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Web-wise, a nifty
bounce for Bush
Site traffic rises 7 percent with the
convention
By Diego Vasquez
The hot political thing in this presidential race has been the
bounce, as when something happens that boosts one candidate's popularity.
And it was no big surprise that George Bush got a bounce in the polls
following the Republican Convention, and a decent one at that, putting him 7 percentage
points ahead of John Kerry in some polls.
But Bush also got a similar bounce in web traffic during the week of the
convention, even though through the race Kerry has generated more web traffic overall.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings Bush’s official site (georgewbush.com)
saw an increase of 7 percent in visitors the week ending Sept. 5, driven entirely by
at-home users. (Their traffic was up 50 percent, while at-work visitors actually declined
by 18.6 percent.) Around 832,000 unique visitors went to the Bush site, just a few
thousand short of the number visiting Kerry’s official site (johnkerry.com) that
week--854,000.
Still, Bush's web bounce was nothing compared with Kerry's during the
Democratic National Convention in August (even if it failed to carry over the polls.) For
the week ended Aug. 1, the week of the convention, Kerry’s visitors jumped by 90.9
percent, to 1.8 million visitors.
Kerry's traffic remains stronger.
According to Hitwise, which tracks sites’ market share of visits,
johnkerry.com held 4.12 percent of the U.S. market share of visits in the
Lifestyle/Politics category for the week ended Sept. 11, compared with 3.23 percent for
georgewbush.com.
Probably more important for Kerry, though, is that his lead also extends to
internet traffic in the 17 battleground states, as tracked by Hitwise, with higher traffic
in 11 of the 17.
A score of 100 means that internet users in a given state visited a site at
the same rate as the total U.S. population. The data was collected over a four-week period
ended Aug. 21.
According to Hitwise’s data, Bush’s site scored 200.42 in
Ohio, meaning Ohio users were twice as likely to visit the site as the general U.S.
population. Kerry’s index in Ohio was 167.5.
Overall, Bush’s site led Kerry’s in six of the 17 battlegrounds
states, including Ohio, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Missouri and West Virginia. The
highest score Bush’s site received in the battleground states was in Arkansas, a
200.81.
That left the remaining 11 states for Kerry’s site as its index was
higher than Bush’s in Arizona, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New
Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
The state that posted the highest index for Kerry’s site was Oregon,
with a 219.78.
The
swing states
Representation* Index of Web
Site Visits in Key Battleground States Versus Total U.S. Visits
Four-Week Period Ended Aug. 21 |
Battleground
States |
johnkerry.com |
georgewbush.com |
All Politics Sites |
| Arizona |
117.86 |
110.92 |
121.7 |
| Arkansas |
109.56 |
200.81 |
114.63 |
| Florida |
115.93 |
118.17 |
112.06 |
| Iowa |
118.89 |
98.56 |
101.74 |
| Maine |
77.01 |
60.11 |
94.57 |
| Michigan |
107.6 |
112.16 |
99.99 |
| Minnesota |
111.45 |
108.72 |
95.2 |
| Missouri |
127.54 |
143.15 |
112.18 |
| Nevada |
146.65 |
94.19 |
103.47 |
| New Hampshire |
96.93 |
87.33 |
122.33 |
| New Mexico |
148.9 |
90.55 |
145.32 |
| Ohio |
167.05 |
200.42 |
118.65 |
| Oregon |
219.78 |
132.72 |
124.79 |
| Pennsylvania |
147.93 |
131.79 |
109.26 |
| Washington |
124.06 |
87.25 |
102.81 |
| West Virginia |
135.47 |
169.72 |
100.86 |
| Wisconsin |
195.86 |
125.31 |
107.26 |
| *An
index score of 100 means that Internet users in a given state visited a web site or site
category at the same rate as the total U.S. population. A higher score indicates a greater
representation while a lower score indicates a lower representation of visits versus the
total U.S. |
Top 25 parent companies
Through Sept. 5 |
| # |
Parent |
Unique
Audience (000) |
Reach
% |
Time
spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
1 |
Microsoft |
54,711 |
51.9 |
0:33:49 |
2 |
Yahoo! |
46,338 |
43.9 |
0:41:14 |
3 |
Time Warner |
46,015 |
43.6 |
1:25:24 |
4 |
Google |
25,414 |
24.1 |
0:07:47 |
5 |
eBay |
16,190 |
15.4 |
0:43:20 |
6 |
United States
Government |
12,087 |
11.5 |
0:11:18 |
7 |
Ask Jeeves |
10,429 |
9.9 |
0:12:27 |
8 |
Walt Disney Internet
Group |
9,028 |
8.6 |
0:19:54 |
9 |
Landmark
Communications |
8,943 |
8.5 |
0:08:08 |
10 |
RealNetworks |
8,885 |
8.4 |
0:18:18 |
11 |
Amazon |
7,762 |
7.4 |
0:09:21 |
12 |
United Online |
7,064 |
6.7 |
0:40:32 |
13 |
Viacom International |
7,061 |
6.7 |
0:14:25 |
14 |
InterActiveCorp |
6,975 |
6.6 |
0:11:31 |
15 |
AWS Convergence
Technologies |
6,351 |
6.0 |
0:10:14 |
16 |
Network Associates |
5,922 |
5.6 |
0:11:45 |
17 |
EarthLink |
5,367 |
5.1 |
0:27:09 |
18 |
Terra Lycos |
5,350 |
5.1 |
0:06:10 |
19 |
CNET Networks |
4,929 |
4.7 |
0:06:46 |
20 |
Comcast Corp. |
4,683 |
4.4 |
0:19:46 |
21 |
Bank of America |
4,574 |
4.3 |
0:20:19 |
22 |
Apple Computer |
4,450 |
4.2 |
0:13:15 |
23 |
Gannett |
4,408 |
4.2 |
0:08:28 |
24 |
Verizon
Communications |
4,330 |
4.1 |
0:10:55 |
25 |
About-Primedia |
4,236 |
4.0 |
0:04:35 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings |
Top 25 brands
Through Sept. 5 |
| |
Parent |
Unique
Audience (000) |
Reach
% |
Time
spent per person (hh:mm:ss) |
1 |
Yahoo! |
45,220 |
42.9 |
0:42:07 |
2 |
MSN |
44,537 |
42.2 |
0:30:57 |
3 |
Microsoft |
36,508 |
34.6 |
0:12:53 |
4 |
AOL |
33,873 |
32.1 |
1:45:14 |
5 |
Google |
24,930 |
23.6 |
0:07:38 |
6 |
eBay |
15,580 |
14.8 |
0:42:47 |
7 |
Weather Channel |
8,802 |
8.3 |
0:08:11 |
8 |
Real |
8,528 |
8.1 |
0:17:49 |
9 |
Amazon |
6,463 |
6.1 |
0:09:14 |
10 |
WeatherBug |
6,296 |
6.0 |
0:10:12 |
11 |
MapQuest |
6,169 |
5.9 |
0:06:44 |
12 |
McAfee |
5,839 |
5.5 |
0:11:44 |
13 |
CNN |
5,766 |
5.5 |
0:09:37 |
14 |
Netscape |
5,391 |
5.1 |
0:10:08 |
15 |
Lycos Network |
4,991 |
4.7 |
0:05:29 |
16 |
EarthLink |
4,501 |
4.3 |
0:27:33 |
17 |
Apple |
4,450 |
4.2 |
0:13:15 |
18 |
ESPN |
4,301 |
4.1 |
0:16:59 |
19 |
Comcast |
4,036 |
3.8 |
0:21:41 |
20 |
Bank of America |
3,985 |
3.8 |
0:20:59 |
21 |
U.S. Dept. of
Commerce |
3,853 |
3.7 |
0:12:06 |
22 |
About.com |
3,711 |
3.5 |
0:04:08 |
23 |
Gator Network |
3,706 |
3.5 |
0:01:20 |
24 |
Gorilla Nation Media |
3,607 |
3.4 |
0:07:12 |
25 |
My Way |
3,441 |
3.3 |
0:05:27 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings |
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through Sept. 5 |
| # |
Company |
Impressions
(000) |
1 |
AT&T Wireless
Services, Inc. |
454,553 |
2 |
SBC Communications,
Inc. |
383,243 |
3 |
Netflix, Inc. |
376,065 |
4 |
LowerMyBills.com,
Inc. |
350,653 |
5 |
Ameriquest Mortgage
Company |
335,818 |
6 |
LoanLinks.com |
331,604 |
7 |
Dell Computer
Corporation |
329,886 |
8 |
Fun Web Products |
321,982 |
9 |
InterActiveCorp |
303,152 |
10 |
Verizon
Communications, Inc. |
230,705 |
11 |
Hewlett Packard
Company |
228,458 |
12 |
MatchNet plc |
228,226 |
13 |
Classmates Online,
Inc. |
224,071 |
14 |
DaimlerChrysler
Corporation |
219,071 |
15 |
Meredith Corporation |
217,752 |
16 |
Orbitz |
215,474 |
17 |
Apollo Group, Inc. |
193,798 |
18 |
Classes USA, Inc. |
187,769 |
19 |
Scottrade, Inc. |
175,154 |
20 |
Ameritrade Holding
Corporation |
173,820 |
21 |
NexTag.com |
171,961 |
22 |
Monster Worldwide,
Inc. |
152,541 |
23 |
BellSouth
Corporation |
140,094 |
24 |
CoolSavings, Inc. |
138,797 |
25 |
MarketRange, Inc. |
138,245 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through Sept. 5 |
| |
Company |
Impressions
(000) |
1 |
Yahoo! |
4,454,929 |
2 |
MSN |
2,307,267 |
3 |
iWon |
783,428 |
4 |
The Weather
Underground |
540,319 |
5 |
CNN |
539,631 |
6 |
The Weather Channel |
426,195 |
7 |
eBay |
342,309 |
8 |
MSNBC |
341,635 |
9 |
Excite |
297,521 |
10 |
AOL.com |
285,273 |
11 |
ESPN.com |
278,115 |
12 |
AT&T Worldnet |
273,158 |
13 |
Juno |
238,464 |
14 |
EarthLink |
218,130 |
15 |
The New York Times |
204,909 |
16 |
NetZero |
204,083 |
17 |
CBS MarketWatch |
171,230 |
18 |
Classmates |
166,248 |
19 |
CBS SportsLine |
165,718 |
20 |
Netscape |
150,857 |
21 |
myspace |
138,225 |
22 |
FOXNEWS.COM |
124,258 |
23 |
Webshots |
118,358 |
24 |
About.com |
117,164 |
25 |
Realtor.com |
111,184 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance |
Average use
Through Sept. 5 |
| |
|
Current
Week |
Last
Week |
%
Change |
| |
Sessions/Visits per
Person |
9 |
10 |
-10.00 |
| |
Domains Visited per
Person |
22 |
22 |
0.00 |
| |
PC Time per Person |
7:40:39 |
7:53:21 |
-2.68 |
| |
Active Digital Media
Universe |
106,029,638 |
106,076,288 |
-0.04 |
| |
Current Digital
Media Universe Estimate |
201,660,978 |
201,660,819 |
0.00 |
| Source:
Nielsen//Net Ratings AdRelevance |
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Sept. 14,
2004 © 2004 Media Life
--Diego Vasquez is a staff writer
for Media Life.
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