ABC.com Top Broadcast Network TV Site in ‘07-’08, CBS.com Visit Share Soars

ABC.com was the most-visited TV broadcast network website for the 2007-08 season, but CBS.com had the greatest growth in terms of market share of U.S. online visits.

CBS.com’s market share increased 41% from the 2006-07 season - the largest growth among the six leading broadcast network websites, according to (pdf) Hitwise, MarketingCharts writes.

(View table of most visited US network broadcast sites.)

• ABC.com received 27.14% of U.S. visits among the six networks’ websites for the weeks ended September 29, 2007 - May 24, 2008, followed by NBC.com with 27.01%.
• CBS.com received the third-largest average market share of U.S. visits with 21.51%, followed by FOX with 17.54%.
• CWTV.com received 6.61 average percentage of U.S. visits, and MyNetworkTV.com received 0.19% of all U.S. visits among the six broadcast networks.
• The CW website recorded the second-largest growth in average visits: 27%. Visits to FOX.com and aggregated websites to the domain increased 6%.

“Online traffic among the networks has become increasingly more competitive. Media executives must understand how their programming and promotion investments have fared against the competition in order to fuel future decisions,” said Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise.

“The continued popularity of reality television shows, especially during the writers’ strike, has also translated to online visits, helping to drive traffic as fans seek additional content about their favorite stars.”

Time Spent on Site

During the ‘07-’08 broadcast television season, users spend the most time, on average, on CBS.com - 10 minutes and 24 seconds, or a 39% increase from the ‘06-’07 season (see table).

• NBC.com was second, with 10 minutes and 7 seconds, followed by CWTV.com with 9 minutes and 42 seconds.
• The CW website recorded the second-largest increase in average time spent - 27% - compared with the previous season.

American Idol Most-Visited Website

AmericanIdol.com was the most-visited broadcast network television show website among a custom category of 100 TV show websites from the six leading broadcast networks for the ‘07-’08 television season. View table of most visited tv show websites.

• AmericanIdol.com received an average of 14.01% of all U.S. visits to websites within the category.
• NBC’s Deal or No Deal website received the second-largest average percentage of US visits, 13.33%, for the 2007-2008 season. Next was ABC’s Dancing with the Stars website, which received 7.33% of visits.
• CBS’s Survivor Micronesia website received 4.78% of visits, and FOX’s America’s Most Wanted website rounded out the top 5 visited shows, receiving 3.86% of visits.

Those results are from weekly Hitwise Conversions reports that rank the selected broadcast network television show websites, whether a standalone site such as American Idol’s or a section within a larger website such as Deal or No Deal’s. The show websites are ranked by market share of US visits among all the websites included.

Note: Broadcast networks are CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, The CW and MyNetworkTV; the 2007-2008 season refers to the period with weeks ended September 29, 2007 - May 24, 2008.