Media researcher Jack Myers has come out with his sixth annual “power rankings” of online sales organizations, with featured categories on “news and sports” sites and ones related to “business and technology.” Myers told me he surveyed a total of 210 marketing and ad agency sales executives to evaluate the sales organizations of 129 websites. Respondents were asked to rate sites according to five attributes, using a one to seven scale, with one being “extremely poor performance” and seven meaning “excellent.” In general, the sales execs showed increased satisfaction with sites in both categories, though that mean the same respondents increased their usage of these sites as ad vehicles. Here’s a look at some of the results Myers offered for free on his site:
— News and Sports: Looking at the top 10 sites in this category, Myers noted that each received notable increases in their overall performance scores compared to last year, with the exception of Weather.com (which last year ranked first and this year came in third). Coming in first this year was SI.com with a score of 60 (it didn’t rank last year), followed by WashingtonPost.com/Newsweek Interactive (which saw its score rise to 55 from 43). If WSJ.com was included in the news/sports category, and not just in the business/tech, it would have ranked sixth, about equal to News.com/CNET (NSDQ: CNET), which had a score of 48.
— Usage: Compared to social nets, gaming and entertainment sites, usage of news and sports site by advertisers remained flat from 2006 to 2007. ESPN.com was the only major site to see a significant spike in usage – almost two thirds purchased media on the site in 2007, compared with last year’s survey showing less than half. Usage for both the online New York Times (NYSE: NYT) and USAToday.com fell from last year.
— Business and Tech: CNET was the top rated site with an overall score of 50. Following very closely were WSJ.com and Marketwatch. Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Finance was fourth with a power score of 48 – seven points separated it and the next sales organization in line, CNNMoney.com. Overall, CNET, WSJ.com, Marketwatch.com, TheStreet.com (NSDQ: TSCM) and Bloomberg.com all saw individual increases over last year, while Forbes was the only one to decline. Like the news and sports category, usage was essentially flat compared to 2006. About.com was the only site that recorded a rise in usage, though Myers speculated that that may be attributed to the site’s integration with NY Times Digital.
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