 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
|
Top 25
brands
Week Ended March 20 |
|
|
Parent |
Unique
Audience (000) |
Reach % |
Time
spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
|
1 |
Yahoo! |
63,542 |
50.5 |
1:04:32 |
|
2 |
MSN |
58,324 |
46.3 |
0:36:47 |
|
3 |
Microsoft |
55,675 |
44.2 |
0:16:01 |
|
4 |
AOL |
48,966 |
38.9 |
2:12:44 |
|
5 |
Google |
44,863 |
35.6 |
0:14:52 |
|
6 |
eBay |
25,198 |
20.0 |
1:00:52 |
|
7 |
Real |
15,638 |
12.4 |
0:19:57 |
|
8 |
Weather Channel |
13,539 |
10.8 |
0:07:43 |
|
9 |
Amazon |
12,974 |
10.3 |
0:11:22 |
|
10 |
MapQuest |
12,672 |
10.1 |
0:08:08 |
|
11 |
CNN |
10,241 |
8.1 |
0:21:27 |
|
12 |
Apple |
9,984 |
7.9 |
0:20:44 |
|
13 |
Lycos Network |
8,887 |
7.1 |
0:05:33 |
|
14 |
Netscape |
8,489 |
6.7 |
0:17:46 |
|
15 |
McAfee |
7,939 |
6.3 |
0:15:25 |
|
16 |
ESPN |
7,881 |
6.3 |
0:27:21 |
|
17 |
WeatherBug |
7,531 |
6.0 |
0:10:10 |
|
18 |
About.com |
7,481 |
5.9 |
0:03:29 |
|
19 |
Comcast |
6,824 |
5.4 |
0:24:00 |
|
20 |
Paypal |
6,222 |
4.9 |
0:13:43 |
|
21 |
Bank of America |
5,914 |
4.7 |
0:32:16 |
|
22 |
Gorilla Nation Media |
5,805 |
4.6 |
0:07:29 |
|
23 |
Dell |
5,772 |
4.6 |
0:13:29 |
|
24 |
Disney Online |
5,440 |
4.3 |
0:24:24 |
|
25 |
EarthLink |
5,300 |
4.2 |
0:38:12 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
|
Top 25
advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Week Ended March 20 |
|
# |
Company |
Impressions
(000) |
|
1 |
Netflix, Inc. |
730,899 |
|
2 |
Vonage Holdings Corp |
588,030 |
|
3 |
LowerMyBills.com, Inc. |
562,388 |
|
4 |
Dell Computer
Corporation |
526,119 |
|
5 |
Viacom Inc |
454,236 |
|
6 |
Ameritrade Holding
Corporation |
412,684 |
|
7 |
Monster Worldwide, Inc. |
392,171 |
|
8 |
United Online, Inc. |
349,002 |
|
9 |
InterActiveCorp |
328,487 |
|
10 |
Apollo Group, Inc. |
316,632 |
|
11 |
Scottrade, Inc. |
307,235 |
|
12 |
NexTag.com |
306,811 |
|
13 |
Orbitz |
298,839 |
|
14 |
SBC Communications, Inc. |
298,428 |
|
15 |
Jamster.com |
247,883 |
|
16 |
BellSouth Corporation |
224,430 |
|
17 |
GUS Plc |
221,369 |
|
18 |
TD Bank Financial Group |
212,441 |
|
19 |
General Motors
Corporation |
204,689 |
|
20 |
Fidelity Investments |
193,975 |
|
21 |
Lavalife Inc. |
191,612 |
|
22 |
MatchNet plc |
189,571 |
|
23 |
Verizon Communications,
Inc. |
180,795 |
|
24 |
Samsung Electronics Co.,
Ltd. |
176,932 |
|
25 |
DaimlerChrysler
Corporation |
167,166 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
AdRelevance |
|
Top 25
advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Week Ended March 20 |
|
|
Company |
Impressions
(000) |
|
1 |
Yahoo! |
4,949,532 |
|
2 |
MSN |
2,503,540 |
|
3 |
eBay |
752,943 |
|
4 |
myspace |
654,486 |
|
5 |
FOXNEWS.COM |
569,996 |
|
6 |
CNN |
559,408 |
|
7 |
ESPN.com |
519,470 |
|
8 |
AOL.com |
510,901 |
|
9 |
Juno |
493,544 |
|
10 |
NetZero |
361,714 |
|
11 |
iWon |
333,343 |
|
12 |
New York Times |
326,327 |
|
13 |
The Weather Channel |
317,053 |
|
14 |
CBS SportsLine |
293,325 |
|
15 |
Excite |
264,669 |
|
16 |
Realtor.com |
230,023 |
|
17 |
Netscape |
225,669 |
|
18 |
MSNBC |
221,036 |
|
19 |
Classmates |
205,363 |
|
20 |
About.com |
204,741 |
|
21 |
Pogo |
195,579 |
|
22 |
Webshots |
176,096 |
|
23 |
EarthLink |
156,462 |
|
24 |
Drudge Report |
152,341 |
|
25 |
The Weather Underground |
145,648 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
AdRelevance |
|
Average
use
Week Ended March 20 |
|
|
|
Current
Week |
Last Week |
% Change |
|
|
Sessions/Visits per
Person |
16 |
16 |
0 |
|
|
Domains Visited per
Person |
34 |
34 |
0 |
|
|
PC Time per Person |
15:20:23 |
15:39:16 |
-2.01 |
|
|
Active Digital Media
Universe |
125,948,104 |
125,910,177 |
0.03 |
|
|
Current Digital Media
Universe Estimate |
204,965,260 |
204,915,040 |
0.02 |
|
Source: Nielsen//Net
Ratings AdRelevance |
|
March 29, 2005
©
2005
Media Life
- Diego Vasquez is a staff writer for
Media Life.
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