BOSTON, March 2 Compete, a Kantar Media company, today released its ranking of the top dieting, fitness and beauty Web sites for January 2010. In the first month of the year, more than 36 million unique visitors (UVs) logged on to dieting, fitness and beauty sites - 27.2 percent more traffic than December 2009. In fact, Compete's dieting and fitness category was one of the top 10 fastest growing site categories in January, ranking alongside dramatic traffic increases from tax and travel sites.
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Weight loss sites grew as consumers aimed to shrink their waistlines in January. The most heavily trafficked sites included sparkpeople.com with 3.9 million UVs and weightwatchers.com, which attracted 2.3 million would-be dieters. Jillian Michaels of NBC's Biggest Loser also continued to draw a large online following of 1.97 million UVs to jillianmichaels.com in January 2010, a 55.86 percent year-over-year increase.
Gym Web sites also cashed in on the January fitness craze. More than 1.8 million current and potential 24 Hour Fitness members visited the gym's online site in January, more than doubling traffic numbers from the previous month and year. Ballyfitness.com (628,374 UVs) and planetfitness.com (485,926 UVs) also ranked among the top 30 fitness sites in January 2010.
Network the Pounds Away
Of the 36 million would-be dieters on the Web in January, a significant portion clicked on a site in the dieting, fitness and beauty category from a social networking portal. 10.71 percent of the category visitors were referred by Facebook.com, while MySpace.com and Twitter.com also ranked among the top 20 sites referring internet traffic to the diet category.
"Because online dieters are accustomed to social networking sites - as suggested by the data above - the weight loss sites that include a social aspect are performing at the top of their category," said Christopher Bulger, data product manager at Compete. "Both Weightwatchers.com and Sparkpeople.com, which include vibrant online communities and forum discussions, are driving branded search traffic and growing rapidly."
Subscription to Change
The print media industry's continued turmoil over attracting eyeballs and subscribers is evident in the mixed bag of site traffic numbers for popular fitness magazines. Rodale.com, the online home of the Men's Health, Women's Health and Runner's World publisher saw traffic increase month-over-month and year-over-year to reach 1.48 million UVs in January 2010. On the other hand, prevention.com (Prevention Magazine), which attracted 1.04 million UVs in January, is experiencing losses compared to the previous year and month.
Information regarding industry categories is drawn from Compete PRO Enterprise, a digital intelligence solution used by some of the internet's most successful Web sites. For more information on Compete PRO Enterprise, please contact Gavin Blackmore at [email protected].
About Compete
Compete, a Kantar Media company, helps the world's top brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Leading marketers such as Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Hyundai Motor America, Upromise, Chrysler, and Verizon Wireless rely on Compete's services to create effective online experiences and highly profitable advertising campaigns. Compete's online behavior database -- the largest in the industry -- makes the Web as ingrained in marketing as it is in people's lives.
Compete was founded in 2000 and is located in Boston, MA, with offices throughout the U.S. For more information about us, please visit http://www.competeinc.com/, or to join the conversation visit http://www.compete.com/.
About Kantar Media
Established in more than in 50 countries, Kantar Media enables exploration of multimedia momentum through analysis of print, radio, TV, internet, social media, and outdoors worldwide. Kantar Media offers a full range of media insights and audience measurement services through its global business sectors - Intelligence, Audiences and TGI & Custom. Combining the deepest expertise in the industry, Kantar Media tracks more than 3 million brands and delivers insights to more than 22,000 customers around the world. (www.KantarMediaNA.com).
About Kantar
Kantar is one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 95 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies.
For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com
SOURCE Compete, Inc.
