14 DAY TRIAL // Finance websites are matters of everyday interest for Americans. In addition, staying in touch with the financial realities is seen as compulsory by more and more people. "Current economic conditions - including rising gas prices, general inflation concerns, housing troubles and stock market uncertainty - have Americans seeking to stay informed about the factors influencing their personal finances", explains Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of ComScore, a company that conducts surveys regarding online facts.
A study performed in May 2008 shows a 34% increase in the number of users who read financial articles on the web, in comparison with the same month of 2007. The most popular site, when it comes to fiscal news and research, is Yahoo! Finance, with approximately 33% of the market share and 18,492 visitors in May 2008. AOL Money & Finance follows next, with 15,222 users, while the top 3 is rounded up by MSN Money, with 13,707 visitors. The other finalists in the ComScore chart did not manage to sum up more than 7,000 users a month. The seven followers are the Forbes Property, Dow Jones and Company, CNN Money, BNET, TheStreet and Reuters sites, and Reed Business Information. Google, as shown, is not amongst America's favorites when it comes to finances.
BNET is reported to have experienced the most considerable rate of development since last year, with a 3.261% rate of increase. This is explainable, especially considering the fact that the company acquired the FindArticles website. The holder of the first place has also registered an important increase, which translated into almost 7,000 new users they gained.
The demographic division of the users shows a bigger rate of interest in people with greater revenues, children in care and who are older than 50. "In sum, segments displaying the greatest growth paint a picture of those likely to have more financial responsibilities or challenges, such as needing to save for college and/or retirement, or needing to determine how best to handle more immediate financial obligations, such as home mortgage holders facing rapidly escalating monthly payments," the study explains.