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emerge over holidays
Spiritual sites, as well as those for gifts and cards
By Marty Beard
In the month of December, the story of the internet was almost too predictable: The web sites that saw the most traffic related to the holidays, spirituality and gift-buying, according to Jupiter Media Metrix.
Amazon.com held its No. 7 spot from November but its traffic grew 21.7 percent.
Similarly, auction site eBay held the No. 8 position, with the number of visitors increasing by 11.1 percent.
But there were also a fair number of notable newcomers, according to the research firm, many directly tied to the festive season.
For example, NORADSanta.com, a web site operated by the North American Aerospace Defense Command that allowed children to "follow" Santa Claus’ journey across the world’s skies on Christmas Eve, drew 1.6 million visitors.
Greeting-card site Hallmark.com, seemingly out of nowhere, jumped to the No. 35 spot among most heavily visited web sites, with nine million visitors–68 percent more traffic than it received in November.
Jittery newbie gem buyers found guidance online in droves during December. Some 990,000 people logged onto Jewelry.com, an online gateway to many jewelry retailers that features a sort of gem-buying primer. Other gift sites that leapt onto the scene included GourmetGiftmail.com, which got two million visitors.
"While a few of December’s new sites were reflective of the holiday-shopping season, there were a large number of new portals and search sites appealing to targeted communities," says Charles Buchwalter, vice president of media research at Jupiter Media Metrix.
Spirituality-related sites, thanks to an emotionally difficult 2001, attracted more adherents online than usual.
Some sites that received more than 500,000 visitors for the first time in December include InterviewwithGod.com, a web site that features inspirational slide shows based on quotes from the Bible. The site attracted 617,000 visitors for the month.
Along those lines, a site called Greatday.com, which functions as a sort of daily motivational calendar offering a new motivational passage every day, attracted 511,000 visitors in December.
Despite the fact that the portal/search engine space seems to be full and dominated now by only the major players, several portals, especially highly targeted portals, got more traffic than ever in December.
That may be yet another positive sign as to the robustness of the internet as a medium.
"A varied and robust list of newcomer web sites signals continuing and growing demand for online services," Jupiter Media Metrix’s Buchwalter says.
One relatively new search site, Netster.com, attracted three million unique visitors in December. The site specializes in helping people who have mistyped domain names find the sites they set out to surf.
Niche search sites also fared well in December. For one, Gambleup.com, which is a search engine for the online casino visitor, attracted 904,000 visitors. Spanish-language portal Ubbi.com attracted 569,000 people.
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TOP 50 WEB PROPERTIES |
|||||
|
Property |
Dec. Visitors (000 |
Nov. Visitors (000) |
Oct. Visitors (000) |
Sept. Visitors (000) |
% Chg over Prev. 3 Months’ Avg (%) |
|
1. AOL Time Warner Network |
83,612 |
83,843 |
83,871 |
81,128 |
0.8 |
|
2. Microsoft Sites |
75,081 |
74,782 |
70,720 |
70,007 |
4.5 |
|
3. Yahoo Sites |
71,487 |
71,976 |
68,364 |
65,568 |
4.2 |
|
4. Terra Lycos |
37,318 |
38,299 |
39,514 |
38,005 |
-3.3 |
|
5. Vivendi Universal Sites |
35,925 |
35,793 |
36,458 |
29,410 |
6 |
|
6. About/Primedia |
33,464 |
30,974 |
33,220 |
29,885 |
6.7 |
|
7. Amazon Sites |
30,957 |
30,326 |
24,298 |
21,692 |
21.7 |
|
8. eBay |
28,316 |
28,364 |
25,945 |
22,158 |
11.1 |
|
9. InfoSpace (13) |
25,245 |
21,928 |
20,670 |
19,640 |
21.7 |
|
10. CNET Networks |
23,247 |
23,262 |
21,368 |
22,308 |
4.2 |
|
11. Google (12) |
23,004 |
22,256 |
21,146 |
18,035 |
12.3 |
|
12. American Greetings (9) |
22,946 |
25,540 |
20,814 |
17,044 |
8.6 |
|
13. eUniverse Network (11) |
20,312 |
23,054 |
25,156 |
19,721 |
-10.3 |
|
14. Excite Network |
20,113 |
20,723 |
21,723 |
23,783 |
-8.9 |
|
15. Walt Disney Internet Group |
19,812 |
20,123 |
25,386 |
25,675 |
-16.5 |
|
16. Viacom Online (17) |
17,779 |
17,366 |
17,008 |
19,175 |
-0.4 |
|
17. Gator Network (22) |
17,664 |
13,093 |
13,015 |
11,003 |
42.8 |
|
18. AskJeeves (16) |
16,630 |
17,667 |
16,741 |
15,237 |
0.5 |
|
19. Real.com Network |
16,274 |
14,823 |
14,692 |
16,648 |
5.8 |
|
20. ClassMates.com Sites (18) |
15,221 |
15,080 |
10,587 |
9,140 |
31.2 |
|
21. AT&T Web Sites (20) |
14,487 |
14,724 |
15,248 |
13,897 |
-0.9 |
|
22. Ticketmaster Sites |
12,481 |
12,526 |
13,090 |
11,323 |
1.4 |
|
23. United Online (25) |
11,447 |
11,573 |
10,763 |
-- |
2.5 |
|
24. Columbia House Sites (21) |
11,262 |
14,508 |
15,560 |
11,815 |
-19.3 |
|
25. iVillage (27) |
11,256 |
10,848 |
11,802 |
11,352 |
-0.7 |
|
26. EarthLink (28) |
11,109 |
10,660 |
10,818 |
12,561 |
-2.1 |
|
27. The Weather Channel (30) |
11,097 |
10,364 |
9,831 |
9,205 |
13.2 |
|
28. BizRate.com (24) |
10,771 |
12,092 |
10,353 |
8,377 |
4.8 |
|
29. EA Online (33) |
10,757 |
9,674 |
8,766 |
7,806 |
23 |
|
30. Barnes & Noble (41)* |
10,437 |
8,971 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
31. RedeemMyGifts.com (40) |
10,379 |
9,151 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
32. SBC Communications Sites |
9,968 |
9,832 |
9,297 |
10,281 |
1.7 |
|
33. FortuneCity Network (37) |
9,803 |
9,261 |
9,236 |
8,907 |
7.3 |
|
34. Coolsavings.com (47) |
9,455 |
8,499 |
8,386 |
-- |
12 |
|
35. Hallmark |
9,001 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
36. Sony Online (50)* |
8,971 |
8,143 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
37. UGO Networks (49)* |
8,936 |
8,173 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
38. RealNames.com (34) |
8,922 |
9,616 |
9,682 |
8,162 |
-2.5 |
|
39. Monster.com Sites (31)** |
8,858 |
10,101 |
9,642 |
-- |
-10.3 |
|
40. MyPoints Sites (48)** |
8,786 |
8,397 |
-- |
7,683 |
9.3 |
|
41. LookSmart (35) |
8,540 |
9,426 |
10,177 |
9,813 |
-12.9 |
|
42. Gannett Sites (39) |
8,438 |
9,184 |
9,559 |
10,692 |
-14 |
|
43. NBC Internet Sites (42) |
8,436 |
8,862 |
11,346 |
15,483 |
-29.1 |
|
44. Expedia |
8,304 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
45. Atomshockwave Sites (46)* |
8,229 |
8,500 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
46. Womensforum Sites |
8,158 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
47. Overture Network (43)** |
8,074 |
8,722 |
-- |
10,126 |
-14.3 |
|
48. Homestore.com Network (29) |
8,070 |
10,626 |
12,863 |
14,166 |
-35.7 |
|
49. Bestbuy.com |
7,876 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
|
50. News Corp. Online (38) |
7,824 |
9,188 |
10,531 |
10,714 |
-22.9 |
|
Underline indicates a site not in the Top 50 in November |
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Top Newcomers At Home and At Work |
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| Site |
Unique Visitors (000) |
| 1. Netster.com |
3,027 |
| 2. DigitalProtectionPlus.com |
2,419 |
| 3. CompleteHome.com |
2,102 |
| 4. ListOpt.com |
2,053 |
| 5. GourmetGiftMail.com |
2,000 |
| 6. NORADSanta.org |
1,582 |
| 7. FreeSpark.com |
1,553 |
| 8. FMITV.com |
1,394 |
| 9. PerfectGreeting.com |
1,285 |
| 10. RealEstateToolKit.com |
1,086 |
| 11. HugsforaCure.ca |
1,019 |
| 12. Jewelry.com |
990 |
| 13. GambleUp.com |
904 |
| 14. Pluckie.com |
878 |
| 15. TheBounceHouse.com |
858 |
| 16. FunnyPrizes.com |
763 |
| 17. IMustBingo.com |
733 |
| 18. DeepDiscountDVD.com |
686 |
| 19. CampbellsCook.com |
647 |
| 20. Endeca.com |
640 |
| 21. InterviewWithGod.com |
617 |
| 22. Mindseti.com |
595 |
| 23. Ubbi.com |
569 |
| 24. CCTourandTravel.com |
564 |
| 25. DomainDeluxe.com |
558 |
| 26. Freebie.com |
554 |
| 27. RTM.com |
549 |
| 28. Bobley.com |
540 |
| 29. SilverValley.net |
522 |
| 30. TV-Products.net |
521 |
| 31. IWCBiz.com |
520 |
| 32. FreebieBank.com |
514 |
| 33. GreatDay.com |
511 |
| 34. FreeHostGlobal.com |
502 |
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Source: Jupiter Media Metrix |
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January 23, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
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