AOL Entertainment Channels are the Most Visited Sites on the Web

AOL Entertainment channels are the most visited sites in their respective categories according to the newly released comScore media metrix numbers*. AOL Music (http://aolmusic.com) took the top spot in the music category in both total unique visitors and page views which grew 32% to 427 million. AOL Television (http://television.aol.com) jumped to #1 in unique visitors and saw page views grow 25% to 225 million. Moviefone (http://moviefone.com) finished the month with a record 17.4 million unique visitors, while page views jumped 81% to 359 million for a solid #2 ranking.

“AOL has been executing on a business strategy designed to increase page views and unique visitors while increasing the value of our ad network, by delivering the best programming on the Web, and utilizing all of our resources including products and platforms to recirculate traffic throughout our sites,” said Bill Wilson, Executive Vice President of AOL Vertical Programming. “By focusing on delivering relevant and timely content and developing strategies for driving traffic to our sites, page views and unique visitors are on the rise.”

AOL Music’s growth is a direct result of content and programming that included varying editorial features, photo galleries, original programs including Sessions, The DL, 3X3 and The Interface, as well as a recently launched Grammy Awards hub. In addition, traffic increased due to varying site updates that included new lyrics search functionality and a new photo experience.

Several factors pushed AOL Television to the top spot in unique visitors including a variety of editorial packages centered on the American Idol series, continued coverage of the writers’ strike, as well as a myriad of other galleries and news pieces.

The Moviefone site saw a record number of unique visitors due to several key editorial and photo experiences including comprehensive Golden Globes and Oscar awards hubs and new episodes of Unscripted. In addition, the Moviefone site exclusively premiered the first image of the new USS Enterprise from the forthcoming Star Trek film directed by JJ Abrams.

“Our strategy of continually offering consumers the most convenient way to discover music, television and movies through our editorial filter and products is driving the engagement,” said Mike Rich, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AOL Entertainment.

Other category highlights:

* • The AOL Body site moved up again to the #3 spot in the health category, with page views growing 25% to 109 Million. • The Black Voices site remained at the #1 spot, while growing page views 6%.
* • The Asylum men’s site, which is only 2 months old, climbed to the #2 spot in its category and grew page views 158% and unique visitors 110%.
* • The AOL Sports site had the 4th month of consecutive growth in page views, up 23% to 175 Million, while unique visitors were up 11%.

Overall, AOL page views totaled 2.8 billion for January, a 20% increase month over month, while time spent was up 17%. For the year over year comparison, the growth is even stronger with page views up 24% and unique visitors up over 19%. Sixteen sites increased in total page views including Asylum (158%), Black Voices (6%), Body (25%), Food (60%), Games (15%), Home (169%), Horoscopes (19%), Latino (29%), Living (3%), Moviefone (82%), Music (45%), News (6%), Sports (23%) ,StyleList (10%), Television (45%) and TMZ (36%). Thirteen sites increased unique visitors including Asylum (110%), Black Voices (22%), Body (44%), Finance (3%), Living (18%), Home (62%), Horoscopes (10%), Moviefone (25%), Music (3%), News (2%), Sports (11%), Television (25%) and TMZ (2%).

*comScore Media Metrix numbers measured from January 1 to January 31, 2008.