It’s getting to be a Mickey Mouse affair of counting Web users, page views and thumb twitching. Case in point: Disney.com is now in the top 10 Web sites according to the latest results from Relevant Knowledge. In our Website Value Index we estimate its site could be valued at $400 million in the media property arena.
But the inclusion now of Disney.com–and bumping out of search stalwart Alta Vista (now part of Compaq’s cadre)–was certainly cause for concern by the Alta Vista folks who claim that Relevant Knowledge’s numbers are far from, well, relevant.
Relevant Knowledge shows Alta Vista at 7.5 million unique users when Alta Vista says its numbers are actually some 50% or so higher.
Mecklermedia WebSite Value Index
WEBSITE |
Monthly |
May 6 |
May 12 |
May 6 |
May 12 |
||
VALUE |
Unique |
Market cap |
Market cap |
Percent |
Value |
Value |
Percent |
INDEX |
Users |
or est. PMV * |
or est. PMV * |
change |
Per |
Per |
change |
(sorted by value per user) |
(millions) |
(millions) |
(millions) |
User |
User |
||
Yahoo |
32.9 |
$ 5,273 |
$ 5,302 |
0.55% |
$ 160.40 |
$ 161.28 |
0.55% |
Microsoft.com* |
18.8 |
$ 1,850 |
$ 2,000 |
8.11% |
$ 98.32 |
$ 106.29 |
8.11% |
AOL.com* |
19.7 |
$ 1,550 |
$ 1,600 |
3.23% |
$ 78.58 |
$ 81.12 |
3.23% |
Excite |
19.2 |
$ 1,488 |
$ 1,276 |
-14.25% |
$ 77.49 |
$ 66.45 |
-14.25% |
Lycos -Tripod |
15.0 |
$ 992 |
$ 985 |
-0.69% |
$ 66.30 |
$ 65.85 |
-0.69% |
Netscape.com* |
21.1 |
$ 1,500 |
$ 1,600 |
6.67% |
$ 71.06 |
$ 75.79 |
6.67% |
Infoseek – WBS |
16.2 |
$ 964 |
$ 935 |
-3.00% |
$ 59.50 |
$ 57.72 |
-3.00% |
MSN.com/Hotmail |
14.9 |
$ 780 |
$ 750 |
-3.85% |
$ 52.32 |
$ 50.31 |
-3.85% |
Disney.com* |
9.0 |
$ 400 |
$ 400 |
0.00% |
$ 44.33 |
$ 44.33 |
0.00% |
GeoCities* |
14.2 |
$ 325 |
$ 350 |
7.69% |
$ 22.91 |
$ 24.68 |
7.69% |
TOTAL |
$ 181 |
$ 15,122 |
$ 15,198 |
0.50% |
$ 731 |
$ 734 |
0.36% |
AVERAGE |
$ 18 |
$ 1,512 |
$ 1,520 |
0.50% |
$ 73 |
$ 73 |
0.36% |
*PMV=private market value, or what asset may fetch among competing bidders on the private market
While the art of counting Web users is far from scientific and exact, we think it would serve our readers and general Internet population well if Relevant Knowledge, Media Metrix, I/PRO, and other Web counting and auditing outfits sent us a complete copy of their latest surveys and we’ll compare their best guesses.
Even better, to clear the growing confusion in the countdown race, we want the top 25 Web sites in Relevant Knowledge’s list, the Web site masters, gurus, and gadflies, to send us their actual HTML request logs for the month of April.
The results may be startling. For example, Relevant Knowledge’s numbers look extremely high for users. We estimate that Yahoo!, for example, probably has about 9 million daily users, Excite about 4 million. Part of the problem is methodology, some count page views, others count monthly users.
Just as magazines are audited to show circulation, Web sites must be audited to show circulation. It benefits the Web site since advertisers can then see what reach it has, verified by an independent authority, perhaps even ABC.
Let’s get the number game cleared up now. Send the actual usage log summary for April via email to sharmon@internet.com by May 20, or point us to a Web URL for usage logs. It’s a first step in helping clear up the number gap and flap in “Tomorrow Land.”