[Ronald Epstein]

XM Satellite Radio posted the sharpest year-to-year gain in the number of unique visitors to hardware manufacturers’ sites in December, with visits increasing 114% to 3 million from 1.4 million, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Sun Microsystems saw the sharpest decline, 14%, with visits dropping to 3.6 million from 4.2 million.

The top site in number of visitors was Apple, which had 35.7 million visits, up 65% from 21.7 million a year earlier. Ranked second was Dell, with 18.5 million visits, up 6% from 17.5 million; followed by Hewlett Packard, 13.9 million, up 14% from 12.2 million; Sun Microsystems; XM Satellite Radio; IBM, 2.6 million, unchanged from 2004; Gateway, 2.2 million, down 8% from 2.4 million; Palm, 2.1 million, up 50% from 1.4 million; Playstation, 2.1 million, up 50% from 1.4 million; and Bose, 1.6 million, up 23% from 1.3 million.

In terms of time per visit, Apple led with 1 hour, 1 minute, 46 seconds; followed by Cisco Systems, 22 minutes, 55 seconds; Dell, 18 minutes; XM Satellite Radio, 17 minutes, 35 seconds; Epson, 17 minutes, 14 seconds; Palm, 15 minutes, 45 seconds; ATI, 14 minutes, 24 seconds; IBM, 14 minutes, 18 seconds; Hewlett Packard, 12 minutes, 8 seconds; and Gateway, 11 minutes, 49 seconds.

Also in December, the books, movies and music segment had the most online ad impressions in the retail goods and services industry, according to Nielsen’s AdRelevance Report: The leading segments in the report and their number of impressions (in millions): Books, Movies & Music, 3,176.4
Misc. Services, 2,670.4
Electronics, 2,518.7
Personal Care, 940.7
Home Improvement, 865.3
Apparel & Jewelry, 853.9
Auctions, 782.8
Domestics, 677.6
Flowers & Gifts, 488.0
Events & Tickets, 457.4


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