|
|
|
book sites and clubs
Post-holiday rectitude? We can only guess.
By Marty Beard
The internet has taken off as a supplement to and source of the printed word, particularly when it comes to books, judging from the latest traffic figures.
Web sites for booksellers and book clubs have seen a spike in visitors in recent weeks, according to Jupiter Media Metrix.
A number of phenomena may be responsible, ranging from New Year’s resolutions to read more to the enduring popularity of Oprah’s Book Club and the success of recent movies adapted from books, such as “Black Hawk Down” and “The Fellowship of the Ring.”
Call it a slight literacy renaissance that has resulted in an upswing in visits to several leading literary web sites.
AudioBookClub.com attracted 351,000 average daily unique visitors during the week ending Jan. 20, an increase of 454 percent over daily averages during the previous three weeks.
Likewise, BookSpan.com, the web site of the Book of the Month Club, drew an average of 291,000 visitors a day, 72 percent more than it received on average during the previous three weeks.
Presumably reflecting the blockbuster status of “The Fellowship of the Ring,” SFBC.com, the home page of the Science Fiction Book Club, attracted 93,000 unique visitors a day, 62 percent more than in the three previous weeks.
Online bookstore BooksAMillion.com attracted 52,000 visitors a day during the week.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings data, online retailer and bookseller Amazon.com gained slightly more visitors as well, with about 7.6 million people during the week ending Jan. 20, up from 7.4 million the previous week.
Amazon.com was the No. 8 domain for the week, with 7.2 million unique visitors.
Jupiter Media Metrix also reports that humor sites are seeing a rebound in traffic. Post-Sept. 11, more web surfers than usual logged onto humor sites in search of respite from tragic news, but that traffic surge fell during the holidays.
The web site of the satirical newspaper TheOnion.com drew 88 percent more traffic for the week ending Jan. 20, with an average 88,000 unique visitors a day.
Likewise, the online outpost of the workplace comic strip Dilbert received 74 percent more visitors than usual, amounting to 81,000 unique visitors a day.
Web sites for the younger set experienced a traffic spike as well. Yahoo’s children’s channel, Yahooligans.com, had 79 percent more traffic than the average of the preceding three weeks, with 108,000 people a day.
Teen site Bolt.com drew 107,000 people a day, a 57 percent increase. Finally, NickJr.com, a Nickelodeon web site for its youngest viewers, attracted 117,000 visitors a day, a 30 percent rise.
|
Top 25 Properties |
|||
| Property |
Unique |
Reach % |
Time Spent |
| 1. AOL Time Warner |
38,935 |
50.1 |
0:15:23 |
| 2. Yahoo |
32,608 |
42.0 |
0:32:30 |
| 3. MSN |
29,510 |
38.0 |
0:28:02 |
| 4. Microsoft |
12,720 |
16.4 |
0:06:08 |
| 5. Google |
8,527 |
11.0 |
0:10:34 |
| 6. About-Primedia |
8,457 |
10.9 |
0:08:36 |
| 7. eBay |
8,209 |
10.6 |
0:56:25 |
| 8. Lycos Network |
8,120 |
10.5 |
0:08:09 |
| 9. Amazon |
7,613 |
9.8 |
0:08:46 |
| 10. Walt Disney Internet Group |
6,179 |
8.0 |
0:14:38 |
| 11. Excite Network |
5,651 |
7.3 |
0:25:05 |
| 12. eUniverse Network |
5,175 |
6.7 |
0:07:40 |
| 13. InfoSpace |
4,639 |
6.0 |
0:05:52 |
| 14. CNET Networks |
4,081 |
5.3 |
0:07:09 |
| 15. Ask Jeeves |
3,991 |
5.1 |
0:04:56 |
| 16. Classmates |
3,955 |
5.1 |
0:05:41 |
| 17. AT&T |
3,735 |
4.8 |
0:12:31 |
| 18. American Greetings |
3,412 |
4.4 |
0:06:53 |
| 19. EarthLink |
3,289 |
4.2 |
0:09:38 |
| 20. Symantec |
3,193 |
4.1 |
0:05:25 |
| 21. Gator.com |
3,001 |
3.9 |
0:10:42 |
| 22. WhenU.com |
2,943 |
3.8 |
0:01:59 |
| 23. CitySearch/Ticketmaster Online |
2,921 |
3.8 |
0:13:42 |
| 24. United Online |
2,879 |
3.7 |
0:09:18 |
| 25. EA Online |
2,877 |
3.7 |
1:34:03 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Top 25 Domains |
|||
| Domain |
Unique |
Reach % |
Time Spent |
| 1. yahoo.com |
31,169 |
40.1 |
0:32:57 |
| 2. aol.com |
28,472 |
36.7 |
0:12:14 |
| 3. msn.com |
26,626 |
34.3 |
0:24:09 |
| 4. passport.com |
15,241 |
19.6 |
0:03:35 |
| 5. microsoft.com |
11,661 |
15.0 |
0:06:01 |
| 6. google.com |
8,511 |
11.0 |
0:10:34 |
| 7. ebay.com |
7,827 |
10.1 |
0:55:47 |
| 8. amazon.com |
7,217 |
9.3 |
0:08:15 |
| 9. netscape.com |
6,403 |
8.2 |
0:11:23 |
| 10. geocities.com |
6,034 |
7.8 |
0:04:33 |
| 11. go.com |
5,968 |
7.7 |
0:14:27 |
| 12. classmates.com |
3,952 |
5.1 |
0:05:41 |
| 13. lycos.com |
3,450 |
4.4 |
0:10:24 |
| 14. tripod.com |
3,080 |
4.0 |
0:03:54 |
| 15. about.com |
3,052 |
3.9 |
0:04:38 |
| 16. gator.com |
2,982 |
3.8 |
0:10:40 |
| 17. msnbc.com |
2,974 |
3.8 |
0:08:20 |
| 18. cnn.com |
2,962 |
3.8 |
0:08:16 |
| 19. whenu.com |
2,936 |
3.8 |
0:02:00 |
| 20. iwon.com |
2,929 |
3.8 |
0:34:47 |
| 21. earthlink.net |
2,928 |
3.8 |
0:09:54 |
| 22. hotmail.com |
2,882 |
3.7 |
0:23:35 |
| 23. pogo.com |
2,836 |
3.7 |
1:35:22 |
| 24. excite.com |
2,832 |
3.7 |
0:14:04 |
| 25. compuserve.com |
2,750 |
3.5 |
0:18:14 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
| Average
Usage
|
|||
|
Current Week |
Last Week |
% Change |
|
| Number of Sessions per Week |
6 |
6 |
0.00 |
| Page Views per Week |
233 |
236 |
-1.27 |
| Page Views per Surfing Session |
36 |
37 |
-2.70 |
| Time Spent per Week |
3:33:18 |
3:30:16 |
1.45 |
| Time Spent during Surfing Session |
0:33:03 |
0:32:29 |
1.74 |
| Duration a Page Viewed |
0:00:55 |
0:00:53 |
4.56 |
| Active Internet Universe |
77,655,419 |
75,326,001 |
3.09 |
| Current Internet Universe Estimate |
164,292,204 |
171,844,210 |
-4.39 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Top 10 Categories |
||
| Category |
Week ended |
Week ended |
| 1. Portals |
37,474 |
37,444 |
| 2. Services |
28,632 |
29,559 |
| 3. Entertainment |
19,336 |
19,356 |
| 4. Corporate presence |
19,264 |
19,285 |
| 5. Retail |
16,748 |
16,839 |
| 6. Business/Finance |
12,456 |
12,489 |
| 7. Directories/Resources |
12,006 |
12,266 |
| 8. ISP |
10,893 |
11,139 |
| 9. News/information |
10,319 |
10,508 |
| 10. Search/navigation |
9,740 |
9,890 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
||
|
Top 10 Sites with More Visitors |
||
| Site |
Daily unique |
% chg over |
| 1. Audiobookclub.com |
351 |
454.2 |
| 2. Drugstore.com |
460 |
302.3 |
| 3. Callwave.com |
416 |
189.6 |
| 4. Intuit.com |
313 |
177.8 |
| 5. Riverbelle.com |
202 |
159 |
| 6. OfficeDepot.com |
418 |
155.4 |
| 7. eBags.com |
131 |
148/7 |
| 8. ThankuGift.net |
134 |
143.6 |
| 9. Jjab.com |
108 |
105.1 |
| 10. GovernmentGuide.com |
197 |
102.4 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
||
January 29, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
Printer-Friendly Version
|
Send
to a Friend
Cover Page |
Contact
Us
