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Tracing one's roots
Genealogy sites are doing a great $ business
By Toni Fitzgerald
If the internet is the ultimate vertical medium to serve as never before humankind's most arcane interests, the proof of that argument is the steady increase in popularity of genealogy sites.
Folks pay big dollars to learn about their folks and the folks that preceded them, anywhere from $60 to $200 for a search. Of course, the internet is the ideal vehicle for such work, allowing as print could not massive collections of disparately sourced data from all parts of the world.
Genealogy sites generated $26 million in paid content revenue during third quarter 2002, according to comScore networks. That’s an 86 percent increase versus the year before.
During January, 13 million people visited genealogy sites. The most popular by far is the Ancestry Network, which recorded 9.6 million visitors during that month, 8 million more than the next-closest genealogy site.
Three-quarters of all genealogy site visitors logged on to Ancestry Network’s Ancestry.com or Rootsweb.com.
Genealogy.com, owned by A&E Television Networks, was second with 1.74 million visitors.
Most of the genealogy buffs log on from home -- 9 million in January, which makes sense. Genealogy is rather time consuming, and not easily done at work on a lunch break or surreptitiously, when the boss isn’t around.
The group most likely to use genealogy sites is, not surprisingly, the oldest. Those over age 65 are 51 percent more likely than the average internet user to log on to a genealogy site.
Out of all the groupings on the internet, the genealogy category ranks No. 2 for ages 65 and above, behind pharmacy, the most popular category among older Americans.
Adults ages 35-64 also have an interest in family trees. More than 5 million of them logged on to genealogy sites in January.
More women than men have the urge to trace their roots, with women representing 54 percent of visitors. They spend more time there, too. Women stay an average 39 minutes at such sites, while men spend just 27 minutes.
Distractions of just about any type, whether genealogy, sports or shopping, were welcome for the week ending Feb. 23, with the East Coast recovering from a snowstorm that limited outdoor activities.
Not surprisingly, internet activity rose. The average number of weekly sessions per user inched from nine to 10, according to Nielsen//NetRatings numbers.
The number of domains visited went from 19 to 20, and time spent online per week increased by 3.4 percent.
That’s the first significant increase recorded in weeks, since the holiday shopping season ended two months ago.
Actually, shopping received a February boost. For the week ending Feb. 16, comScore reports a 21 percent increase compared to the same week last year to $1.507 billion in online sales (not counting auctions or large corporate purchases).
Concerns about the war haven’t stopped people from making vacation plans.
Travel sales received the biggest boost for the week, jumping 34 percent versus 2002 to $608 million. Non-travel sales increased by 12 percent, to $898 million.
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Top 25 parent companies |
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|
|
Parent |
Unique Audience (000) |
Reach % |
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
|
1 |
AOL Time Warner |
51,660 |
60.6 |
2:13:54 |
|
2 |
Microsoft |
46,633 |
54.7 |
0:39:57 |
|
3 |
Yahoo! |
40,679 |
47.7 |
0:49:15 |
|
4 |
|
15,540 |
18.2 |
0:08:12 |
|
5 |
eBay |
13,001 |
15.3 |
0:52:46 |
|
6 |
RealNetworks |
11,527 |
13.5 |
0:09:43 |
|
7 |
United States Government |
11,384 |
13.4 |
0:13:13 |
|
8 |
Amazon |
9,789 |
11.5 |
0:09:41 |
|
9 |
About-Primedia |
9,247 |
10.9 |
0:08:27 |
|
10 |
Terra Lycos |
9,153 |
10.7 |
0:12:14 |
|
11 |
Sharman Networks |
8,833 |
10.4 |
0:44:24 |
|
12 |
Viacom International |
6,656 |
7.8 |
0:13:07 |
|
13 |
Walt Disney Internet Group |
6,459 |
7.6 |
0:13:50 |
|
14 |
USA Interactive |
6,334 |
7.4 |
0:14:15 |
|
15 |
Landmark Communications |
5,777 |
6.8 |
0:08:09 |
|
16 |
EarthLink |
5,351 |
6.3 |
0:50:40 |
|
17 |
AT&T |
5,056 |
5.9 |
0:17:14 |
|
18 |
eUniverse |
4,964 |
5.8 |
0:07:19 |
|
19 |
United Online |
4,819 |
5.7 |
0:59:31 |
|
20 |
Apple Computer |
4,598 |
5.4 |
0:03:38 |
|
21 |
Excite Network |
4,591 |
5.4 |
0:30:38 |
|
22 |
AWS Convergence Technologies |
4,509 |
5.3 |
0:09:31 |
|
23 |
CNET Networks |
4,375 |
5.1 |
0:06:49 |
|
24 |
InfoSpace Network |
4,063 |
4.8 |
0:08:39 |
|
25 |
Electronic Arts |
4,032 |
4.7 |
1:19:15 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, |
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|
Top 25 brands |
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|
# |
Parent |
Unique Audience (000) |
Reach % |
Time
spent |
|
1 |
AOL |
41,448 |
48.6 |
2:38:00 |
|
2 |
Yahoo! |
40,664 |
47.7 |
0:49:16 |
|
3 |
MSN |
38,205 |
44.8 |
0:39:28 |
|
4 |
Microsoft |
32,508 |
38.2 |
0:10:55 |
|
5 |
|
15,540 |
18.2 |
0:08:12 |
|
6 |
eBay |
12,590 |
14.8 |
0:51:41 |
|
7 |
Real |
11,507 |
13.5 |
0:09:42 |
|
8 |
Amazon |
9,461 |
11.1 |
0:08:55 |
|
9 |
KaZaA |
8,833 |
10.4 |
0:44:24 |
|
10 |
Lycos Networks |
8,368 |
9.8 |
0:13:01 |
|
11 |
Netscape |
6,355 |
7.5 |
0:12:07 |
|
12 |
About Network |
5,584 |
6.6 |
0:08:05 |
|
13 |
CNN |
5,435 |
6.4 |
0:08:30 |
|
14 |
Weather Channel |
5,352 |
6.3 |
0:07:38 |
|
15 |
AT&T |
5,056 |
5.9 |
0:17:14 |
|
16 |
EarthLink |
4,988 |
5.9 |
0:53:23 |
|
17 |
eUniverse |
4,964 |
5.8 |
0:07:19 |
|
18 |
Apple |
4,598 |
5.4 |
0:03:38 |
|
19 |
WeatherBug.com |
4,443 |
5.2 |
0:09:36 |
|
20 |
EA Online |
4,032 |
4.7 |
1:19:15 |
|
21 |
WhenU.com |
4,026 |
4.7 |
0:06:28 |
|
22 |
Gator Network |
3,900 |
4.6 |
0:02:06 |
|
23 |
Classmates.com |
3,530 |
4.1 |
0:05:48 |
|
24 |
MapQuest |
3,512 |
4.1 |
0:07:40 |
|
25 |
Ask Jeeves |
3,462 |
4.1 |
0:06:50 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, |
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|
Top 25 advertisers |
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|
# |
Company |
Impressions |
|
1 |
The Estee Lauder Companies Inc |
904,500 |
|
2 |
Amazon.com, Inc. |
864,819 |
|
3 |
Classmates Online, Inc. |
739,006 |
|
4 |
NetFlix.com, Inc. |
720,542 |
|
5 |
SBC Communications, Inc. |
657,573 |
|
6 |
AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. |
550,271 |
|
7 |
Bank One Corporation |
477,866 |
|
8 |
USA Interactive |
466,501 |
|
9 |
CoolSavings, Inc. |
395,433 |
|
10 |
ITT Technical Institute |
386,434 |
|
11 |
X10 Wireless Technology, Inc. |
380,566 |
|
12 |
Sabre Inc. |
319,627 |
|
13 |
Ameritrade Holding Corporation |
317,048 |
|
14 |
Verizon Communications, Inc. |
307,522 |
|
15 |
eHealthInsurance Services, Inc. |
304,937 |
|
16 |
Barnes & Noble, Inc. |
300,302 |
|
17 |
Columbia House Company |
290,356 |
|
18 |
The Charles Schwab Corporation |
289,928 |
|
19 |
Orbitz |
279,441 |
|
20 |
Vivendi Universal S.A. |
275,225 |
|
21 |
eDiets.com, Inc. |
272,255 |
|
22 |
Weight Watchers International, Inc. |
267,669 |
|
23 |
Apollo Group, Inc. |
237,492 |
|
24 |
Scottrade, Inc. |
228,988 |
|
25 |
Ameriquest Mortgage Company |
195,516 |
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
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|
Top 25 advertising sites |
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|
# |
Company |
Impressions |
|
1 |
Yahoo! |
6,573,016 |
|
2 |
MSN |
3,202,519 |
|
3 |
AOL.com |
1,900,983 |
|
4 |
iWon |
662,604 |
|
5 |
Netscape |
502,355 |
|
6 |
MSNBC |
488,460 |
|
7 |
eBay |
350,461 |
|
8 |
ESPN.com |
347,222 |
|
9 |
CNN |
303,993 |
|
10 |
The Weather Channel |
287,396 |
|
11 |
Excite |
208,719 |
|
12 |
CompuServe |
183,071 |
|
13 |
CBS MarketWatch |
180,579 |
|
14 |
AT&T Worldnet |
180,438 |
|
15 |
The New York Times |
163,478 |
|
16 |
Classmates |
161,068 |
|
17 |
NetZero |
158,807 |
|
18 |
The Weather Underground |
150,113 |
|
19 |
Juno |
133,119 |
|
20 |
Monster.com |
132,898 |
|
21 |
Lycos |
96,590 |
|
22 |
InfoSpace |
85,282 |
|
23 |
AutoTrader.com |
79,829 |
|
24 |
Switchboard |
77,597 |
|
25 |
Realtor.com |
76,061 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
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Average use |
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|
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Values |
Current Week |
Last Week |
% Change |
|
Number of Sessions/Visits per Week |
10 |
9 |
11.11 |
|
|
Number of Domains Visited per Week |
20 |
19 |
5.26 |
|
|
Time Spent per Week |
8:06:26 |
7:50:20 |
3.42 |
|
|
Time Spent During Web Visit |
0:50:54 |
0:50:20 |
1.13 |
|
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Active Digital Media Universe |
96,833,133 |
95,642,763 |
1.24 |
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate |
173,138,113 |
173,138,220 |
0.00 |
|
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Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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March 4, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.
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