Top Japan Websites for August 2008

The month saw growth at travel sites as many planned trips for vacation season. The 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China triggered gains at sports sites, while strong storms in August prompted increases at weather sites.

“Interest in the Olympics was a key driver in Web activity for August,” said Maru Sato, managing director of comScore Japan. “The Internet’s ability to provide real-time information was a valuable resource for those seeking the latest results of their favorite competitors, such as gold medalist swimmer Kousuke Kitajima, or popular events, such as the judo and baseball competitions.” 

Top Gaining Site Categories for August 2008

Several travel-related categories experienced gains in August, as vacationers planned their trips and sought vacation deals. Travel – ground/cruise sites increased 24 percent to 4.6 million visitors on the strength of gains at rail travel sites, with many Japanese vacationers opting to stay closer to home and save on the increasing costs of air and car travel due to high gasoline prices. JR-odekake.net, a Japan Railway operated site which provides train transportation information, led the category with 1.2 million visitors in August. The travel – transaction category also achieved strong gains during the month, growing 20 percent to 7.5 million visitors.

The weather category also experienced gains in August – up 17 percent to more than 13 million visitors – as vacationers sought to stay abreast of the latest weather patterns. In particular, strong August storms that carried the possibility of affecting travel plans, had people anxiously seeking weather information online.

Several events caused the sports category to gain 17 percent to nearly 20 million visitors during the month. Interest in the 2008 Olympics led to strong traffic to sports sites, as visitors searched for the latest results and medal counts. The high school baseball championships also drew visitors to sports sites to follow the status of the August tournament.

* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Top Gaining Properties for August 2008

With the Olympics and high school baseball driving interest in the sports category, some of the fastest gaining properties in August were sports sites, including NikkanSports.com (up 46 percent to 4.9 million visitors) and Sponichi.co.jp  (up 44 percent to nearly 2.9 million visitors).

MapFan.com, the top gaining property in August, grew 48 percent to 2.7 million visitors as those opting for ground travel for their August vacations sought directions and local information online.

*Ranking based on the top 100 Japanese properties in August 2008.

** Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Top 10 Properties for August 2008

Yahoo! Sites maintained its strong #1 position in the Japanese market with more than 48 million visitors in August, an increase of 3 percent from July. Google Sites maintained the #2 spot with nearly 38 million visitors (up 4 percent), followed by Rakuten Inc. with more than 32 million visitors. 

* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Source: www.comscore.com/boilerplate