ComScore's netScore Traffic Data Reveals Internet Usage Slows from May to June - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

ISP Business, Sept, 2001

comScore Networks Inc. and Diameter, a division of DoubleClick, released the netScore Internet Traffic Report for June.

The report revealed that on a worldwide basis, total Internet traffic was down one percent to 296.5 million unique visitors in June versus 299.7 million unique visitors in May. In the US traffic was down three percent to 128.4 million unique visitors in June versus 132.0 million unique visitors in May.

netScore's Top 50 Property report showed a slowing in total Internet traffic on a month-to-month basis, which can be largely attributed to the decline in traffic from the at-school audience. Visitor traffic from at-school computers, which represented almost eight percent of US Internet traffic in May, began declining as summer vacations started and decreased 40.5 percent in June compared to May.

As a result, 74 percent of Web Properties in the netScore Top 50 report experienced a decrease in traffic during the month.

While overall Internet usage did not grow in June, the travel category actually became a hotbed of activity and succeeded in posting modest growth, with 84.5 million worldwide unique visitors visiting a Travel site. This represents a 2.2 percent growth rate versus May, with almost three-quarters of travel sites in the Top 25 Travel Report experiencing an increase in visitor traffic from May to June.

The launch of orbitz.com on June 4 was a particular bright spot for the category. This new on-line travel site attracted over 7.5 million worldwide unique visitors during June, representing 4.9 million US visitors and 2.6 million international visitors, and making it the fourth most visited travel site during the month. This compares to 9.9 million worldwide unique visitors at travelocity.com and 14.8 million unique visitors at expedia.com.

Travel category highlights include:

- According to additional analysis by comScore, orbitz.com converted 1.3 percent of its visitors to buyers, and while this lags behind travelocity.com, which converted 3.2 percent, it was on par with expedia.com, which converted 1.5 percent of its visitors to buyers. The average orbitz.com buyer spent $355.56, closely followed by expedia.com at $353.69, while travelocity.com's average buyer spent $239.14.

- A cross visiting analysis revealed that 15.7 percent of visitors to travelocity.com also visited orbitz.com, while 11.8 percent of visitors to expedia.com also visited orbitz.com. The cross visiting analysis indicates that many visitors were comparing services, but also indicates that orbutz.com has an opportunity to gain additional market share.

- The June at-work audience segment continues to be very important to the travel market, with 47 percent of all US unique visitors in the category accessing travel sties from their work location. expedia.com generated 54 percent of its June US traffic from the at-work audience segment, while travelocity.com generated 53 percent and orbitz.com 48 percent from this segment.

- Hotel sites experienced only modest gains and rental car sites saw declining traffic on a month-to-month basis. Hilton.com grew visitor traffic by eight percent on a month-to-month basis, while marriott.com and basshotels.com followed with five percent and one percent increases, respectively. hertz.com, avis.com, budget.com and enterprise.com all experienced a decline in traffic from May to June.