The top U.S. websites in October show the election, the economy and the holiday season impacting web traffic, according to comScore’s latest numbers. There are several points worth noting, but the most interesting comScore data reveals the top 10 sites by increased traffic.
Street.com sites (stock and finance news) rose 155% since September, certainly receiving a boost from the volatile financial market. Strange-stuff purveyor Spencer Gifts LLC (where you can buy everything from a two liter “beer boot” or a “Carmen Electra professional pole” dancing kit) is the one I have the most trouble conceiving of growing traffic by 144%. The upcoming holidays are sure to thank for the boost, but still, Spencer, por favor, tell us how you did it.
Hulu.com also shows an 87% increase in traffic, followed by two health sites, Healthgrades (a hospital, doctor and nursing home ratings site that is great except for the fact they make users pay $12 per report, boo) and Everyday Health which logged over 70% growth.
See the complete top 10 chart after the jump.
comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.) October 2008 vs. September 2008
comScore shows political websites were the fastest growing traffic category on the web, surging 40 percent in October. Among political sites, Barack Obama’s website tops the list with 8.5 million visitors (John McCain had 3.8 million, also nothing to shake a stick at). Factcheck.org, the site that’s made a name for itself by fact checking claims of political candidates showed an uptick of 96% in traffic. comScore Media Metrix EVP Jack Flanagan says, “The historic presidential race had millions of Americans glued to their computers for the latest news during the final stretch of the campaign…Prospective voters were able to get up-to-the minute information on candidates, important issues and the latest poll results as they prepared to check off the box in the voting booth on November 4.”
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft sites continue to lead in number of visits, and the rest of the top ten did not differ from the previous month. However, NBC Universal elbowed its way into 33rd position with popular shows like Heroes and Deal or No Deal contributing to the increase in traffic.
