medialifemagazine.com
For women, it's a lot about community
By Heidi Dawley
Jul 17, 2007 - 1:05:11 AM
As with so much about the internet, the myth of youth prevails, such that any new web trend is assumed to be led by kids and teens, with adults slowly tagging after.
It's often not true, and that's certainly the case when it comes to social networking and user-generated content, which have driven such meteoric growth for sites YouTube and MySpace.
If there's one demographic that's embraced social networking and the larger idea of community, it's women, and women of all ages. Nothing quite captures that like the growth in traffic for sites like iVillage and Glam Media, which were quick to latch onto these trends.
Indeed, traffic to women's sites was up 39 percent in June 2007 compared to the same month the year before, according to comScore.
That's huge growth. Traffic to all sites grew just 3 percent from June to June.
“Overall the internet hasn’t had the high acceleration that we had five years ago," says Jack Flanagan, executive vice president, comScore Media Metrix. "But sites focused on social networking and community are the ones that within the last 18 to 24 months have really taken hold.”
The irony, of course, is that women's sites were early to the web, with iVillage among the oldest, founded 12 years ago, in 1995, and for much of that time it's been the category leader. IVillage saw its traffic grow 8 percent June to June.
The newer Glam Media, actually a network of women’s interest sites, grew 1,232 percent June to June, and by May had overtaken iVillage as the most visited women's property, according to comScore figures.
Driving the growth of so many women's sites has been the addition of social networking and blogs, where women can let off steam and exchange ideas. On iVillage’s iConnect, for instance, folks can share photos and videos, blog, create profile pages or participate in social groups.
“When the whole MySpace and Facebook thing erupted, there was the idea that it was for young teens. But the concept of social networking blurs into community,” says Flanagan. “They want to make their voice heard. It is that sort of cultural shift that is driving the growth that we are seeing in this category.”
And in the end that means more opportunities for advertisers, believes Doug Hopkins, principal in interactive at Brulant, an interactive marketing agency.
“These sites have very deep profiling information that they can share with advertisers, so that advertisers can target them in a much more sophisticated way,” he says.
“It gives advertisers opportunities in terms of being able to develop campaigns and sponsorships that go a lot deeper and are more interwoven with the experience than just display ads.”
Less clear is what effect this growth in women's sites will have on traditional media, especially print magazines, in terms of nabbing both readers and advertisers.
Some women's titles will certainly suffer, but not all, believes magazine consultant Martin S. Walker of Walker Communications. Titles that publish information that can just as easily be found on the web, such as news, have been the worst hit.
But a lot of women's titles are holding up quite well, he says. “Women’s fashion and beauty and service magazines have, up until now, been sheltered from competition from the web, because the nature of the editorial requires good graphics."
And certainly the ad dollars flowing to the women's sites are coming from all manner of media. Says Peter Naylor, senior vice president, digital media sales at NBC Universal:
“By and large digital dollars are coming not just from print, but below the line and every form of traditional media. Every form of media is losing share to digital. Digital is like the Swiss army knife of marketing. It can do all things."
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended July 8, the top five parent companies were Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online for the 23rd straight week. The top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, AOL Media Network and Microsoft for the 12th straight week.
NexTag Inc. was the top advertiser with 4.15 million impressions, followed by No. 2 Low Rate Source at 3.69 million. With 23.24 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, more than tripling No. 2 MySpace at 6.33 million.
Sessions per person per week were down one from last week to 15, with domains visited per person also down one to 38. Average PC time per person per week was off 5 percent to 15 hours and 37 minutes.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through July 8 |
|
# |
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Microsoft
|
83,431
|
62.5
|
0:38:12
|
|
2
|
Google
|
79,522
|
59.6
|
0:32:04
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
72,498
|
54.3
|
0:59:35
|
|
4
|
Time Warner
|
66,356
|
49.7
|
1:23:05
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
42,170
|
31.6
|
0:56:12
|
|
6
|
eBay
|
33,502
|
25.1
|
0:48:42
|
|
7
|
InterActiveCorp
|
27,880
|
20.9
|
0:13:53
|
|
8
|
Amazon
|
20,879
|
15.7
|
0:13:48
|
|
9
|
Landmark Communications
|
19,712
|
14.8
|
0:21:31
|
|
10
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
18,618
|
14.0
|
0:11:29
|
|
11
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
18,398
|
13.8
|
0:19:12
|
|
12
|
Apple Computer
|
18,232
|
13.7
|
0:27:06
|
|
13
|
New York Times Company
|
17,608
|
13.2
|
0:08:39
|
|
14
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
17,255
|
12.9
|
0:18:35
|
|
15
|
AT&T Inc.
|
15,932
|
11.9
|
0:23:25
|
|
16
|
Bank of America
|
13,349
|
10.0
|
0:21:41
|
|
17
|
Viacom Digital
|
12,771
|
9.6
|
0:30:29
|
|
18
|
United Online
|
12,278
|
9.2
|
0:25:42
|
|
19
|
CNET Networks
|
11,335
|
8.5
|
0:09:20
|
|
20
|
Comcast Corp.
|
11,067
|
8.3
|
0:26:15
|
|
21
|
Verizon Communications
|
10,732
|
8.0
|
0:16:32
|
|
22
|
E.W. Scripps Company
|
10,731
|
8.0
|
0:06:14
|
|
23
|
Gannett
|
9,361
|
7.0
|
0:10:30
|
|
24
|
Gorilla Nation Media
|
9,344
|
7.0
|
0:06:58
|
|
25
|
Expedia
|
8,521
|
6.4
|
0:11:00
|
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through July 8 |
|
|
Parent |
Unique Audience (000) |
Reach % |
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
|
1 |
Google
|
73,046
|
54.7
|
0:24:03
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
72,001
|
54.0
|
0:59:35
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
64,485
|
48.3
|
0:36:34
|
|
4 |
AOL Media Network
|
55,405
|
41.5
|
1:29:57
|
|
5 |
Microsoft
|
51,026
|
38.2
|
0:16:14
|
|
6 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
36,712
|
27.5
|
1:01:25
|
|
7 |
eBay
|
28,685
|
21.5
|
0:50:59
|
|
8 |
YouTube
|
24,338
|
18.2
|
0:27:48
|
|
9 |
Wikipedia
|
18,570
|
13.9
|
0:11:17
|
|
10 |
Real Network
|
18,398
|
13.8
|
0:19:12
|
|
11 |
Apple
|
18,232
|
13.7
|
0:27:06
|
|
12 |
Weather Channel
|
17,469
|
13.1
|
0:23:03
|
|
13 |
Amazon
|
16,538
|
12.4
|
0:12:31
|
|
14 |
Ask Search Network
|
15,963
|
12.0
|
0:16:34
|
|
15 |
Bank of America
|
13,047
|
9.8
|
0:21:26
|
|
16 |
CNN Digital Network
|
12,219
|
9.2
|
0:15:29
|
|
17 |
Blogger
|
12,132
|
9.1
|
0:08:52
|
|
18 |
About.com
|
11,626
|
8.7
|
0:03:52
|
|
19 |
Comcast
|
9,887
|
7.4
|
0:28:24
|
|
20 |
AT&T
|
9,389
|
7.0
|
0:14:27
|
|
21 |
Gorilla Nation Media
|
9,344
|
7.0
|
0:06:58
|
|
22 |
Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network
|
8,724
|
6.5
|
0:41:41
|
|
23 |
Craigslist
|
8,114
|
6.1
|
0:33:16
|
|
24 |
Target
|
8,104
|
6.1
|
0:05:38
|
|
25 |
Adobe
|
8,056
|
6.0
|
0:02:47
|
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through July 8 |
|
# |
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
NexTag, Inc.
|
4,146,465
|
|
2 |
Low Rate Source
|
3,693,551
|
|
3 |
Experian Group Limited
|
2,202,110
|
|
4 |
Countrywide Financial Corporation
|
1,964,044
|
|
5 |
Reunion.com L.L.C.
|
1,951,861
|
|
6 |
HSBC Holdings plc
|
1,534,557
|
|
7 |
Privacy Matters
|
1,464,067
|
|
8 |
Creditcards.com, LLC
|
1,257,858
|
|
9 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
1,084,782
|
|
10 |
InterActiveCorp
|
1,068,691
|
|
11 |
Low.com
|
988,047
|
|
12 |
AT&T Corp.
|
975,615
|
|
13 |
Deutsche Telekom AG
|
913,737
|
|
14 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
846,874
|
|
15 |
Hollywood Media Corp.
|
750,329
|
|
16 |
Monster Worldwide, Inc.
|
663,902
|
|
17 |
General Motors Corporation
|
605,922
|
|
18 |
Apollo Group, Inc.
|
569,486
|
|
19 |
United Online, Inc.
|
562,526
|
|
20 |
National Telephone Advisory
|
519,544
|
|
21 |
Blockbuster Inc.
|
504,731
|
|
22 |
Vonage Holdings Corp
|
491,926
|
|
23 |
Echostar Communications Corporation
|
406,030
|
|
24 |
AmeriValue
|
362,831
|
|
25 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
352,390
|
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through July 8 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
23,237,372
|
|
2 |
MySpace
|
6,331,301
|
|
3 |
MSN
|
3,247,755
|
|
4 |
AOL.com
|
981,609
|
|
5 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
594,318
|
|
6 |
Comcast.net
|
564,781
|
|
7 |
eBay
|
488,390
|
|
8 |
The Weather Channel
|
478,285
|
|
9 |
MSNBC
|
457,969
|
|
10 |
IMDb
|
430,143
|
|
11 |
NetZero
|
419,953
|
|
12 |
Juno
|
372,245
|
|
13 |
Photobucket
|
310,437
|
|
14 |
ESPN.com
|
258,050
|
|
15 |
Classmates
|
249,121
|
|
16 |
New York Times
|
224,661
|
|
17 |
YouTube
|
223,985
|
|
18 |
CBS SportsLine
|
221,381
|
|
19 |
CNN
|
215,407
|
|
20 |
The Weather Underground
|
214,183
|
|
21 |
iWon
|
206,613
|
|
22 |
Realtor.com
|
203,566
|
|
23 |
Excite
|
175,912
|
|
24 |
EarthLink
|
174,047
|
|
25 |
Drudge Report
|
156,695
|
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through July 8 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
15
|
16
|
-6.25
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
38
|
39
|
-2.56
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
15:37:58
|
16:30:57
|
-5.35
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
133,441,525
|
135,748,426
|
-1.7
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
214,551,890
|
213,954,534
|
0.28
|
|
Source: Nielsen//Net Ratings AdRelevance |