Photos: Compete Ranks Top 50 Web Sites for September 2009

Photos: Compete Ranks Top 50 Web Sites for September 2009

Football Season Kicks Off and Fall TV Scores Big; Consumers Seek H1N1 Answers

BOSTON, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Compete, a TNS Media company, today released its ranking of the top 50 Web sites for September 2009. This month, football fans drove traffic to sports news sites and TV enthusiasts tuned in online with new shows on the air. The football category saw a 28 percent increase in unique visitors (UVs) over August 2009, and has increased 15 percent year-over-year. Online visitor counts at television sites have also increased 13 percent year-over-year with more than 75.2 million UVs in September 2009. The list of top 50 most heavily trafficked Web sites remained largely unchanged in September, with search, social networking, retailers and job search sites leading online interest.

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Are you ready for some football?

College football and NFL teams hit the field in September, sending an online traffic spike to sports-focused Web sites. Of the top 20 traffic increases last month, seven can be tied to sports news or football season. College football site rivals.com grew 152 percent over August 2009 to reach more than 7.4 million online fans in September. NBC.com (6.4 million UVs), CBSsports.com (6.6 million UVs) and FOXsports.com (6.5 million UVs) also saw dramatic traffic increases.

Both CBSsports.com and FOXsports.com are bidding on football related search terms ("college football", "fantasy football", etc). Each site is among the top ten traffic-generating destinations from searches containing "college football". By contrast, EPSN.com that also bid on that search term ranks 46th on the list.

A New Breed of Couch Potato

As the networks rolled out their fall TV lineups, TV fans flocked to the Web to find schedules, watch trailers and catch up on missed season premiers. NBC.com (6.4 million UVs), the home of The Biggest Loser and America's Got Talent saw 58 percent growth over August 2009; while CBS.com (6.9 million UVs), the home of Medium and Survivor: Samoa, attracted 45 percent more visitors. TVGuide.com also had a high growth September, reaching more than 6.9 million UVs (28 percent increase). Finally, Hulu.com saw 7.2 million UVs, a 14 percent increase in online video traffic over the previous month.

"Sports is always a huge traffic generator," said Cynthia Stephens, director of marketing at Compete. "In addition to helping marketers gain a better understanding of where they can reach NFL and college football enthusiasts online, this month's ranking gives us insight into which networks are likely to attract loyal fans, and in turn, which networks will draw new advertising dollars."

A Shot in the Arm

The threat of a swine flu pandemic and a newly available vaccine sent consumers searching for answers in September. Traffic to CDC.gov increased 37 percent over August to reach 5.1 million visitors, and NIH.gov experienced 12 percent growth, reaching 9.6 million. Health information site WebMD also continued its run in the top 50 sites, ranking at number 46 in terms of overall traffic at 19.8 million unique visitors in September.

About Compete

Compete, a unit of TNS Media, helps the world's top brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Leading marketers such as Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Hyundai Motor America, Upromise, Chrysler, and Verizon Wireless rely on Compete's services to create effective online experiences and highly profitable advertising campaigns. Compete's online behavior database -- the largest in the industry -- makes the Web as ingrained in marketing as it is in people's lives. Compete was founded in 2000 and is located in Boston, MA, with offices throughout the U.S. For more information about us, please visit http://www.competeinc.com/, or to join the conversation visit http://www.compete.com/.

About TNS Media

Established in more than 30 countries, TNS Media explores all the media - print, radio, TV, Internet, social media, cinema and outdoors worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers a full range of insights, analyses and audience measurement services.

TNS Media combines the deepest expertise in the industry to provide media and marketing intelligence including advertising expenditure monitoring, advertising creation monitoring, audience measurement, market influence analytics, online consumer behavior tracking, news monitoring, sports sponsorship evaluation and more. The TNS Media companies track more than 3 million brands and provide vital market intelligence to 16,000 customers in the world. http://www.tnsmediagroup.com/.

All logos, company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

About Kantar Group

The Kantar Group is one of the world's largest research, insight and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of more than 20 specialist companies -- including the recently-acquired TNS -- the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. For further information, please visit www.Kantar.com.

First Call Analyst:
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Video: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/compete/40705

Source: Compete

CONTACT: Cynthia Stephens of Compete, Inc., +1-617-933-5651,
cstephens@compete.com; or Gretchen Bender of Greenough Communications,
+1-617-275-6526, gbender@greenoughcom.com

Web Site: http://www.compete.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment