comScore Networks released today the results of its latest netScore report of worldwide and U.S. Internet surfing activity for the month of November 2001. The comScore data indicate that the number of U.S. Internet users remained relatively stable, with those online spending more time and viewing more content on cooking, shopping and even new home Web sites as families came home for Thanksgiving, and the holiday shopping season began in earnest.

The Home & Living category grew 4% in U.S. visitors, who on average also viewed 4% more pages of content within the category. Allrecipes.com, the category leader in overall audience size, grew 42% to 3.2 million U.S. visitors who spent 11% more time and viewed 14% more pages on the site. In search of the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, 21% more visitors gobbled up almost twice as many more pages at marthastewart.com.

With so much time at home, many Web users apparently were confronted with the need to either improve their surroundings or change them altogether. Home improvement retailer lowes.com drew 35% more visitors, while renovationexperts.com tripled its audience. Apartments.com drew 25% more visitors, while real estate agent search site homegain.com saw a 25% increase in time spent per visitor compared to the previous month.

Many of those who chose to escape to the movies - including Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which was released in the U.S. on November 16th - used the Web to plan that escape. Visitors to AOL-Time Warner (NYSE:AOL)'s warnerbros.com, home of harrypotter.com, spiked 59%, and 53% more moviegoers sought to spend less time in theater lines by visiting moviefone.com.

Others looked forward to the entertainment provided by new offerings of the video game industry: playstation2.com doubled its audience, while nintendo.com and xbox.com turned on 63% and 34% more gamers respectively. Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), producer of software for these platforms, saw a 24% increase in unique visitors and 8% more pages viewed per visitor at its Web site ea.com.

comScore's ongoing tracking of consumer e-commerce previously reported total online sales of $4.8 billion for the month of November, an increase of 13% vs. the prior month. Of this, nearly $3.3 billion was in Hard Goods, showing an even stronger rise of 27% vs. October. Consumers clearly enjoyed the efficiency and convenience of both buying online, and conducting online research before buying offline. Shopping sites attracted more people, brought them back 10% more often and kept them 14% longer.

Millions of shoppers flocked to consumer electronics, discount and mass merchandise retailers. Major shopping sites posting significant increases in U.S. traffic are shown in the table below:

     
Total U.S. Unique Visitors (000) - Major Shopping Sites
     
                                         vs. October
                 November 2001      Change      Percent Change
amazon.com          44,212          4,980            13%
Walmart.com         6,612           2,892            77%
Bestbuy.com         7,241           2,506            53%
compaq.com          4,979           2,258            83%
target.com          4,505           1,956            77%
Overstock.com       5,005           1,625            48%
Sears.com           4,698           1,290            38%
Bluelight.com       4,437             733            20%
     

netScore is based upon the largest opt-in measurement platform in the world, with over 1.5 million representative participants. Of these, nearly 500,000 reside outside of the United States, allowing projection to the entire worldwide, English-speaking and reading Internet population. Data reported above refer to changes in Total U.S. unique visitors and activity vs. October 2001, except where otherwise indicated.

     
Table 1: netScore Internet Traffic Measurement by Location
     
               November           November           November
                   2001               2001               2001
                 Unique  % Change  Minutes  % Change    Pages  % Change
               Visitors  October-      per  October-      per  October-
Location          (000)  November  Visitor  November  Visitor  November
     
Worldwide       299,900      0.6%    1,954      6.8%    1,545      9.0%
Non-US          170,627      1.9%    1,967     14.9%    1,501     17.3%
US Total        129,274     -1.0%    1,936     -2.3%    1,603      0.6%
  Home           62,335     -1.3%    1,844      1.8%    1,549      4.7%
  Work           56,804     -1.1%    1,989     -6.5%    1,612     -3.9%
  College &     
   University    10,135      1.2%    2,204     -0.7%    1,881      2.5%
     
     
Table 2: netScore Top 50 Online Properties - November 2001
     
                                                             November
                                          November               2001
Nov.    Oct.                            2001 Total % Change Worldwide
2001    2001            Property         US Unique October-    Unique
Rank    Rank                              Visitors November  Visitors 
                                             (000)              (000)
     
1       1       Microsoft Corporation       98,156    -0.3%   242,531
2       2       Yahoo Inc.                  92,142     0.5%   214,441
3       3       AOL Time Warner             89,031     0.3%   171,602
4       4       Terra Lycos S.A.            52,185     1.1%   139,417
5       5       Amazon.com Inc.             45,337    12.1%    93,926
6       6       US Government               35,042    -7.3%    53,745
7       10      eBay Inc.                   34,215     9.3%    58,041
8       8       Primedia Inc.               33,863     3.6%    75,138
9       7       Vivendi Universal           32,894    -5.8%    70,118
10      11      Walt Disney Internet Group  31,280     3.2%    49,199
11      9       eUniverse Inc.              30,521    -2.5%    51,683
12      12      CNET Networks Inc.          30,311     4.0%    78,660
13      16      American Greetings          29,437    11.4%    51,286
14      13      InfoSpace Inc.              28,405    -0.5%    59,227
15      15      Google Inc.                 28,350     5.3%    82,644
16      14      At Home Corporation         27,068    -4.4%    58,153
17      18      Ask Jeeves Inc.             23,681     2.8%    48,789
18      21      Classmates Online Inc.      22,817    14.3%    39,273
19      17      RealNetworks Inc.           21,815    -6.1%    52,374
20      20      USA Networks Inc.           19,190   -10.9%    28,058
21      19      ColumbiaHouse               19,079   -12.1%    28,054
22      22      Viacom Inc.                 18,579     6.1%    31,574
23      23      CMGI Inc.                   16,713    -4.4%    48,328
24      24      Rank You Inc.               15,029    -9.8%    37,688
25      26      Overture Services Inc.      14,153    -4.4%    27,682
26      27      Earthlink Inc.              13,757    -5.2%    20,930
27      31      California Government       13,148    -0.3%    22,824
28      36      Bertelsmann AG              12,853     5.0%    25,541
29      30      Synapse Group Inc.          12,533    -6.5%    18,364
30      25      Homestead Technologies Inc. 12,410   -23.9%    25,934
31      34      iVillage Inc.               12,394    -3.0%    19,517
32      40      iWon Inc.                   12,360     6.2%    15,819
33      35      Verizon Communications Inc. 12,198    -2.6%    14,939
34      32      United Online Inc.          11,973    -8.4%    14,104
35      42      MyFamily.com Inc.           11,928     4.0%    23,563
36      29      FortuneCity.com Inc.        11,590   -15.6%    34,915
37      51      Sony Corporation            11,478    16.8%    24,249
38      43      MusicCity Networks          11,420     4.4%    27,616
39      28      Homestore.com Inc.          10,922   -22.9%    14,371
40      52      Bonzi Software              10,895    11.1%    22,999
41      55      Electronic Arts Inc.        10,688    12.9%    19,116
42      61      VeriSign Inc.               10,272    18.3%    21,562
43      54      Sprint Corporation          10,010     4.8%    12,980
44      38      The New York Times Company  10,007   -16.2%    13,708
45      45      WebMD Corporation            9,974    -5.3%    13,879
46      57      ATT Corporation              9,957    10.1%    12,188
47      48      Landmark Communications      9,903    -0.5%    11,442
48      44      Gannett Co. Inc.             9,890    -7.9%    13,367
49      66      Gator.com Inc.               9,735    20.3%    25,357
50      37      Providian Financial
                        Corporation          9,571   -20.1%    14,086
     

About comScore Networks

comScore Networks provides the Internet E-conomy with data-based infrastructure services that help improve sales and marketing effectiveness. Through its patent-pending Customer Knowledge Platform, comScore provides a confidentially captured, 360-degree view of the surfing behavior of more than 1.5 million opt-in Internet users, while simultaneously capturing detailed information on their online and offline buying. By leveraging this superior customer knowledge, comScore clients can optimize their decision-making and fuel high-performance, multi-channel CRM solutions. comScore's suite of services - including netScore, comScore Global Network Solutions, and comScore Private Network Solutions -- provides enterprises with a detailed understanding of the surfing and buying behavior of today's online consumers - including what they buy, how often, where, and how much they spend. comScore services are used by global leaders such as Microsoft, Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, GlaxoSmithKline, Hyatt Hotels, Dell, and AT&T. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com and www.netscoreonline.com.