Sure, the Internet offers a treasure trove of alternative news Web sites. But when a huge story hits, Web users turn to the more traditional media outlets to get their
information fix, as this study from comScore Networks and PRTrack indicates. Web sites from the media mainstays, such as CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and Time, saw increases of
between 60% and 100% during the recent conflict in Iraq.
"When news sites turn to wall-to-wall war coverage it's more difficult to get attention," says Graham Mudd, an analyst at comScoreNetworks. "But if you can tactfully get
exposure, the coverage can increase significantly."
Cable news sites in particular generated some decent mileage from their war coverage, as many people watched the war on CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC at night and used the
channels' Web sites as sources for war coverage during the day while in the office.
But with major combat in Iraq over, Web site levels that peaked in mid-April are now starting to level off. It will be interesting to see in the weeks ahead whether these Web
sites can maintain the big spikes in traffic -- which is what happened after the Sept. 11 attacks -- or drop down to levels prior to the news event, which was the case after the
Space Shuttle "Columbia" disaster in February.
Traffic Report
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Web Site
|
Unique (000s) Total US* Mar. '03
|
Ranking among all Web sites
|
cnn.com |
26,648
|
10
|
msnbc.com |
24,067
|
13
|
time.com |
15,112
|
24
|
nytimes.com |
8,993
|
43
|
cnet.com |
7,134
|
53
|
marketwatch.com |
6,609
|
59
|
abcnews.com |
6,415
|
64
|
foxnews.com |
4,932
|
97
|
washingtonpost.com |
4,777
|
108
|
usatoday.com |
4,362
|
130
|
Source: comScore Networks/Prtrak |