MediaBuyerPlanner: The top-ranking and fastest-growing internet properties in the U.K. for September were Google Sites and Fish4 Sites, respectively, writes sister site MarketingCharts.
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, according to the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service; it was followed by Microsoft Sites, which attracted 26.9 million unique visitors, an 83 percent reach, comScore said.
(See table: Top 10 UK online properties.)
Wikipedia, the growth of which had leveled off over the summer, was the fastest-growing property in the top 10 in September, increasing 15 percent to attract its highest-ever U.K. audience of 13.3 million unique visitors. Wikipedia showed a similar increase a year ago, when it grew 18 percent to 8.2 million unique visitors between August and September 2006, reflecting students’ return to their studies, according to comScore.
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.
Fastest-Growing Properties
Fish4 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 property’s career resources site, Fish4jobs, traffic to which nearly doubled in September, making it the most-visited U.K. career site in Sept.
(See table: Top 10 UK visitor-gaining online properties.)
Two multichannel retailers appear in the fastest growing list:
- Popular high-street entertainment retail chain HMV’s traffic increased 25 percent to 3.4 million unique visitors.
- Traffic to the sites of Arcadia Group, the company responsible for leading high street stores such as Topshop.co.uk and Burton.co.uk, increased 17 percent to 2.7 million unique visitors.
Two popular European blogging sites, WordPress and Six Apart Sites, also enjoyed traffic growth:
- WordPress increased 25 percent to 3.8 million unique visitors.
- Six Apart Sites grew 23 percent to reach 3.5 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.”
Related stories:
- Top 50 Website Rankings for Sept. Issued; Retail, Religion, Politics Heat Up
- Top 50 Web Rankings for August Issued; Education, Retail Sports Sites Gain
- comScore Media Metrix Releases Top Web Rankings for July
