iTunes visits careen 413% on Christmas day

Apple's iTunes Music Store received 413 percent more hits on Christmas day this year than last year, according to a Hitwise, and the market share of visits to the Apple Store showed an increase of 110 percent this year over last. The Apple Store was also the fourth most visited website in the Hitwise Retail Index on Christmas Day of 2006. Microsoft's Zune.net saw an increase in visits of 1,030 percent on December 25th versus the previous Monday. The study notes that the Redmond-based company's strong initial performance was overshadowed by the iPod, however, with the market share of visits to the iTunes website jumping by 1,222 percent in the same period and outnumbering visits to Zune.net by 30 to 1.

"For the third holiday season in a row, the iPod has been the must-have Christmas gift," said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise. "Competitive offerings have not yet succeeded in capturing the attention of music listeners, and the surge in visits to the Apple Store shows that iPod owners are also engaged in filling and accessorizing their new devices."

The average daily increase in visits to the Hitwise Retail Index for the 2006 online holiday shopping season (Thanksgiving Day through the Thursday before Christmas) versus the same period in 2005 was 5.9 percent, according to the company. The days with the largest individual increases over the same day in 2005 were 'Cyber Monday' and Thanksgiving Day. Visits to the Retail 100 Index were up 13.2 percent on Monday, November 27th of 2006 versus Monday, November 28th of 2005 and up 11.8 percent on Thursday, November 23rd of 2006 versus Thursday November 24th of 2005.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: digital music/video