Tax sites rapidly grew in January as millions of Americans looked to begin preparing to file, while many Americans also booked travel to escape the winter blues and others began the new year by researching new careers and education programmes, according to comScore Media Metrix.
comScore executive vice president Jeff Hackett said in January, the average US Internet user spent a record 36 hours online, reflecting the growing importance of digital media to Americans’ daily lives.
Among the biggest category gainers in this heavy month of Internet usage were Travel and Career sites, which posted double-digit gains, and of course Tax sites as the non-procrastinators among us decided to get an early jump on getting their refunds," said Hackett.
Google Sites yet again ranked as the number one property in January with 187.4m visitors, followed by Microsoft Sites with 179.2m and Yahoo! Sites with 177.2m.
Google Ad Network topped the January Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 92.9% of Americans online, followed by AOL Advertising with 85%, Yahoo! Network Plus with 84.8% ShareThis with 82.4% and AT&T AdWorks with 82.3%.
