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Category Interactive Date 6/25/2007 |
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driving.ca Takes the Lead as the Fastest Growing Canadian-owned Automotive Resource Website*
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| Growth outpaces that of its competitors and the online automotive resource industry |
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(Toronto, ON) With an overwhelming 165% increase in unique visitors over last year, driving.ca, the Canadian auto buyers’ source for information, is leading the pack as it rapidly grows its visitor base, building on the site’s position as one of the Top 5 most popular online automotive resource sites in Canada.
In May 2007, driving.ca achieved its most successful results to date with 658,000 unique visitors, according to industry standard comScore Media Metrix, outpacing the 29% rate of growth in the online automotive resource category. Mirroring this growth, the Canadian automotive industry experienced its strongest period so far as vehicle sales rose 5% from January to May compared to the same period last year, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. In relation to this growth, 36% of online Canadians are now visiting automotive resource sites (comScore Media Metrix).
“These latest numbers from Media Metrix clearly illustrate driving.ca’s strong standing and substantial growth in the automotive resource category, which is also booming in popularity,” said Laura Pearce, General Manager for driving.ca, the automotive classifieds website of CanWest MediaWorks Inc. “driving.ca remains the only Canadian automotive site supported by such an extensive network of newspapers, where consumers can research automobiles, buy and sell used cars, purchase new vehicles, and search for the latest automobile news.”
Maintaining a consistent record of growth, driving.ca continues to attract new visitors to the site at a steady rate with a 51% increase this past quarter (March – May ’07) over the same quarter in 2006, and 40% over the previous quarter (Dec ’06 – Feb ’07).
Contributing to the boost in traffic and increase in new consumers, dealers and advertisers, driving.ca continues to introduce an ongoing roster of new and unique features, content, initiatives and contests.
In the Test Your Driving IQ contest held from April 18 to May 22, participants were asked to select the correct answer for various road signs from among humorous choices for a chance to win $5000. With ads running in CanWest newspapers, on the canada.com network and other sites, the contest garnered over 110,000 contest entries.
Other contributing factors to the past month’s increase in traffic include: a “Go Green” microsite focused on environmentally-friendly automobile options; weekly drive-thru Top Ten lists, featuring lists like top cruising cars; the Motorsport section which continues to attract fans as the automobile racing season heats up; and a driving.ca and Mosport International Raceway Racetrack Trivia contest held from May 22 to June 11, offering participants a chance to win a VIP racing package to the Mosport Father’s Day Weekend.
More than just a listing site, driving.ca is the Canadian auto buyers’ source for authoritative information on everything they need to research, browse and shop around before they buy a vehicle. In addition to listings from CanWest MediaWorks’s 11 major daily newspapers, driving.ca is rich with content and features a full inventory of cars available from private parties and dealers across Canada. Potential buyers can search through thousands of used vehicle listings, build and configure a new car and download volumes of information and data about every automotive make and model including reviews, road tests, vehicle profiles and full manufacturer specifications.
* comScore Media Metrix Canada, all locations, May/06 – May/07, based on sites with more than 500,000 unique visitors
About driving.ca
driving.ca is 74% indirectly owned by CanWest Global Communications Corp, (TSX: CGS and CGS.A, www.canwestglobal.com), and 26% indirectly owned by the CanWest MediaWorks Income Fund (TSX: CWM.UN; www.cwmincomefund.com). CanWest Global Communications Corp., an international media company, is Canada's largest media company and largest publisher of daily newspapers. The Company also owns, operates and/or holds substantial interests in free-to-air and subscription-based television networks, out-of-home advertising, web sites, and radio stations and networks in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom.
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For additional information, please contact:
Tammy Bender
CanWest MediaWorks
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