The market share of US visits to the News and Media category increased 22% for the week ended Feb. 23 compared with the corresponding week in 2007 – and over the past two weeks the category reached its highest peak in the last 36 months, Hitwise reported.
Among the data released by Hitwise:
- The Print category, composed of online magazines and newspaper websites, increased 23% for the week ended Feb. 23 compared with the corresponding week in 2007.
- The most visited website within the Print category last week was The New York Times (nytimes.com), which received 5% of the market share of visits.
- Other top Print websites for the week included People.com which received 3% of the US visits, followed by The Washington Post, which received 2% of visits.
- The New York Times posted the largest year-over-year traffic growth among the top five websites within the Print category, with a 50% increase in US visits.
- The website of New York magazine (www.newyorkmetro.com) underwent a 336% increase in market share of visits for the week ended Feb. 23 compared with the previous week, after posting the online version of the “Lohan as Monroe” photo spread.
“The photos of Lindsay Lohan portraying Marilyn Monroe sparked considerable interest from online users last week,” said Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise. “Although the battle for the presidential nominations is certainly top of mind for many, celebrity news provides a refuge for less-heated debates.”
Top Searches for News and Media Content
- Barack Obama accounted for three of top 10 searches among both categories; American Idol and Dancing with the Stars accounted for two top 10 searches.
- Lindsay Lohan was the second most-searched term among all News and Media websites and News and Media – Print websites for last week.
- The search term “lunar eclipse” was top among all News and Media websites while “jennifer lopez” was the top search term among News and Media – Print websites.
