Data show that recent launches of new functionality have boosted traffic to the Map category.
Since the early days of the popular internet, people have been using Map sites to obtain driving directions and map out locales. For several years, the category was relatively stagnant, realizing increases primarily as a function of increases in the number of total internet users. However, recent innovations and added features have breathed new life into the category, attracting record visitation over the past year. The launches of Google Local and Frappr have shown that mapping sites now have more applications than previously thought, including the ability to incorporate local business information or even social networking capabilities.
- More than 65 million people, or 38 percent of the total internet audience, used Map sites in March 2006. This number represented a 19 percent increase in category traffic from a year ago.
- Google Local almost immediately became a major player in the Maps category after its 2005 debut. In March, it attracted 19.1 million visitors to rank third in the category. Mapquest still ruled the category, with 46.4 million visitors (up 11 percent), while Yahoo! Maps ranked second with 20 million visitors (up one percent).
- Outside the three dominant players, some other sites are making waves in the category. Traffic.com has seen a traffic increase of nearly 400 percent over the past year, garnering 1.1 million visitors in March. Frappr, a relatively new site generating some buzz for its innovative application of social networking software, also made a splash in March with 1.1 million visitors.
- Visitation to Map sites skews most heavily to middle-aged adults. People between 25- and 34-years-old were 20 percent more likely than average to visit these sites, while those between 35 and 44 were 16 percent more likely than average.
- In general, visitation to the category has a positive correlation to household income. Those with household incomes higher than $75,000 were 11 percent more likely than the average internet user to visit Map sites, while those with household incomes higher than $100,000 were 24 percent more likely to do so.
| Top 10 Map Sites by Unique Visitor March 2006 vs. March 2005 Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: comScore Media Metrix | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Demographic Profile Visitors to Map Category March 2006 Total U.S. - Home, Work, and University Locations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: comScore Media Metrix |
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