|
|
to visit your astrologer
Astrocenter floods web in banner ad splurge
By Jeremy Schlosberg
Out of nowhere an ad for an astrology
web site became the web’s most-viewed ad last week.
Offering a free astrological forecast for 2001, a banner for
a site called Astrocenter.com delivered an astronomical 84.9 million
impressions before an audience of 11.2 million unique visitors for the
week ending Jan. 14, according to new data from Nielsen//NetRatings.
Typically the web’s most-viewed banner of the week may
deliver 20 to 30 million impressions.
The Astrocenter ad ran on Yahoo and reached approximately 17
percent of the entire active internet population for the week.
The ad was very consciously placed in early January,
according to Jeremiah Rosen, the company’s U.S. head of business
development.
"New Year’s is a big time of year for astrology
because people want their forecasts for the year," he says.
The site claims some 2.5 million unique visitors in the past
month. Astrocenter.com has been running ads on Yahoo just about since the
site’s debut in October 1999.
The Astrocenter audience is 75 percent female; the average
visitor to the site is 34 years old and earns $35,000 a year.
Astrocenter.com employs a dozen professional astrologers who
each day assemble about 140 different readings based on zodiac signs and
sun and moon positions.
Some 5 million people have passed through the site for their
horoscopes, according to company data. And 1.2 million receive daily email
horoscopes that can be sponsored by advertisers to reach specifically
targeted groups of users. The company claims email advertisers can achieve
response rates in the 10 to 15 percent range.
The site earns 80 percent of its revenue from
advertising, the rest from content licensing and unbranded astrology
content. Astrocenter provides horoscopes for Yahoo and has its own branded astrology
channel on Juno.
Astrocenter.com is a small but international company with eight
employees in the U.S. and 12 in Paris.
The company targets some of its banner placements
within Yahoo, focusing on Yahoo’s games and chat areas as well as its
instant messenger function, all three of which appear to get a high
response, says Rose. This is because users have learned that they can
click on a banner while gaming or chatting and not lose their place, he
adds.
Astrocenter was founded by a French engineer named Eric
Bonjour, who noticed that two of the top 20 search terms on French search
engines were related to astrology.
Astrocenter will soon be
rolling out astrology sites in the U.K. and Germany and also has plans for
a new American site that will launch this spring. The new site will branch out from
astrology, the details of which remain under wraps.
|
Top 25 Properties |
|||
|
Property |
Unique_Audience |
Reach_% |
Time |
|
1. AOL Websites |
28,222,747 |
42.9 |
0:13:59 |
|
2. Yahoo! |
23,254,697 |
35.35 |
0:28:28 |
|
3. MSN |
21,655,694 |
32.92 |
0:21:13 |
|
4. Lycos Network |
7,415,379 |
11.27 |
0:06:00 |
|
5. Excite@Home |
7,214,221 |
10.97 |
0:08:29 |
|
6. Microsoft |
7,065,504 |
10.74 |
0:15:48 |
|
7. Walt Disney Internet Group |
5,799,690 |
8.82 |
0:13:38 |
|
8. eBay |
5,093,562 |
7.74 |
0:11:19 |
|
9. Time Warner |
4,414,536 |
6.71 |
0:55:20 |
|
10. eUniverse Network |
4,278,684 |
6.5 |
0:06:57 |
|
11. NBC Internet |
4,116,717 |
6.26 |
0:09:12 |
|
12. Amazon |
3,996,323 |
6.07 |
0:07:18 |
|
13. About |
3,784,348 |
5.75 |
0:09:03 |
|
14. CNET Networks |
3,693,157 |
5.61 |
0:08:21 |
|
15. LookSmart |
3,596,442 |
5.47 |
0:04:49 |
|
16. AltaVista |
2,856,593 |
4.34 |
0:06:18 |
|
17. Ask Jeeves |
2,790,843 |
4.24 |
0:26:41 |
|
18. Napster Inc. |
2,684,720 |
4.08 |
0:08:56 |
|
19. iWon.com Inc. |
2,481,288 |
3.77 |
0:06:33 |
|
20. Google |
2,386,265 |
3.63 |
0:06:21 |
|
21. The Go2Net Network |
2,369,359 |
3.6 |
0:06:42 |
|
22. EarthLink |
2,347,592 |
3.57 |
0:04:31 |
|
23. iVillage |
2,058,320 |
3.13 |
0:07:01 |
|
24. Bonzi Software |
2,037,150 |
3.1 |
0:05:43 |
|
25. Viacom International |
2,016,727 |
3.07 |
0:07:49 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Top Ten Advertisers |
||
|
Advertiser |
Impressions |
Reach_% |
|
1. Microsoft |
459,801,715 |
32.27 |
|
2. Amazon |
119,232,420 |
28.2 |
|
3. Yahoo! |
112,555,918 |
21.36 |
|
4. eBay |
106,778,868 |
15.31 |
|
5. Astrocenter |
90,963,388 |
17.78 |
|
6. Barnes and Noble |
87,727,872 |
20.08 |
|
7. America Online |
83,010,038 |
18.06 |
|
8. Lycos |
66,963,551 |
4.84 |
|
9. GetSmart |
51,009,164 |
14.25 |
|
10. Next Card |
49,161,335 |
13.28 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
||
|
Top 25 Domains |
|||
|
Domain |
Unique_Audience |
Reach_% |
Time |
|
1. yahoo.com |
21,030,143 |
31.97 |
0:29:47 |
|
2. aol.com |
20,946,111 |
31.84 |
0:11:58 |
|
3. msn.com |
17,967,925 |
27.31 |
0:19:43 |
|
4. passport.com |
11,640,745 |
17.69 |
0:04:06 |
|
5. microsoft.com |
5,841,536 |
8.88 |
0:06:24 |
|
6. geocities.com |
5,412,290 |
8.23 |
0:13:41 |
|
7. go.com |
5,384,248 |
8.18 |
0:05:22 |
|
8. netscape.com |
5,238,990 |
7.96 |
0:12:01 |
|
9. ebay.com |
4,601,082 |
6.99 |
0:54:51 |
|
10. excite.com |
4,069,356 |
6.19 |
0:20:46 |
|
11. lycos.com |
3,891,268 |
5.91 |
0:05:48 |
|
12. amazon.com |
3,656,044 |
5.56 |
0:09:35 |
|
13. nbci.com |
3,487,103 |
5.3 |
0:07:47 |
|
14. looksmart.com |
3,091,530 |
4.7 |
0:05:59 |
|
15. napster.com |
2,684,720 |
4.08 |
0:26:41 |
|
16. iwon.com |
2,481,288 |
3.77 |
0:03:28 |
|
17. altavista.com |
2,472,875 |
3.76 |
0:04:12 |
|
18. google.com |
2,386,265 |
3.63 |
0:04:57 |
|
19. tripod.com |
2,331,253 |
3.54 |
0:08:28 |
|
20. bluemountain.com |
2,210,937 |
3.36 |
0:03:59 |
|
21. angelfire.com |
2,162,153 |
3.29 |
0:16:00 |
|
22. bonzi.com |
2,037,150 |
3.1 |
0:08:17 |
|
23. compuserve.com |
1,974,955 |
3 |
0:09:27 |
|
24. msnbc.com |
1,965,729 |
2.99 |
0:07:01 |
|
25. weather.com |
1,934,724 |
2.94 |
0:05:45 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Top 25 Advertising Domains |
||
|
Domain |
Impressions |
Reach_% |
|
1. yahoo.com |
516,902,807 |
28.44 |
|
2. msn.com |
478,428,976 |
24.66 |
|
3. ebay.com |
384,884,980 |
7.09 |
|
4. aol.com |
260,854,926 |
20.6 |
|
5. lycos.com |
118,761,410 |
4.35 |
|
6. netscape.com |
88,079,568 |
6.4 |
|
7. go.com |
66,108,925 |
6 |
|
8. excite.com |
51,200,187 |
4.91 |
|
9. altavista.com |
49,226,551 |
3.12 |
|
10. ezboard.com |
46,730,998 |
0.67 |
|
11. monster.com |
44,001,797 |
1.85 |
|
12. passport.com |
37,290,789 |
8.41 |
|
13. looksmart.com |
34,633,187 |
3.07 |
|
14. freerealtime.com |
28,731,650 |
0.11 |
|
15. classmates.com |
25,874,439 |
1.38 |
|
16. blackplanet.com |
24,771,554 |
0.54 |
|
17. nbci.com |
22,972,541 |
3.22 |
|
18. cnet.com |
21,247,989 |
1.91 |
|
19. pogo.com |
20,722,853 |
0.91 |
|
20. msnbc.com |
20,544,294 |
2.71 |
|
21. att.net |
20,350,712 |
1.23 |
|
22. infospace.com |
19,951,879 |
1.84 |
|
23. earthlink.net |
18,777,201 |
1.53 |
|
24. treeloot.com |
18,383,294 |
0.27 |
|
25. iwin.com |
18,372,397 |
0.91 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
||
|
Top Ten Banners |
|||
|
Advertiser |
Impressions |
Unique_Audience |
Reach_% |
|
1. Astrocenter |
84,897,931 |
11,170,677 |
16.98 |
|
2. Bonzi Software |
35,880,097 |
7,824,735 |
11.89 |
|
3. ClassMates |
13,486,378 |
4,293,851 |
6.53 |
|
4. Amazon |
11,118,669 |
3,725,898 |
5.66 |
|
5. Colonize |
12,277,635 |
3,708,617 |
5.64 |
|
6. GetSmart |
9,349,237 |
3,190,855 |
4.85 |
|
7. GetSmart |
12,027,092 |
2,985,275 |
4.54 |
|
8. Neway |
6,534,981 |
2,899,037 |
4.41 |
|
9. Neway |
6,773,169 |
2,893,891 |
4.4 |
|
10. Consumer Counseling |
5,745,928 |
2,754,819 |
4.19 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Average Usage |
|||
|
|
Current Week |
Last Week |
%Change |
|
Number of Sessions per Week |
5 |
5 |
0 |
|
Number of Unique Sites Visited |
5 |
5 |
0 |
|
Page Views per Week |
179 |
184 |
-2.72 |
|
Page Views per Surfing Session |
33 |
34 |
-2.94 |
|
Time Spent per Site |
2:45:35 |
2:52:41 |
-4.1 |
|
Time Spent per Site |
0:30:49 |
0:31:30 |
-2.17 |
|
Duration of a Page viewed |
0:00:56 |
0:00:56 |
0.79 |
|
Average Click Rate for Top Banners |
0.21 |
0.27 |
-22.22 |
|
Total Internet Audience Sample |
59,162 |
59,490 |
-0.55 |
|
Active Internet Universe |
65,790,634 |
67,361,982 |
-2.33 |
|
Current Internet Universe Estimate |
162,796,667 |
163,033,535 |
-0.15 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
-Jeremy Schlosberg is the senior editor for new media.
Printer-Friendly
Version | Send
to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact
Us
© 2001 Media Life
