Top Ranking Brands and Channels for February 2002

Nielsen//NetRatings revealed February 2002’s top ranking online brands and channels for various categories, according to its new MarketView Web measurement reporting system.

Built on a content-based brand aggregation structure consisting of Channels, Brands and Parents, MarketView segments online destinations, such as MSN and Yahoo portals, based on content to accurately reflect and provide an in-depth view of their business operations and Web site taxonomy.

The study revealed that Yahoo Search grabbed the top-ranking search engine spot, attracting more than 35 million visitors in February. MSN Search claimed 32 million surfers while Google drew more than 27 million. Rounding out the top five list, more than 24 million surfers logged on to AOL Search while 11 million surfers searched the Internet using Ask Jeeves.

“Search engines continue to be the ‘go-to’ destination on the Web, with new features and services being added on a regular basis,” said Lisa Strand, director and chief e-commerce analyst at NetRatings. “As fee-based services are gradually incorporated and competition between the various search engines intensifies, it’s becoming increasingly important to compare search-specific traffic at various online destinations.”

The study ranked the top brands in the following areas: