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internet news surge
At-work users, lacking TVs, track war on the web
By Toni Fitzgerald
Both in homes and saloons across America, folks are sticking close to their TV sets for the latest turn in the war in Iraq.
Not so with U.S. office workers. Rather than hover around TV sets, they are zipping to their favorite news sites for war updates.
According to comScore Networks’ Media Metrix, the biggest war traffic surges took place at work. The at-work audience increased 16 percent last week to 36.5 million, nearly equaling the at-home audience.
Among this increase, at-work users flocked to news sites by 75 percent more than the previous four weeks. And once they got there, the sites actually delivered content, unlike the web rush that temporarily disabled overwhelmed sites after the 9/11 attacks.
Internet news sites have been much better prepared to deal with the surge in war traffic than they were during the last national crisis.
This year most of the popular sites have handled the swelling traffic without error messages or massive download delays.
Only two news sites, the BBC and ABC.com, have experienced significant availability problems. For two hours on Thursday, download time on ABC.com more than doubled from two to five seconds. The BBC site was unavailable at times on Sunday, but download time was not affected.
This time sites such as CNN, MSNBC.com and Yahoo News knew that a big event was coming. Though the actual start of bombing was breaking news, the war itself had been expected while 9/11 was a complete surprise.
They certainly learned from the problems of the last time, when users reported error messages while trying to find information on Sept. 11.
In order to cut download time, some sites removed graphics and pictures as early as Tuesday last week, when war seemed inevitable.
Last week’s correlating traffic surge reached about 21 percent versus the week before at the five top news sites, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
MSNBC.com increased by 38 percent and Washingtonpost.com by 34 percent. Of the big five, which also includes Yahoo News and CNN, NYTimes.com was the only one not to report a significant jump.
That’s because the site is by registration and thus even with breaking news does not generally report huge traffic spikes. Although the site waived the registration requirement for several hours on Wednesday, traffic increased by only 5 percent versus the week before.
Several sites that generally have much smaller audiences than the top news locations saw huge traffic surges.
USAToday.com reported the biggest jump, rising 101 percent for the week ending March 23 versus the previous week.
Slate was up 84 percent and FoxNews.com increased by 77 percent. ABCNews.com had a 54 percent rise.
Most of the growth came during the at-work hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., when workers don’t have access to television. By Friday the broadcast TV networks had mostly returned to regular programming, save for special updates.
But the news sites were plastered with everything Iraq.
During the Thursday work day, the first full day of war, more than 5 million office workers logged on to CNN.com, an increase of 69 percent versus the week before.
MSNBC.com had the second-highest total, reaching 3.9 million unique viewers for a 65 percent jump. Yahoo News had 2.8 million at-work viewers and FoxNews.com more than doubled its audience from the week before.
Washingtonpost.com reported the biggest Thursday gains among at-home surfers, increasing by 66 percent.
Matt Drudge’s Drudgereport.com had traffic gains among at-work and at-home users.
|
Daily At-Work Traffic |
||||
|
Rank |
Brand/channel |
Unique audience (000) 3/13/03 |
Unique audience (000) 3/20/03 |
Percent growth |
|
1 |
CNN |
2,977 |
5,035 |
69 |
|
2 |
MSNBC |
2,386 |
3,926 |
65 |
|
3 |
Yahoo News |
2,288 |
2,798 |
22 |
|
4 |
Fox News |
553 |
1,116 |
102 |
|
5 |
NYTimes.com |
1,066 |
1,034 |
-3 |
|
5 |
Washingtonpost.com |
773 |
997 |
29 |
|
7 |
ABC News |
447 |
763 |
71 |
|
8 |
Internet Broadcasting Systems Inc. |
500 |
696 |
39 |
|
9 |
Drudgereport.com |
608 |
626 |
3 |
|
10 |
USAToday.com |
485 |
566 |
17 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Audience Measurement Data |
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Daily At-Home Traffic |
||||
|
Rank |
Brand/channel |
Unique audience (000) 3/13/03 |
Unique audience (000) 3/20/03 |
Percent growth |
|
1 |
CNN |
1,361 |
2,024 |
49 |
|
2 |
MSNBC |
1,788 |
1,891 |
6 |
|
3 |
Yahoo News |
1,533 |
1,611 |
5 |
|
4 |
Washingtonpost.com |
336 |
559 |
66 |
|
5 |
NYTimes.com |
518 |
546 |
5 |
|
5 |
Fox News |
270 |
427 |
58 |
|
7 |
Drudgereport.com |
343 |
403 |
18 |
|
8 |
Internet Broadcasting Systems Inc. |
294 |
383 |
30 |
|
9 |
Gannett Newspapers and Newspaper Divisions |
386 |
330 |
-14 |
|
10 |
Marketwatch.com |
272 |
290 |
7 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings Audience Measurement Data |
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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 |
51,026 |
60.7 |
2:00:03 |
|
2 |
Microsoft |
45,623 |
54.2 |
0:38:18 |
|
3 |
Yahoo! |
39,694 |
47.2 |
0:48:03 |
|
4 |
|
15,841 |
18.8 |
0:07:55 |
|
5 |
eBay |
12,592 |
15.0 |
0:52:06 |
|
6 |
United States Government |
10,668 |
12.7 |
0:11:56 |
|
7 |
Amazon |
9,301 |
11.1 |
0:08:15 |
|
8 |
RealNetworks |
9,198 |
10.9 |
0:11:45 |
|
9 |
Sharman Networks |
9,093 |
10.8 |
0:46:09 |
|
10 |
Terra Lycos |
8,645 |
10.3 |
0:08:50 |
|
11 |
About-Primedia |
8,214 |
9.8 |
0:09:08 |
|
12 |
USA Interactive |
6,620 |
7.9 |
0:13:30 |
|
13 |
Viacom International |
6,569 |
7.8 |
0:11:47 |
|
14 |
Walt Disney Internet Group |
6,056 |
7.2 |
0:11:24 |
|
15 |
WhenU |
6,052 |
7.2 |
0:06:59 |
|
16 |
The Gator Corporation |
5,350 |
6.4 |
0:01:50 |
|
17 |
EarthLink |
5,018 |
6.0 |
0:49:22 |
|
18 |
AT&T |
4,933 |
5.9 |
0:17:11 |
|
19 |
Excite Network |
4,876 |
5.8 |
0:28:08 |
|
20 |
eUniverse |
4,669 |
5.6 |
0:07:59 |
|
21 |
United Online |
4,634 |
5.5 |
0:57:44 |
|
22 |
Landmark Communications |
4,596 |
5.5 |
0:07:05 |
|
23 |
InfoSpace Network |
4,207 |
5.0 |
0:07:02 |
|
24 |
AWS Convergence Technologies |
4,205 |
5.0 |
0:07:24 |
|
25 |
Apple Computer |
4,146 |
4.9 |
0:03:07 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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|
Top 25 brands |
||||
|
# |
Parent |
Unique Audience (000) |
Reach % |
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
|
1 |
AOL |
40,987 |
48.7 |
2:20:45 |
|
2 |
Yahoo! |
39,691 |
47.2 |
0:48:04 |
|
3 |
MSN |
37,186 |
44.2 |
0:37:19 |
|
4 |
Microsoft |
32,048 |
38.1 |
0:11:13 |
|
5 |
|
15,833 |
18.8 |
0:07:56 |
|
6 |
eBay |
12,199 |
14.5 |
0:51:00 |
|
7 |
Real |
9,172 |
10.9 |
0:11:46 |
|
8 |
KaZaA |
9,093 |
10.8 |
0:46:09 |
|
9 |
Amazon |
8,992 |
10.7 |
0:07:31 |
|
10 |
Lycos Networks |
7,903 |
9.4 |
0:09:11 |
|
11 |
Netscape |
6,359 |
7.6 |
0:12:13 |
|
12 |
WhenU.com |
5,938 |
7.1 |
0:07:06 |
|
13 |
Gator Network |
5,350 |
6.4 |
0:01:50 |
|
14 |
About Network |
5,237 |
6.2 |
0:08:20 |
|
15 |
CNN |
5,076 |
6.0 |
0:08:38 |
|
16 |
AT&T |
4,933 |
5.9 |
0:17:11 |
|
17 |
eUniverse |
4,669 |
5.6 |
0:07:59 |
|
18 |
EarthLink |
4,646 |
5.5 |
0:52:13 |
|
19 |
Weather Channel |
4,181 |
5.0 |
0:06:56 |
|
20 |
WeatherBug.com |
4,180 |
5.0 |
0:07:25 |
|
21 |
Apple |
4,146 |
4.9 |
0:03:07 |
|
22 |
MapQuest |
4,113 |
4.9 |
0:07:36 |
|
23 |
Classmates.com |
3,715 |
4.4 |
0:05:57 |
|
24 |
EA Online |
3,606 |
4.3 |
1:17:37 |
|
25 |
McAfee |
3,601 |
4.3 |
0:05:57 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
||||
|
Top 25 advertisers |
||
|
# |
Company |
Impressions |
|
1 |
The Estee Lauder Companies Inc |
866,346 |
|
2 |
Amazon.com, Inc. |
791,185 |
|
3 |
Classmates Online, Inc. |
785,649 |
|
4 |
CoolSavings, Inc. |
781,891 |
|
5 |
USA Interactive |
620,522 |
|
6 |
SBC Communications, Inc. |
587,097 |
|
7 |
NetFlix.com, Inc. |
515,505 |
|
8 |
eHealthInsurance Services, Inc. |
393,752 |
|
9 |
eDiets.com, Inc. |
381,344 |
|
10 |
Dell Computer Corporation |
340,142 |
|
11 |
Ameritrade Holding Corporation |
312,197 |
|
12 |
AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. |
306,488 |
|
13 |
Intuit, Inc. |
302,020 |
|
14 |
Columbia House Company |
293,112 |
|
15 |
Verizon Communications, Inc. |
279,586 |
|
16 |
Sabre Inc. |
278,801 |
|
17 |
The Charles Schwab Corporation |
254,387 |
|
18 |
Scottrade, Inc. |
254,290 |
|
19 |
Apollo Group, Inc. |
230,179 |
|
20 |
General Motors Corporation |
219,347 |
|
21 |
Gateway, Inc. |
215,399 |
|
22 |
TD Bank Financial Group |
209,510 |
|
23 |
Barnes & Noble, Inc. |
206,940 |
|
24 |
X10 Wireless Technology, Inc. |
206,536 |
|
25 |
Hewlett Packard Company |
202,694 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
||
|
Top 25 advertising sites |
||
|
# |
Company |
Impressions |
|
1 |
Yahoo! |
5,931,675 |
|
2 |
MSN |
2,798,596 |
|
3 |
AOL.com |
1,710,880 |
|
4 |
iWon |
664,978 |
|
5 |
MSNBC |
532,857 |
|
6 |
eBay |
477,533 |
|
7 |
Netscape |
409,997 |
|
8 |
The Weather Channel |
341,612 |
|
9 |
ESPN.com |
328,875 |
|
10 |
CNN |
296,373 |
|
11 |
NetZero |
201,347 |
|
12 |
Classmates |
199,353 |
|
13 |
CompuServe |
191,399 |
|
14 |
AT&T Worldnet |
189,031 |
|
15 |
Excite |
186,971 |
|
16 |
Juno |
151,596 |
|
17 |
Lycos |
142,171 |
|
18 |
The Weather Underground |
134,772 |
|
19 |
CBS MarketWatch |
128,635 |
|
20 |
The New York Times |
120,281 |
|
21 |
Monster.com |
109,317 |
|
22 |
Pogo |
94,037 |
|
23 |
USA TODAY |
93,579 |
|
24 |
CBS SportsLine |
84,243 |
|
25 |
Real |
78,052 |
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
||
|
Average use |
||||||||
|
|
Values |
Current Week |
Last Week |
% Change |
||||
|
Number of Sessions/Visits per Week |
9 |
9 |
0.00 |
|||||
|
Number of Domains Visited per Week |
19 |
19 |
0.00 |
|||||
|
Time Spent per Week |
7:36:34 |
7:46:34 |
-2.14 |
|||||
|
Time Spent During Web Visit |
0:48:59 |
0:50:03 |
-2.13 |
|||||
|
Active Digital Media Universe |
95,336,631 |
95,499,007 |
-0.17 |
|||||
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate |
174,187,922 |
174,187,106 |
0.00 |
|||||
|
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings |
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March 25, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.
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