Yahoo sites the #1 web property in May

Movies and politics. Those are the subjects that drove the majority of US web traffic in May. As the summer blockbuster season took off and more voters began researching political candidates search engines and subject-specific portals saw a huge increase in traffic.

by Kristina Knight

Movie searches brought 55% more visitors to MovieTickets.com, 50% more users to Fandango.com and 65% more traffic to Flixster.com.

Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix said, “Whether searching for show-times or reviews, purchasing movie tickets or buying DVDs, the Internet is playing an increasingly significant role in the promulgation of movie information and monetization of the industry.”

Meanwhile political sites saw an overall increase of 17%, the biggest overall increase for all web categories. With presidential debates heating up and politicians getting serious about weekly podcasts and blog updates users were treated to a boost in content as well. With the increase of traffic, we can expect this trend to continue as the 2008 election draws near.

The web portals gaining the most attention in May were Yahoo and Time Warner Network. However, Amazon.com and Ask.com showed the largest user increase (50+ million visitors each) for the month of May.

Advertising.com remained at the top spot for ad-servicing websites, but Yahoo inched into the number two slot. Blue Lithium also showed an increase, jumping from number eight on the list in April to number six in May. Meanwhile, Centro entered the top twenty for the first time in May. The ad hub reached roughly 42% of the online population during the ratings period.