comScore Releases Top Web Sites for January 2013; Travel, Jobs Hit Big

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. web activity at the top online properties for January 2013 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. As winter reached its peak in January, Americans researched the possibility of future getaways and made bookings at Travel sites. The start of a new year also sparked fresh career ideas for Americans, who turned to online Career Services during the month.

"In January, Americans combatted their winter blues by researching and even booking future vacations at online travel sites," said Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of comScore. "We also saw a very seasonal spike in the Career Services category, including Job Search, Training and Education, and Career Resource sites, as Americans looked for ways to grow their careers and expand their skill sets in 2013."

Travelers Thirst for Fun Getaways

Americans were determined to beat the winter blues in January by looking for late season travel deals or planning for ski trips and spring vacation. The Ground/Cruise travel subcategory posted strong gains during the month, rising 25 percent to 15.6 million visitors. Carnival Cruise Lines ranked first with 2.5 million visitors (up 80 percent), followed by Amtrak.com with 2.4 million (up 6 percent), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. with 2.1 million (up 34 percent) and Vacations to Go.com Sites with 1.6 million (up 48 percent).

Online Travel Agent sites also contributed to the growth of the category, growing 13 percent to 37.5 million visitors. Expedia Inc came in first with 19.3 million visitors (up 20 percent), followed by

Priceline.com Incorporated with 15.6 million (up 27 percent), Orbitz Worldwide with 11 million (up 33 percent) and Travelocity with 8.6 million (up 55 percent). Kayak.com Network rounded out the top 5 with 8.6 million visitors (up 26 percent).

Job Hunters Strike the Web

All three Career Services subcategories ranked among the fastest growing in January, with Job Search sites witnessing the largest increase (24 percent) with 28 million visitors. Indeed.com Job Search ranked #1 in the category with 17.3 million visitors (up 29 percent), followed by CareerBuilder.com Job Search with 9.6 million (up 20 percent), Monster.com Job Search with 9.1 million (up 32 percent) and SimplyHired.com Job Search with 4.7 million (up 40 percent).

Career Resource sites spiked 15 percent to 59.7 million visitors during the month, with Monster, Inc. in first with 25 million visitors (up 18 percent). In second place, CareerBuilder LLC drew 20.7 million visitors (up 7 percent), followed by Indeed with 20.7 million (up 38 percent) and About.com Jobs & Careers with 6.4 million (up 44 percent).

Tax Time for America

Tax sites saw the biggest traffic boost in January as Americans logged on to begin the process of filing their 2012 returns. The category grew 279 percent to more than 25 million visitors.

Movers & Shakers

In January, two different government sites ranked as the #1 and #2 fastest-growing properties. Traffic to IRS.gov spiked (up 158 percent to 12.7 million visitors) as Americans researched the requirements for their annual tax filing, while ED.gov helped students file their annual applications for financial aid (up 75 percent to 7.8 million). Representing the travel category, Travelocity ranked as the #4 fastest growing property this month with an increase of 55 percent to 8.6 million visitors. Representing the Career Services category, Recruit Co., Ltd. - which includes Indeed.com - jumped 36 percent to 20.9 million visitors to rank as the 10th fastest-growing property.

Top 50 Properties

Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in December with 191 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 187 million, Microsoft Sites with 170 million and Facebook.com with 146 million. Americans looked to start the year off on a healthier note, causing an influx in traffic at WebMD Health (up 9

positions to #30) and Everyday Health (up 5 positions to #42.) Leading social networking sites LinkedIn and Pinterest each jumped 4 spots to #22 and #38, respectively.

Ad Focus Rankings

comScore has expanded its ad focus reporting to provide additional granularity in the classification of ad publishers, networks and other platforms that comprise the ecosystem.

Among syndicated Ad Focus entities, ShareThis ranked first in January with a 95.1-percent reach of Americans online, followed by Yahoo! Sites (84 percent), Google (83.1 percent), Outbrain (80.1 percent) and Facebook.com (65.5 percent).

For Advertising Networks and Buy Side Networks, Google Ad Network ranked #1 with a 93.8-percent reach, followed by Specific Media (91.1 percent), Federated Media Publisher Network (86.4 percent), AOL Advertising (84.4 percent) and AT&T AdWorks (83.4 percent).

Among DSPs, SSPs and Ad Exchanges (which will include several additional entities in the coming months), Rubicon Project REVV Platform reached 97.2 percent of Americans online, followed by Fulcrum5 with 77.4 percent.

Table 1

*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in January 2013. Excludes entities whose growth was primarily due to tagging through unified digital audience measurement.

Table 2