September 29 , 2009

Compete.com ranks top 50 sites for August
Results show football fans are rushing online

Enthusiastic football fans, back-to-school bargain hunters and newshounds on the beat were responsible for increases in visits to the top-gaining websites in August 2009, according to Compete.com, which provided a snapshot from its monthly ranking of the top 250 trafficked web sites.

Google, Yahoo, Facebook,  YouTube and MSN.com are the top websites for the month in terms of the sheer volume of visitors and traffic they receive.

The list of top gaining websites for August 2009 was, in part, driven by football fans and fantasy football players, Compete said. With NFL teams kicking off pre-season games, August saw a significant increase in interest in football online. NFL.com ranked among the month’s biggest gainers, growing 123 per cent month-over-month to reach 6.5 million unique visitors (UVs).

The top three most visited NFL team sites, DallasCowboys.com, Steelers.com and PhiladelphiaEagles.com also drove traffic, contributing to the Football category’s 14.5 per cent UV increase over August 2008.

The Fantasy Football category mirrored the NFL’s growth by attracting 43.8 per cent more traffic than in July 2009. The top Fantasy Football sites include streak.espn.go.com, fantasysports.yahoo.com and games.espn.go.com.

Shopping for school

Families doing back-to-school shopping also made for a significant online presence in August. Mass merchants and department-store sites continued to see traffic gains from back-to-school shoppers. The category attracted 112.7 million UVs in August 2009, an increase of 7.3 per cent over the previous year.

Headline-making news

Finally, media sites made for headline-worthy traffic jumps. News organizations gained substantial traction in August 2009, accounting for eight of the top-30 traffic-gaining websites.

As a whole, Compete reported that the business news category has grown 45.5 per cent year-over-year, reaching 64.1 million UVs in August 2009. Business magazines also made traction as a category, reaching 20.5 million sets of eyeballs in August 2009, a 7.9 per cent increase over July.

“This month’s Compete 250 snapshot shows just how ingrained the web has become in our daily lives,” said Cynthia Stephens, director of Marketing for Compete. “We turn to the web whether we are shopping, being entertained or getting up-to-the-minute news.”

About the ranking: The Compete 250 is a category made up of the top 250 trafficked sites across the web, providing an index to understand what is happening with the top online sites on a regular basis. The Compete 250 provides insight into where people spend their online time, which sites are moving up or down in the ranks, and how traffic and engagement changes over time.