Back to School Season Boosts Traffic to Wikipedia By 15 PercentRetail and career sites also show seasonal growthcomScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its report on the top ranking and fastest growing Internet properties in the U.K. for September, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.Top 10 Properties for SeptemberGoogle was the most visited property in September, with 28.6 million unique visitors age 15 or older, reaching 89 percent of the total U.K. Internet audience. It was followed by Microsoft Sites, which attracted 26.9 million unique visitors, an 83 percent reach.Wikipedia, a site whose growth had leveled off over the summer, was the fastest growing property in the top ten in September, increasing by 15 percent to attract its highest ever U.K. audience of 13.3 million unique visitors. The online encyclopedia site showed a similar increase a year ago, when it grew by 18 percent to 8.2 million unique visitors between August and September 2006, reflecting the impact of students returning to their studies in September.Students’ return to school also gave a boost to Amazon Sites, which grew 3 percent over the previous month to attract 13.6 million unique visitors in September – reaching 42 percent of the total U.K. Internet audience.Top Gaining Properties for SeptemberFish4 Sites was the fastest growing property in the U.K. in September, increasing 34 percent to 2.9 million unique visitors. This growth can be attributed to the popularity of the property’s career resources site, Fish4jobs. Traffic to the site nearly doubled in September, making Fish4jobs.com the most visited career site in the UK for the month. September is typically a month that sees increased traffic to career sites following a slower summer period.Two multi-channel retailers appear in the fastest growing list. Popular high-street entertainment retail chain HMV saw traffic to their site increase by 25 percent to 3.4 million unique visitors. Arcadia Group, the company responsible for leading high street stores such as Topshop.co.uk and Burton.co.uk saw total online traffic to their sites increase 17 percent in September to 2.7 million unique visitors.Bob Ivins, EVP of International Markets at comScore, observed: “To see traffic mirror what is happening in the general population is another example of how pervasive and engrained the Internet is in people’s everyday lives. The start of the school year drove traffic to online retail sites, encyclopedia sites, and career sites.”Two popular European blogging sites WordPress and Six Apart Sites also enjoyed traffic growth. WordPress, which provides downloadable software for Internet bloggers, increased 25 percent to 3.8 million unique visitors, whilst Six Apart Sites grew 23 percent to reach 3.5 million unique visitors.This news release with table is available from www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1851
comScore Ranks Top Web Sites in U.K. For September
Google was the most visited property in September, with 28.6 million unique visitors age 15 or older, reaching 89 percent of the total U.K. Internet audience. It was followed by Microsoft Sites, which attracted 26.9 million unique visitors, an 83 percent reach. Wikipedia, a site whose growth had leveled off over the summer, was the fastest growing property in the top ten in September, increasing by 15 percent to attract its highest ever U.K. audience of 13.3 million unique visitors.