7.2 Million U.S. Unique Visitors Use Zap2it’s Popular Entertainment Sites in May, 2011

Zap2it, the leading TV and celebrity news web site from Tribune Media Services (TMS), attracted a record audience of 7.2 million U.S. unique visitors in May, 2011 according to recently released reporting from online measurement service comScore.  This marks Zap2it’s largest audience in its eleven years on the web.  The performance also makes Zap2it one of the fastest growing sites in the Entertainment category.

The site’s May audience performance was based on strong user interest in its annual “Upfront” coverage providing fervent TV fans an in-depth look at all the new shows coming to the broadcast network schedules in the Fall.  Of early interest to the Zap2it community are The CW’s “Ringer,” FOX’s “Terra Nova,” CBS’s “2 Broke Girls” and NBC’s “Prime Suspect.”

The rapid growth of the Zap2it audience over the past year is attributable to several factors.  The launch of new editorial blogs and the addition of complementary content affiliates have attracted new users.  In the last six months, Zap2it has introduced two brand new blogs.  Pop2it focuses on pop culture, celebrities, music and fashion while 2Cool focuses on young Hollywood personalities and the entertainment they’re tied to.  Pop2it successfully broadens the scope of Zap2it’s editorial coverage beyond TV and movies to other media and related subject matter.  2Cool broadens the appeal of the site to a young “Millennial” demographic. 

Additionally, niche sites TV by the Numbers, Daytime Confidential and TV Overmind have been added to the Zap2it domain.  For statistics-loving fans of the business of TV, TV by the Numbers brings the most authoritative coverage of show ratings and rankings available on the Web.  For passionate followers of the popular soap opera and sci-fi/fantasy genres, Daytime Confidential and TV Overmind add more targeted coverage and super-serve dedicated communities of users.

The acquisition of online video directory site CastTV by Zap2it parent TMS has also resulted in incremental unique visitors.  From Hulu, Amazon and iTunes to the network web sites and all destinations in between, CastTV provides one-stop access to the millions of TV show episodes, movies and videos available online today.

“There’s been a great deal of activity in terms of product development, editorial partnerships and more at Zap2it over the last year,” said Rebecca Baldwin, Zap2it Vice President and General Manager.  “We view our recent audience expansion as evidence of an effective growth strategy and great execution.  That said, we’re still working on new initiatives such as an Online Video Guide integration powered by CastTV technology and data.  It’s by way of enhancements like this for entertainment consumers who are watching more and more video online that we’ll continue to grow.” 

In total, Zap2it reaches a global audience of more than 13 million entertainment fans per month across its various online and mobile offerings.