Compete Releases Ranking of Top 50 Web Sites for June 2010

BOSTON, MA–(Marketwire – August 27, 2010) –  Compete, a Kantar Media company, today released its ranking of the top 50 web sites for June 2010. Among the notable movements for the month were traffic increases to the online homes of cable networks, online book sellers and tourism sites related to the Gulf Coast.

Cable TV Networks Gain Steam
June was a big month in television, as the premieres of top cable programs were as prevalent as tanning beds on the MTV hit, Jersey Shore. Traffic to MTV.com hit 8,476,380 unique visitors (UVs) in June, up 10.73 percent from May and 27.02 percent from June of last year, likely in anticipation of the runaway hit’s second season premiere. Other cable networks experienced strong month-over-month gains — amc.com shot up 58.84 percent in June, perhaps due to the highly anticipated Mad Men season premiere in July. June was also a good month for usanetwork.com with 960,297 UVs (+40.39 percent from May), bravotv.com with 1,354,229 UVs (+20.43 percent month-over-month) and comedycentral.com with 2,204,590 UVs, (+ 26.93 percent from May).

Booksellers Thrived Online
Barnesandnoble.com experienced an 18.48 percent lift in traffic during June and recent news about the company suggests that many strategic changes lie ahead as it aims to close the gap between B&N and top dog Amazon. As the mercury rose in June, so did traffic to the sites of many booksellers. Amazon.com cemented its frontrunner position not only in the books and magazines category, but across the entire web, ranking as the number eight site overall in Compete’s ranking of the June’s top movers with a total of 66,634,401 UVs, up 9.47 percent from June 2009. Additional online bookstores that displayed growth in June include barnesandnoble.com, which experienced a total of 8,378,539 UVs, representing a traffic increase of 18.48 percent from May, borders.com (3,532,066 June UVs — up 0.95 percent from May) and bordersmedia.com felt a monthly increase of 15.47 percent (up to 1,975,006 UVs). Among top moving magazine sites in June were magazineline.com (+ 9.61 percent), magazines.com (+ 12.78 percent), emagazines.com (+ 39.51 percent) and discountmagazines.com (+ 30.93 percent).

Tourists Tested Gulf Waters Online
Not surprisingly, bp.com experienced a 46.37 percent uptick in traffic in June for a total of 2,517,876 UVs — up 1237.03 percent over June 2009. NOAA.gov had a total of 6,009,333 UVs, representing a year-over-year traffic increase of 81.26 percent. A potentially optimistic sign, however, is that despite the recent oil spill, traffic to Gulf Coast tourism sites gulfcoast.org and gulfshores.com rose 25.5 percent (to 50,913 UVs) and 37.71 percent (to 139,446 UVs) for the month. Perhaps this is something the region can build on as it receives millions in marketing dollars from BP.

Information regarding aggregate Web categories is drawn from the Compete PRO Enterprise edition on Compete.com. For more information on the enterprise offering, please contact Gavin Blackmore at [email protected].

About Compete
Compete, a Kantar Media company, 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, please visit http://www.compete.com/.

About Kantar Media
Established in more than in 50 countries, Kantar Media enables exploration of multimedia momentum through analysis of print, radio, TV, internet, social media, and outdoors worldwide. Kantar Media offers a full range of media insights and audience measurement services through its global business sectors — Intelligence, Audiences and TGI & Custom. Combining the deepest expertise in the industry, Kantar Media tracks more than 3 million brands and delivers insights to more than 22,000 customers around the world. (www.KantarMediaNA.com).

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