Sports Fans, Sweethearts Led Internet Traffic In FebruarySports Fans, Sweethearts Led Internet Traffic In February

People reaching out to their sweethearts on Valentine's Day, and sports fans whipped into a frenzy by the Super Bowl and Daytona 500 boost traffic in February at a number of the top-gaining websites, a market research firm said Thursday.

Americans turned to the web in record numbers last month to send e-cards, jewelry and flowers to loved ones, according to ComScore Media Metrix, a division of ComScore Networks Inc. As a result, categories related to Valentine's Day made up 4 of the top 10-gaining categories on the web.

Sites that fell into the flowers, gifts and greetings category led the way, posting a collective 23 percent jump in traffic compared to February 2004, ComScore said. Consumer spending in the category rose 55 percent from a year ago to top $260 million.

The heart-driven spending spree pushed two flowers and gift sites, 1-800-Flowers and Proflowers, to No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, among the 10 websites that gained the most traffic in the month.

Cupid didn't spare the rich on Valentine's Day. Traffic to sites within the jewelry, luxury goods and accessories category jumped 39 percent from a year ago, with Fossil.com, BlueNile.com, Tiffany.com and Zales.com posting double- or triple-digit increases.

Online spending in jewelry and watches, one of the fastest growing product categories in e-commerce last year, grew 80 percent to almost $200 million, compared with February 2004, ComScore said.

"It's primarily a function of increasing comfort with online shopping," ComScore analyst Graham Mudd said. "(Jewelry and watches) have traditionally been an offline category, but they've become the fastest growing in terms of sales and traffic online."

SuperBowl and Daytona 500 fans pushed GoDaddy.com and Nascar.com, respectively, into the list of top-gaining sites for the month.

Traffic at web services company GoDaddy.com, which ran during the SuperBowl a somewhat risqu commercial satirizing government indecency hearings, increased 180 percent from January 2005. Nascar.com saw its site audience double from January to nearly 5 million visitors.

"TV advertisers are integrating the web into their campaigns and, vice versa, web advertisements are increasingly integrated with TV promotions," Mudd said. "The lines between TV and the Internet are increasingly blurred."

February was also a busy month for taxpayers. Among the top-gaining categories, taxes led the pack, posting a 43 percent jump in traffic in February from January to 29.5 million unique visitors.

Fans of talk show host Oprah Winfrey pushed the website of cable network Oxygen Media Inc. into the list of top 10-gaining sites for February, with traffic increasing 38 percent to 3.7 million visitors. Winfrey, co-founder of the network, recently launched a diet and exercise club, called "Oprah's Boot Camp," that provides interactive access to Winfrey's training and nutrition experts.