Lotto sites witnessed a huge spike in traffic as the Mega Millions jackpot climbed towards its eventual $656 million total in March, according to comScore’s Media Metrix service.
Meanwhile, Travel sites were busy keeping up with spring break and summertime travel demand.
“Americans were ‘all-in’ for the Mega Millions jackpot in March as the prize climbed to its greatest payout in U.S. history at $656 million,” said Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of comScore. “Travel sites saw considerable pickup during the month as many looked to book last-minute spring break trips and summer travel.”
Big Prize Money Draws Players to Lotto Sites
The Mega Millions jackpot had American hopefuls visiting Lotto sites to buy tickets or check to see if they held the winning ticket. The category drew nearly 29 million visitors in March, up 25 percent to rank as the top-gaining category for the month. MegaMillions.com ranked #1 with 6.4 million visitors, up 590 percent versus February to reach an all-time high for the property. CALottery.com ranked second with 3.2 million visitors (up 101 percent), followed by EPrize.net with 2.6 million, SwagBucks.com with 2.6 million (up 10 percent), LotteryPost.com with 1.5 million (up 62 percent) and PowerBall.com with 1.5 million.
Travel Tops the Charts in March
In March, Americans were seeking to book last-minute spring break travel or looking ahead to summertime getaways, which helped several travel subcategories rank among the top-gainers.
For those looking to book a few months out, Travel Information sites were particularly helpful, drawing 69.7 million visitors during the month (up 10 percent).
TripAdvisor Media Group led the pack with 18.1 million visitors (up 5 percent), followed by Travora Media with 15.5 million visitors (up 5 percent) and Yahoo! Travel with 11.1 million visitors (up 9 percent).
Airline sites grew 8 percent to 29.8 million visitors in March, with Southwest Airlines Co. ranking first in the category with 10.9 million visitors (up 17 percent).
Delta Airlines secured the #2 spot with 6.1 million visitors (up 9 percent), followed by United Airlines with 5.4 million (up 61 percent), American Airlines with 4.8 million (up 8 percent), JetBlue Airways with 3.3 million (up 1 percent) and US Airways Group, Inc. with 2.6 million (up 8 percent).
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in March with 189.7 million visitors, followed by Microsoft Sites with 178.9 million, Yahoo! Sites with 175.4 million and Facebook.com with 158.9 million. Ask Network climbed to the #7 position, while ESPN jumped 6 positions to rank #26.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Google Ad Network led the March Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 91.7 percent of Americans online, followed by AOL Advertising (83.1 percent), Google (81.7 percent), Yahoo! Network Plus (81.4 percent) and AT&T AdWorks (81.1 percent).
Table 1
| comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.)March 2012 vs. February 2012Total U.S. – Home, Work and University LocationsSource: comScore Media Metrix | ||||
| Total Unique Visitors (000) | ||||
| Feb-12 | Mar-12 | % Change | Rank by Unique Visitors | |
| Total Internet : Total Audience | 219,988 | 224,020 | 2 | N/A |
| PerformerSoft.com | 3,660 | 9,225 | 152 | 186 |
| Sun Microsystems, Inc. | 5,986 | 8,410 | 40 | 201 |
| Babylon.com | 6,383 | 8,824 | 38 | 196 |
| CollegeHumor Media | 5,690 | 7,549 | 33 | 218 |
| TheStreet Sites | 5,418 | 7,079 | 31 | 234 |
| MLB | 7,863 | 9,758 | 24 | 177 |
| DailyMotion.com | 11,474 | 13,824 | 20 | 118 |
| SB Nation | 9,082 | 10,865 | 20 | 153 |
| Instagr.am | 6,906 | 8,208 | 19 | 204 |
| ESPN | 31,744 | 37,721 | 19 | 26 |
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in March 2012. Excludes entities whose growth was primarily due to tagging through unified digital audience measurement.
Table 2
| comScore Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)March 2012 vs. February 2012Total U.S. – Home, Work and University LocationsSource: comScore Media Metrix | |||
| Total Unique Visitors (000) | |||
| Feb-12 | Mar-12 | % Change | |
| Total Internet : Total Audience | 219,988 | 224,020 | 2 |
| Gambling – Lotto/Sweepstakes | 23,158 | 28,970 | 25 |
| Travel – Transactions | 3,382 | 3,801 | 12 |
| Travel – Information | 63,312 | 69,705 | 10 |
| News/Information – Politics | 41,374 | 45,494 | 10 |
| Retail – Tickets | 26,793 | 29,193 | 9 |
| Travel – Airlines | 27,520 | 29,784 | 8 |
| Entertainment – Humor | 57,506 | 61,382 | 7 |
| Travel – Car Rental | 6,812 | 7,260 | 7 |
| Travel – Hotels/Resorts | 33,063 | 35,088 | 6 |
| Career Resources & Development – Job Search | 21,953 | 23,217 | 6 |
Table 3
| comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.)March 2012Total U.S. – Home, Work and University LocationsSource: comScore Media Metrix | ||||||
| Rank | Property | Unique Visitors(000) | Rank | Property | Unique Visitors(000) | |
| Total Internet : Total Audience | 224,020 | |||||
| 1 | Google Sites | 189,662 | 26 | ESPN | 37,721 | |
| 2 | Microsoft Sites | 178,897 | 27 | Technorati Media | 37,455 | |
| 3 | Yahoo! Sites | 175,356 | 28 | LinkedIn.com | 37,414 | |
| 4 | Facebook.com | 158,926 | 29 | AT&T Interactive Network | 35,154 | |
| 5 | AOL, Inc. | 109,921 | 30 | Adobe Sites | 35,078 | |
| 6 | Amazon Sites | 106,305 | 31 | NetShelter Technology Media | 34,385 | |
| 7 | Ask Network | 92,324 | 32 | Disney Online | 34,130 | |
| 8 | Wikimedia Foundation Sites | 86,221 | 33 | Tribune Interactive | 33,825 | |
| 9 | CBS Interactive | 82,530 | 34 | Alloy Digital Network | 32,160 | |
| 10 | Apple Inc. | 81,157 | 35 | Yelp.com | 32,089 | |
| 11 | Turner Digital | 80,897 | 36 | Fox News Digital Network | 31,227 | |
| 12 | Glam Media | 78,337 | 37 | Break Media | 29,942 | |
| 13 | Comcast NBCUniversal | 78,317 | 38 | Everyday Health | 28,870 | |
| 14 | New York Times Digital | 75,703 | 39 | Netflix.com | 27,448 | |
| 15 | Viacom Digital | 75,264 | 40 | Internet Brands, Inc. | 26,294 | |
| 16 | eBay | 70,588 | 41 | The Washington Post Company | 26,121 | |
| 17 | Federated Media Publishing | 65,949 | 42 | Cox Enterprises Inc. | 24,936 | |
| 18 | Demand Media | 63,698 | 43 | Myspace | 24,720 | |
| 19 | VEVO | 58,288 | 44 | Discovery Digital Media Sites | 24,543 | |
| 20 | Weather Channel, The | 54,078 | 45 | BitTorrent Network | 24,199 | |
| 21 | craigslist, inc. | 53,251 | 46 | EA Online | 24,084 | |
| 22 | Gannett Sites | 50,258 | 47 | Target Corporation | 24,028 | |
| 23 | Answers.com Sites | 45,088 | 48 | Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. | 23,835 | |
| 24 | Twitter.com | 40,310 | 49 | Yellowbook Network | 23,734 | |
| 25 | Wal-Mart | 39,050 | 50 | WeatherBug Property | 22,642 | |
Table 4
| comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.)March 2012Total U.S. – Home, Work and University LocationsSource: comScore Media Metrix | ||||||||
| Rank | Property | Unique Visitors (000) | % Reach | Rank | Property | Unique Visitors (000) | % Reach | |
| Total Internet : Total Audience | 224,020 | 100.0 | ||||||
| 1 | Google Ad Network** | 205,443 | 91.7 | 26 | Adconion Media Group** | 124,611 | 55.6 | |
| 2 | AOL Advertising** | 186,241 | 83.1 | 27 | AdBlade Network** | 122,353 | 54.6 | |
| 3 | 182,948 | 81.7 | 28 | Undertone** | 116,815 | 52.1 | ||
| 4 | Yahoo! Network Plus** | 182,319 | 81.4 | 29 | AOL, Inc. | 109,921 | 49.1 | |
| 5 | AT&T AdWorks** | 181,602 | 81.1 | 30 | CPX Interactive** | 105,121 | 46.9 | |
| 6 | ShareThis | 179,875 | 80.3 | 31 | Smowtion Ad Network** | 104,617 | 46.7 | |
| 7 | Yahoo! Sites | 175,356 | 78.3 | 32 | Meebo | 93,614 | 41.8 | |
| 8 | 24/7 Real Media Global Web Alliance** | 174,856 | 78.1 | 33 | Ask Network | 92,324 | 41.2 | |
| 9 | ValueClick Networks** | 174,168 | 77.7 | 34 | Traffic Marketplace** | 92,172 | 41.1 | |
| 10 | Specific Media** | 173,422 | 77.4 | 35 | AMAZON.COM* | 89,850 | 40.1 | |
| 11 | Microsoft Media Network US** | 171,328 | 76.5 | 36 | Bing | 89,731 | 40.1 | |
| 12 | Tribal Fusion** | 166,927 | 74.5 | 37 | WIKIPEDIA.ORG* | 85,938 | 38.4 | |
| 13 | AdBrite** | 161,068 | 71.9 | 38 | Monster Career Ad Network (CAN)** | 85,132 | 38.0 | |
| 14 | PulsePoint** | 160,634 | 71.7 | 39 | Rocket Fuel** | 83,143 | 37.1 | |
| 15 | Casale Media – MediaNet** | 159,040 | 71.0 | 40 | Kontera** | 82,938 | 37.0 | |
| 16 | FACEBOOK.COM | 158,926 | 70.9 | 41 | Glam Media | 78,337 | 35.0 | |
| 17 | Collective Display** | 156,507 | 69.9 | 42 | Windows Live | 72,194 | 32.2 | |
| 18 | Vibrant Media** | 153,848 | 68.7 | 43 | Technorati Media** | 71,449 | 31.9 | |
| 19 | RadiumOne** | 152,042 | 67.9 | 44 | Federated Media Publishing | 65,949 | 29.4 | |
| 20 | interclick** | 148,022 | 66.1 | 45 | Demand Media | 63,698 | 28.4 | |
| 21 | Cox Digital Solutions – Network** | 145,376 | 64.9 | 46 | Dedicated Media** | 62,182 | 27.8 | |
| 22 | AudienceScience** | 142,824 | 63.8 | 47 | Redux Media – Reach & Response Network** | 59,599 | 26.6 | |
| 23 | Burst Media** | 133,368 | 59.5 | 48 | About | 59,368 | 26.5 | |
| 24 | YOUTUBE.COM* | 125,861 | 56.2 | 49 | Brand.net Network** | 56,581 | 25.3 | |
| 25 | MSN | 125,719 | 56.1 | 50 | Weather Channel, The | 54,078 | 24.1 | |
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in March. For instance, Yahoo! Sites was seen by 78.3 percent of the 224 million Internet users in March.
* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.
** Denotes an advertising network.
