The Reston, Virginia based web researcher, comScore, Inc. on March 20 released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for February 2009 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service.

According to the comScore analysis, the month of February represented a softer month for total Web activity due to having fewer days, with only a handful of site categories achieving gains versus January. The gaining categories were Flowers/Gifts/Greetings and E-cards, which benefited from Valentine’s Day, and travel and tax preparation sites, which also saw seasonal increases.

Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, said, “Valentine’s Day was a key driver of online activity in February as Americans bought gifts and sent e-cards to their loved ones. This month also saw a significant spike in activity to Hulu after it aired an ad during this year’s Super Bowl, which both ignited the site’s popularity and highlighted the growing mainstream appeal of online video.”

The comScore analysis showed that Hulu, the online video joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp, was #2 growing property online. Hulu surged 55 percent to 7.8 million unique visitors in February, driven in large part by its TV ad campaign starring Alec Baldwin. This considerable growth helped Hulu secure the #2 spot in this month’s Top-Gaining Properties ranking. Please check out the most recent comScore Video Metrix ranking: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2741 for figures on video viewing at Hulu, including videos viewed in its syndicated network of sites.

The comScore monthly analysis articulated that traffic to tax sites surged as season continued. February marked another strong month for the Tax category as increasing numbers of Americans took to filing their 2008 returns. The category grew 22 percent to more than 30 million visitors. Among the three largest tax providers, Intuit's TurboTax division lead in growth with 36 percent (compared to 21 percent for all Intuit Properties) followed by TaxACT with 32 percent and H&R Block with 20 percent.

According to the comScore analysis, traffic at gift and e-cards sites gained due to Valentine’s Day, which is an occasion for Americans to express their love and appreciation for friends, family members and significant others. Traffic to Retail – Flowers/Gifts/Greetings sites jumped 15 percent to 35.6 million visitors, led by AmericanGreetings Property with 13.1 million visitors. Triple-digit growth was experienced by several sites, including ProFlowers.com (up 427 percent to 4.7 million visitors) and FTD.com (up 260 percent to 3.5 million visitors). E-Cards sites also experienced gains in February, growing 5 percent to 21.3 million visitors. AG Interactive, which includes AmericanGreetings.com and BlueMountain.com, led the category with 6 million visitors, followed by Evite.com with 5 million visitors, and 123Greetings.com with 3.2 million visitors.

The monthly analysis showed that the travel sites gained as Americans hunt for spring travel bargains. Travel sites experienced seasonal gains in February sparked by spring travel planning. The Online Travel Agents category grew 1 percent to 39.5 million visitors, led by Expedia, Inc. with nearly 23 million visitors. Orbitz Worldwide ranked second with nearly 14 million visitors, followed by Priceline.com Inc. with 9.7 million visitors. The other travel categories that experienced increases included the Travel – Information category, led by TravelAdNetwork with 10.4 million visitors, and the Travel – Hotel/Resorts category, led by Hilton Hotels with 4.7 million visitors.

According to the comScore analysis, Google Sites continued to lead as the most visited property in February with nearly 149 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 144.3 million visitors and Microsoft Sites with 121.1 million visitors. The remaining properties in the top ten maintained their positions from the January ranking. Platform-A led the February Ad Focus ranking, reaching 90 percent of the 192.2 million Americans online. Yahoo! Network ranked second, reaching 85 percent, while ValueClick Networks captured the third position with an 82-percent reach. Specific Media moved up one spot to #6 with a 74-percent reach, while Google climbed two spots to #7 reaching 73 percent of online visitors.