Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service, reports that Search Engines continue to be the predominant source for visits to the Lifestyle - Politics category, sending 28.17 percent of traffic to "Politics" category web sites for the week ending November 4, 2006. Google sent most of this traffic. Hitwise also summarized traffic generated by sources as diverse as email services and consumer generated media such as YouTube, as well as the return of top political web sites Electoral-vote.com and JibJab.com.

Hitwise rankings: Top categories sending traffic to political category web sites by market share of visits, based on a sample of 10 million US internet users the week ending November 4, 2006:

• Computers and Internet - Search Engines: 28.17%
• Lifestyle - Politics: 12.86%
• Computers and Internet - Email Services: 6.78%
• Lifestyle - Blogs and Personal Websites: 5.48%
• News and Media - Print: 4.26%
• Computers and Internet - Net Communities and Chat (features many social networking websites): 3.23%
• Entertainment - Television: 3.23%
• News and Media - Broadcast Media: 2.85%
• Computers and Internet - Portal Frontpages: 2.82%
• Entertainment - Radio: 1.74%

YouTube and US Mid-Term Elections

A nascent source of traffic for the Politics category this election has been consumer generated media in the form of visits from YouTube. While accounting for a small percentage of traffic to the Politics category, YouTube generated 63% more US visits to Politics websites last week compared to the week ending October 7, 2006.

"This data shows how consumer generated media is growing in significance to several aspects of Internet use, from photo sharing and communication and now to political websites in advance of the mid-term elections," said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise. "As we look to the future, consumer generated media and the participatory nature of sites like YouTube will be along side search and email as important marketing vehicles when it comes to political campaigns."

Hitwise analysis reveals that as YouTube's share of US internet visits have grown, the percentage of its own traffic that it sends to websites in the politics category has also increased.

The Hitwise blog offers charts and more discussion on YouTube results. Follow link below to analyst website.

Top Political Websites

Although interactive maps abound on the web, one in particular seems to be a favorite of political watchers. Electoral-vote.com was the number two ranked website in the Hitwise Lifestyle - Politics category for the week ending October 30, 2004, and has re-emerged at number nine for the week ending November 4, 2006. Visits to the site have been steadily increasing as poll results are updated on the site.

Another favorite site of the 2006 elections that has been going strong this campaign season is JibJab.com which ranked as the number 16 website in the Lifestyle - Politics category for the week ending November 4, 2006. During the 2004 presidential election, it was the number six Politics website (week ending October 30, 2004), when the flash video "This Land" spread virally over the web.

» Story on Analyst Firm Website

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