Retailers Boost Online Ad Spending as Holiday Buying Season Hits Home Stretch

AdRelevance Report Reveals Retailers Have Doubled Online Ad Buys Since July

SEATTLE - December 7, 1999 - AdRelevance Inc., an innovator in Internet advertising measurement and intelligent ad tracking technology, today released a report tracking the monumental run of online ad campaigns made by retailers during a 16-week period leading into December, the final and most lucrative month of the holiday buying season. A complete version of the free report can be viewed here.

Among the key findings uncovered in the latest AdRelevance Intelligence Report, entitled "'Tis the Long and Busy Season for Online Advertisers," are the following:

•	Total online retail ad spending increased by a combined average of 100 percent during the period beginning July 5 and ending the week of November 8, 1999 - with the largest share increases made by drug and toiletry vendors, auction houses, and toy and collectable vendors (see Table A below).
•	The number of retailers advertising online grew from 236 to 473 during the period, representing a more than 100 percent increase.
•	On average, retail ad campaigns increased by 73 percent moving from 695,000 impressions in July to 1.2 million in November.
•	The top four retail spenders by category were department stores in first place at 33 percent of total impressions, auction houses in second place at 16 percent, and drug and toiletry vendors sharing third place with technology vendors at 9 percent each (see Table B below).
•	While auction leaders eBay, uBid and Yahoo! significantly increased online ad activity from the week of August 9 to the week of November 8, Amazon.com went from the most visible auction advertiser, with 40 million impressions during August, to number seven with only 3 million impressions in November (see Table C below).
•	Toy companies led by ToyTime.com, Toys"R"Us and eToys, focused on an adult market by offering a range of purchasing incentives including free shipping, buy-one-toy-get-the-second-free, 20 percent discounts, car giveaways and more.

 
Table A
Retail Categories with Largest Increase in Share of Online Ad Impressions

Category	Share of Retail Impressions
	Week of July 5	Week of November 8	Change
Drug & Toiletry	2.0%	8.9%	6.9%
Toys & Collectibles	1.6%	7.9%	6.3%
Auction Houses	11.4%	16.3%	4.8%
Office Supply	0.7%	4.7%	3.9%
Jewelry & Accessory	0.0%	0.0%	1.6%
Grocers	0.0%	1.6%	1.6%
Pet Supply	0.1%	1.5%	1.4%
Home & Garden	1.3%	2.3%	1.0%
Apparel	0.5%	1.4%	0.9%
Event & Ticket*	0.0%	0.7%	0.7%

* Advertising began week of July 19.

 
Graph B
Percentage of Overall Online Ad Spending By Retail Category (Week of November 8)

	Category	Percentage of Impressions
1	Department Stores	33
2	Auction Houses	16
3	Drug & Toiletry Vendors	9
4	Technology Vendors	9
5	Toys & Collectibles Vendors	8
6	Office Supply Vendors	5
7	Flowers & Gifts	5
8	Book, Movie, & Music Vendors	4
9	Home & Garden Vendors	2
10	Other	9

 
Graph C
Online Ad Leaders in Online Auction House Category (By Impression)

Week of August 9th				Week of November 8th
Rank	Company	Impressions		Rank	Company	Impressions
1	Amazon.com	40,000,000		1	eBay	36,000,000
2	uBid	20,000,000		2	uBid	34,000,000
3	eBay	20,000,000		3	Yahoo!	11,000,000
4	Yahoo!	7,600,000		4	Infoseek	6,200,000
5	Onsale	2,700,000		5	First Auction	4,850,000
18	First Auction	84,000		7	Amazon.com	3,100,000
n/a	Infoseek	n/a		9	Onsale	1,200,000

"It's no secret that the e-tail sector is growing at torrid rates. In fact our numbers show that online ad impressions in the category doubled over the past four months alone," said Charlie Buchwalter, vice president of media research at AdRelevance. "But the real story lies in the details. There is tremendous variation by sub-segment within retail, as well as in company-by-company ad placement strategies. Understanding these details is critical to making heads or tails out of this holiday season's online ad blitz."

AdRelevance Intelligence Reports
AdRelevance Intelligence Reports are released monthly and are designed to provide customers, news media, and industry watchers with a timely perspective on the rapidly changing landscape of online advertising.

AdRelevance Intelligence reports are compiled by the company's Media Research Group, who analyze data collected from AdRelevance's proprietary ad tracking service. Each member of the team brings industry-specific expertise to their analyses as well as an understanding of marketing strategies and Internet technology.

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The AdRelevance Service tracks where, when, how and how much Web marketers and their competitors are advertising online. AdRelevance provide Web advertisers and marketers with the ability to plan proactive online campaigns and make smarter media buying decisions. The company tracks competitive online advertising data for nine industries including automotive, consumer goods, financial services, hardware and electronics, retail, software, telecommunications, travel and Web media. The company also provides a "cross industry" category to allow users to compare goods and services across all of the industries listed above.

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About AdRelevance
AdRelevance, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Metrix, Inc. (NASDAQ: MMXI), the pioneer and leader in Internet and digital media measurement. Founded in 1998, the company's intelligent agent technology combs over 2,000 Web sites daily and evaluates 40 million page views monthly to provide comprehensive and in-depth advertising tracking information. Using the Ad Relevance Service, advertisers gain access to up-to-date intelligence about their competitors' online marketing communications programs, enabling them to quickly and easily compare and report information by a wide range of criteria including advertiser, product, message, industry, location, technology and creative. More information on the company and an interactive demonstration of its service is available at www.adrelevance.com or by calling 1-888-649-6540.