comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for February

comScore, Inc. SCOR today released its monthly analysis of U.S. web activity at the top online properties for February 2011 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. Valentine's Day propelled gains at Flowers/Gifts/Greetings sites and E-card sites, while Tax sites climbed as Americans began to file their 2010 tax returns. More Americans turned to Tax sites in February for help in preparing to file. The category attracted 33.1 million visitors, up 24 percent to rank as the top gaining category for the month. Each year, online tax filing typically grows each month from the beginning of the year through the April filing deadline. The Valentine's Day holiday sent many Americans online to order flowers and gifts for loved ones. The Flowers/Gifts/Greetings category drew more than 30 million Americans in February, up 18 percent from the prior month. AmericanGreetings Property ranked among the top gaining properties with 8.1 million unique visitors (up 13 percent), while ProFlowers.com surged 380 percent to 5.2 million visitors. Gifts.com came in third with 4.3 million visitors, followed by Hallmark with 2.4 million (up 16 percent), 1-800-Flowers.Com, Inc. with 2.4 million (up 59 percent) and FTD.com with 2.0 million (up 183 percent). Visitation to E-card sites grew 10 percent to 19.2 million unique visitors in February. MyFunCards.com took the top spot in the category with 4.8 million visitors (up 32 percent), followed by AG Interactive with 4.0 million visitors (up 31 percent). Evite.com attracted 3.7 million visitors, while 123Greetings.com jumped 29 percent to 2.4 million visitors. Americans flooded Auto Manufacturer sites in February following several high-profile car commercials that aired during this year's Super Bowl. More than 25 million people visited the category during the month (up 11 percent vs. January), with General Motors GM taking the top spot with 5.0 million visitors. Toyota TM drew 4.7 million visitors, followed by Ford Motor Company F with 4.6 million visitors (up 14 percent), Honda HMC with 3.8 million visitors (up 14 percent) and Chrysler LLC with 3.5 million visitors (up 59 percent). Subaru saw sizeable gains during the month as a result of their sponsorship of Animal Planet's annual "Puppy Bowl," growing 469 percent to 2.2 million unique visitors. Yahoo! YHOO Sites ranked as the #1 property in February with 177.5 million visitors, followed by Google GOOG Sites with 175.2 million and Microsoft MSFT Sites with 168.8 million. Sites new to the top 50 in February included Expedia Inc (#43), The Washington Post Company WPO (#48) and Twitter.com (#49). Google Ad Network led the February Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 92.3 percent of Americans online, followed by AOL AOL Advertising (84.6 percent reach), Yahoo! Sites (84.6 percent) and Yahoo! Network Plus (84.1 percent).