Entertainment/Lifestyles Overtakes Personals/Dating to Become Leading Paid Content Category

NEW YORK, NY -- October 31, 2005 -- The Online Publishers Association (OPA) today released its Paid Content U.S. Market Spending Report covering Q1 and Q2 of 2005. The study, conducted by comScore Networks, determined that consumer spending for online content in the U.S. grew to $987 million in the first half of 2005, an increase of 15.7 percent over the same period last year. For the first time ever, in Q2 of 2005, quarterly sales of content topped half a billion dollars.

Spurred by growth in online music sales, Entertainment/Lifestyles overtook Personals/Dating to become the leading paid content category, with consumers spending $264.8 million on the category in the first half of 2005. Personals/Dating grew to $245.2 million in the first half of 2005, while Business/Investment content remained in third place with spending at $159.1 million.

"Consumers are turning to the Web for entertainment more and more, and as they do sales of content continue to rise," said Michael Zimbalist, president of the Online Publishers Association. "We suspect this trend will continue as new products such as the Video iPod and other mobile devices play greater roles in digital content distribution."

The Entertainment/Lifestyles category was by far the fastest-growing paid content category in the first half of 2005, up 44.8 percent over the same period last year. However, after registering steady declines during the first half of 2004, the Research category also surged back with a 33.8 percent year-over-year increase, the second-largest percentage gain among all categories. Games and Personal Growth were also up significantly, by 22.5 percent and 19.4 percent, respectively.

Single purchase sales, as opposed to subscriptions, continued to rise. In the first half of 2005, single purchases accounted for 20.1 percent of total online content sales, up from 15.4 percent in 2004. Single-purchase sales in the Entertainment/Lifestyles category, alone, accounted for $114.9 million in revenue in the first half of 2005.

Out of a total U.S. online population of 171.0 million in the second quarter of 2005, 19.4 million paid for online content, up 15.6 percent from the 16.8 million who paid for content online in Q2 2004. The 15.6 percent growth in paid-content consumers in Q2 2005 over Q2 2004 is substantially greater than the growth of the U.S. Internet population during the same time period (11.9 percent).

The information contained in the OPA's Paid Online Content U.S. Market Spending Report is based not on self-reported consumer surveys, but on actual observed purchases of content. comScore Networks calculated the results of the study by passively and electronically monitoring the actual purchase and usage transactions that took place during the analysis period within its representative panel of more than 1.5 million U.S. online consumers.

The full report covering the first half of 2005 can be found at the Online Publishers Association Web site at www.online-publishers.org.

About comScore Networks

comScore Networks provides unparalleled insight into consumer behavior and attitudes. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore explicit permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its patent-pending technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore consultants apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

About the Online Publishers Association

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 109.5 million visitors, or 65 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, July 2005 combined home/work/university data). For more information about the Online Publishers Association, www.online-publishers.org.

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Lisa Carparelli
Online Publishers Association
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