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surfed on Bowl day
You guessed it: Gambling and astrology web sites
By Marty Beard
By now everyone knows that the Super Bowl had a distinct and measurable impact on internet traffic patterns.
The game spurred soaring increases in traffic to the sorts of web sites one would expect: the official pages of the game, the teams, the network and the advertisers.
But the Rams-Patriots matchup turned other types of web sites into internet hot spots as well.
Think astrology and gambling sites: Web surfers were betting on the game and evidently looking to the stars for their odds.
According to Jupiter Media Metrix data for the week ending Feb. 3, a number of online casinos, particularly those featuring sports betting, experienced a steep gain in traffic, thanks largely to the game.
Pointspread.com received a 777 percent spike in unique visitors, pushing it up to an average of 79,000 unique visitors a day. The same phenomenon held true at RoyalVegas.com, with a 315 percent increase of traffic, or 50,000 unique visitors a day; VirtualVegas.com, with a 73 percent increase in traffic, to 99,000 daily visitors; LuckyNugget.com with a 68 percent increase in traffic, to 68,000 visitors a day; and JackpotCity.com, with 112,000 visitors a day, a 147 percent increase.
A few of the gamblers who lucked out may have looked to the stars, or at least astrology web sites, in search of pronouncements such as, "Riches will enter your life if you back the underdog."
MSN’s astrology section received a 91 percent increase in traffic over the previous week, for 183,000 visitors a day. Astrocenter.com drew 80,000 visitors, for a 39 percent increase, and Astrology.com experienced an 11 percent increase, with 299,000 visitors.
Elsewhere on the internet, seasonal traffic patterns prevailed as well.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, the web site Intuit.com, from the company that makes popular tax preparation software such as TurboTax, eased up into the rankings of the top 25 properties, with almost 2.9 million unique visitors.
Jupiter Media Metrix reports that AOL’s personal-finance channel was the No. 3 AOL channel for the week, as well as the most popular business/finance site, with a total of 4.7 million unique visitors dropping by. Intuit.com, according to Jupiter, was the No. 10 finance site online.
As unpredictable mid-winter conditions set in across the country, web surfers turned to Weather.com for the latest forecasts, Nielsen//NetRatings data indicated. The site was the No. 25 domain for the week ending Feb. 3, with 2.9 million unique visitors.
Jupiter Media Metrix also notes that Terra Lycos sites posted sizable spikes in traffic for the week, very likely because of the Super Bowl, since Sports.lycos.com is the same thing as FoxSports.com, thanks to the partnership between Fox, which broadcast the game, and Lycos.
Lycos.com itself rode the coattails of the event to post a 26 percent gain in traffic, to 2.3 million average daily unique visitors. Hotbot.com, a search engine that Lycos owns, was up 25 percent, to 236,000 daily unique visitors.
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Top 25 Properties |
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| Property |
Unique |
Reach % |
Time Spent |
| 1. AOL Time Warner |
38,293 |
49.3 |
0:15:50 |
| 2. Yahoo |
33,757 |
43.5 |
0:32:19 |
| 3. MSN |
30,429 |
39.2 |
0:27:50 |
| 4. Microsoft |
13,521 |
17.4 |
0:06:55 |
| 5. Google |
8,702 |
11.2 |
0:07:58 |
| 6. eBay |
8,473 |
10.9 |
0:57:07 |
| 7. Lycos Network |
8,377 |
10.8 |
0:08:39 |
| 8. About-Primedia |
8,243 |
10.6 |
0:09:01 |
| 9. Amazon |
7,569 |
9.8 |
0:08:45 |
| 10. Walt Disney Internet Group |
6,663 |
8.6 |
0:13:16 |
| 11. Excite Network |
5,555 |
7.2 |
0:26:49 |
| 12. eUniverse Network |
5,032 |
6.5 |
0:08:04 |
| 13. AT&T |
4,516 |
5.8 |
0:13:28 |
| 14. InfoSpace |
4,130 |
5.3 |
0:06:05 |
| 15. CNET Networks |
3,988 |
5.1 |
0:07:32 |
| 16. Ask Jeeves |
3,886 |
5.0 |
0:06:30 |
| 17. EarthLink |
3,606 |
4.6 |
0:09:23 |
| 18. Symantec |
3,572 |
4.6 |
0:05:38 |
| 19. Classmates |
3,500 |
4.5 |
0:06:25 |
| 20. American Greetings |
3,388 |
4.4 |
0:07:12 |
| 21. Electronic Arts |
3,301 |
4.3 |
1:21:39 |
| 22. Gator.com |
3,161 |
4.1 |
0:12:18 |
| 23. WhenU.com |
2,912 |
3.8 |
0:01:55 |
| 24. Landmark Communications |
2,894 |
3.7 |
0:06:33 |
| 25. Intuit |
2,857 |
3.7 |
0:50:35 |
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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 |
32,280 |
41.6 |
0:32:37 |
| 2. msn.com |
27,391 |
35.3 |
0:23:50 |
| 3. aol.com |
27,390 |
35.3 |
0:12:29 |
| 4. passport.com |
14,006 |
18.0 |
0:03:53 |
| 5. microsoft.com |
12,822 |
16.5 |
0:06:50 |
| 6. google.com |
8,697 |
11.2 |
0:07:57 |
| 7. ebay.com |
8,010 |
10.3 |
0:57:26 |
| 8. amazon.com |
7,228 |
9.3 |
0:08:07 |
| 9. netscape.com |
6,759 |
8.7 |
0:12:27 |
| 10. geocities.com |
6,518 |
8.4 |
0:04:52 |
| 11. go.com |
6,409 |
8.3 |
0:13:19 |
| 12. lycos.com |
3,786 |
4.9 |
0:10:46 |
| 13. classmates.com |
3,497 |
4.5 |
0:06:26 |
| 14. earthlink.net |
3,241 |
4.2 |
0:09:46 |
| 15. msnbc.com |
3,163 |
4.1 |
0:08:10 |
| 16. gator.com |
3,117 |
4.0 |
0:12:18 |
| 17. tripod.com |
3,114 |
4.0 |
0:02:56 |
| 18. about.com |
3,073 |
4.0 |
0:04:43 |
| 19. windowsmedia.com |
3,033 |
3.9 |
0:04:31 |
| 20. compuserve.com |
3,000 |
3.9 |
0:19:26 |
| 21. iwon.com |
2,986 |
3.8 |
0:36:24 |
| 22. hotmail.com |
2,974 |
3.8 |
0:23:34 |
| 23. whenu.com |
2,909 |
3.8 |
0:01:55 |
| 24. cnn.com |
2,900 |
3.7 |
0:09:01 |
| 25. weather.com |
2,894 |
3.7 |
0:06:33 |
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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 |
7 |
0.00 |
| Page Views per Week |
241 |
235 |
2.55 |
| Page Views per Surfing Session |
36 |
36 |
0.00 |
| Time Spent per Week |
3:42:14 |
3:38:05 |
1.90 |
| Time Spent during Surfing Session |
0:33:24 |
0:33:04 |
1.01 |
| Duration a Page Viewed |
0:00:56 |
0:00:55 |
1.02 |
| Active Internet Universe |
77,668,243 |
78,287,692 |
-0.79 |
| Current Internet Universe Estimate |
164,298,949 |
164,286,047 |
0.01 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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Top Categories |
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| Property |
Avg. Daily |
| 1. Corporate presence |
50,923 |
| 2. Services |
44,954 |
| 3. Portals |
39,954 |
| 4. ISP |
24,833 |
| 5. Retail |
20,112 |
| 6. Search/navigation |
19,180 |
| 7. Entertainment |
19,114 |
| 8. Directories/resources |
15,677 |
| 9. News/Information |
14,943 |
| 10. Business/Finance | 14,363 |
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Source: Jupiter Media Metrix |
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Top AOL Channels |
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| Channel |
Total Unique |
| 1. AOL News |
6,080 |
| 2. AOL Computer Center |
4,853 |
| 3. AOL Personal Finance |
4,712 |
| 4. AOL People Connection |
4,164 |
| 5. AOL Research & Learn |
4,016 |
| 6. AOL Sports |
3,812 |
| 7. AOL Music |
2,832 |
| 8. AOL Entertainment |
2,749 |
| 9. AOL Women |
2,715 |
| 10. AOL Shopping |
2,433 |
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Source: Jupiter Media Metrix |
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Top Business/Finance Sites |
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| Site |
Total Unique |
| 1. AOL Personal Finance |
4,712 |
| 2. Yahoo Finance |
4,159 |
| 3. iPlace Sites |
3,640 |
| 4. ConsumerInfo.com |
3,551 |
| 5. PayPal.com |
3,525 |
| 6. Citigroup |
3,276 |
| 7. MSN Money |
3,264 |
| 8. BankofAmerica.com |
3,173 |
| 9. AmericanExpress.com |
3,116 |
| 10. Intuit.com |
2,426 |
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Source: Jupiter Media Metrix |
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February 11, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
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