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of the giant portals
JMM compares with stand-alone sites for traffic
By Marty Beard
Internet portals absorb such a large share of all internet activity that they seem monolithic.
But they’re not monolithic, and they are becoming less and less so as their businesses diversify.
Measured on the whole, Yahoo, MSN and AOL just about always occupy the top three spots among the most-visited web properties.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings data for the week ending Jan. 27, AOL was the No. 1 property online, with 39 million unique visitors. Yahoo was No. 2, with 33 million visitors, and MSN was No. 3, with 30 million.
The situation has changed little over the past several years.
But things are a bit more nuanced when you look at the parts of these portals apart from their wholes.
All three are made up of many different channels, and while some of those channels may compete with comparable channels of the other Big Three, they are also competing with individual or stand-alone sites that may be particularly strong in that one area.
Yahoo Finance, for instance, is up against sites such as MarketWatch.com.
"These big portals have become such conglomerate umbrellas, with many, many different sites commonly branded as part of their overall networks," says Jupiter Media Metrix spokesman Max Kalehoff.
"The industry wants to know who’s playing in their space, and how they compare to others."
So Jupiter Media Metrix has started analyzing traffic to different channels within the big portals on a week-by-week basis.
The thinking is that this presents a more nuanced picture of what’s happening online.
"It’s all about adapting to how the internet is evolving and being able to show what’s really going on," Kalehoff says.
When Jupiter Media Metrix factors in visits to channels within major portals, AOL still dominates.
In measuring traffic to business and finance sites, Jupiter Media Metrix found that about 45 million unique visitors logged onto them during the week.
AOL Personal Finance came out on top, with six million unique visitors. Yahoo Finance was No. 2, with five million, and No. 3 was online payment facilitator PayPal, with 4.3 million unique visitors.
In terms of health sites, AOL Health was No. 1, with 2.2 million unique visitors. WebMD was No. 2, with 1.4 million, and MSN Health was close behind at No. 3, with 1.3 million.
In sports, ESPN.com holds on to the No. 1 spot, with five million unique visitors, followed by AOL Sports with 4.1 million and the NFL Internet Group with three million.
Among community sites, AOL rules, with 7.7 million unique visitors for the week.
Tripod.com was No. 2, with 7.1 million unique visitors, and Angelfire.com was No. 3 with 5.3 million.
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Top 25 Properties |
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| Property |
Unique |
Reach % |
Time Spent |
| 1. AOL Time Warner |
39,748 |
50.8 |
0:15:40 |
| 2. Yahoo |
33,495 |
42.8 |
0:32:16 |
| 3. MSN |
30,052 |
38.4 |
0:27:40 |
| 4. Microsoft |
12,983 |
16.6 |
0:07:24 |
| 5. Google |
8,769 |
11.2 |
0:07:30 |
| 6. eBay |
8,481 |
10.8 |
0:55:26 |
| 7. About-Primedia |
8,432 |
10.8 |
0:08:42 |
| 8. Lycos Network |
8,314 |
10.6 |
0:07:40 |
| 9. Amazon |
8,054 |
10.3 |
0:08:23 |
| 10. Walt Disney Internet Group |
6,622 |
8.5 |
0:14:26 |
| 11. Excite Network |
5,715 |
7.3 |
0:26:12 |
| 12. eUniverse Network |
5,451 |
7.0 |
0:07:17 |
| 13. InfoSpace |
4,719 |
6.0 |
0:05:35 |
| 14. AT&T |
4,333 |
5.5 |
0:12:10 |
| 15. CNET Networks |
4,021 |
5.1 |
0:06:45 |
| 16. Ask Jeeves |
3,981 |
5.1 |
0:06:10 |
| 17. Classmates |
3,799 |
4.9 |
0:06:26 |
| 18. American Greetings |
3,420 |
4.4 |
0:06:40 |
| 19. Electronic Arts |
3,404 |
4.4 |
1:17:05 |
| 20. EarthLink |
3,320 |
4.2 |
0:10:19 |
| 21. Symantec |
3,222 |
4.1 |
0:05:12 |
| 22. Gator.com |
2,960 |
3.8 |
0:11:26 |
| 23. WhenU.com |
2,960 |
3.8 |
0:01:47 |
| 24. United Online |
2,898 |
3.7 |
0:08:11 |
| 25. iVillage |
2,876 |
3.7 |
0:11:12 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Top 25 Domains |
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| Domain |
Unique |
Reach % |
Time Spent |
| 1. yahoo.com |
31,893 |
40.7 |
0:32:46 |
| 2. aol.com |
28,946 |
37.0 |
0:12:23 |
| 3. msn.com |
27,295 |
34.9 |
0:23:39 |
| 4. passport.com |
14,500 |
18.5 |
0:03:46 |
| 5. microsoft.com |
12,272 |
15.7 |
0:07:12 |
| 6. google.com |
8,758 |
11.2 |
0:07:30 |
| 7. ebay.com |
8,167 |
10.4 |
0:55:02 |
| 8. amazon.com |
7,659 |
9.8 |
0:07:44 |
| 9. netscape.com |
6,632 |
8.5 |
0:11:26 |
| 10. geocities.com |
6,587 |
8.4 |
0:04:33 |
| 11. go.com |
6,379 |
8.2 |
0:14:30 |
| 12. lycos.com |
4,188 |
5.4 |
0:09:07 |
| 13. classmates.com |
3,794 |
4.9 |
0:06:26 |
| 14. msnbc.com |
3,144 |
4.0 |
0:07:49 |
| 15. iwon.com |
3,120 |
4.0 |
0:35:20 |
| 16. about.com |
3,104 |
4.0 |
0:04:34 |
| 17. tripod.com |
3,080 |
3.9 |
0:03:16 |
| 18. earthlink.net |
3,032 |
3.9 |
0:10:34 |
| 19. whenu.com |
2,952 |
3.8 |
0:01:47 |
| 20. gator.com |
2,932 |
3.8 |
0:11:25 |
| 21. pogo.com |
2,885 |
3.7 |
1:28:02 |
| 22. cnn.com |
2,878 |
3.7 |
0:08:23 |
| 23. hotmail.com |
2,841 |
3.6 |
0:25:03 |
| 24. compuserve.com |
2,728 |
3.5 |
0:18:47 |
| 25. excite.com |
2,717 |
3.5 |
0:14:30 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Average Usage |
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Current Week |
Last Week |
% Chg |
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| Number of Sessions per Week |
7 |
6 |
16.67 |
| Page Views per Week |
235 |
233 |
0.86 |
| Page Views per Surfing Session |
36 |
36 |
0.00 |
| Time Spent per Week |
3:38:05 |
3:33:18 |
2.24 |
| Time Spent during Surfing Session |
0:33:04 |
0:33:03 |
0.05 |
| Duration a Page Viewed |
0:00:55 |
0:00:55 |
0.05 |
| Active Internet Universe |
78,287,692 |
77,655,419 |
0.81 |
| Current Internet Universe Estimate |
164,286,047 |
164,292,204 |
0.00 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Top 10 Categories |
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| Property |
Avg. Daily |
| 1. Corporate presence |
49,520 |
| 2. Services |
44,123 |
| 3. Portals |
38,994 |
| 4. ISP |
24,132 |
| 5. Retail |
19,881 |
| 6. Search/navigation |
19,143 |
| 7. Entertainment |
18,505 |
| 8. Directories/Resources |
16,062 |
| 9. News/information |
14,064 |
| 10. Business/finance |
13,325 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Top Business/Finance Sites |
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| Site |
Total Unique |
| 1. AOL Personal Finance |
6 |
| 2. Yahoo Finance |
5 |
| 3. PayPal.com |
4.3 |
| 4. AmericanExpress.com |
3.8 |
| 5. MSN Money |
3.7 |
| 6. MoneyCentral.com |
3.6 |
| 7. iPlace Sites |
3.2 |
| 8. ConsumerInfo.com |
3.1 |
| 9. Citigroup |
3.1 |
| 10. Sharebuilder.com |
2.8 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Top Community Sites |
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| Site |
Total Unique |
| 1. AOL.com Community |
7.7 |
| 2. Tripod.com |
7.1 |
| 3. Angelfire.com |
5.3 |
| 4. AOL People Connection |
5.2 |
| 5. iVillage.com |
5.1 |
| 6. Yahoo Groups |
4.9 |
| 7. Disney Online |
3.9 |
| 8. iVillage Lifestyle |
3.8 |
| 9. Disney.com |
3.6 |
| 10. MSN People and Chat |
3.3 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Top AOL Channels |
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| Channel |
Total Unique |
| 1. AOL Personal Finance |
6 |
| 2. AOL News |
5.6 |
| 3. AOL Computer Center |
5.4 |
| 4. AOL People Connection |
5.2 |
| 5. AOL Research & Learn |
4.2 |
| 6. AOL Sports |
4.1 |
| 7. AOL Entertainment |
3.8 |
| 8. AOL Music |
2.8 |
| 9. AOL Shopping |
2.8 |
| 10. AOL Local |
2.8 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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February 4, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
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