American Apparel Ranks as Top Online Advertiser Among Apparel Retailers, According to comScore Ad Metrix

Brand’s Online Advertising Strategy Relies Heavily on Social Media

 

RESTON, VA, August 4, 2008 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study based on data from the comScore Ad Metrix service, revealing that American Apparel ranked as the top advertiser using online display ads among apparel retailers in the United States, with 483 million ads delivered during the month of April.

 

comScore Ad Metrix provides detailed reporting of the number and types of online display ads viewed by Internet users for the U.S. market. The syndicated service measures the number of times each advertiser’s ads are viewed and where they are viewed, the demographics of those exposed to the ads, and the reach and frequency of the advertiser’s campaign.  It also provides samples of the creative ad units with information on ad sizes.

 

American Apparel Top Online Advertiser among Apparel Retailers

American Apparel delivered 483 million display ad views in April, reaching 49 million Internet users an average of 9.9 times during the month.  Under Armour ranked second with 311 million ad views, followed by Snorg Tees (249 million) and L.L. Bean (205 million).

 

Top 15 Retail Apparel Advertisers* by Total Display Ad Views** April 2008 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Ad Metrix
Advertiser	Total Display Ad Views (000)	Share of Advertising Voice*	Ad-Exposed Unique Visitors (000)	Average Frequency
American Apparel, LLC	483,389	24.1%	48,887	9.9
UnderArmour.com	311,528	15.5%	50,862	6.1
SnorgTees.com	249,214	12.4%	34,009	7.3
L.L. Bean, Inc.	205,590	10.3%	39,781	5.2
LaneBryant.com	141,981	7.1%	22,645	6.3
Nordstrom.com	94,206	4.7%	19,822	4.8
Spiegel Inc	90,212	4.5%	7,461	12.1
Giorgio Armani S.p.A.	81,724	4.1%	10,645	7.7
Levi Strauss & Co.	72,259	3.6%	18,825	3.8
BustedTees.com	64,088	3.2%	19,425	3.3
Nike	60,573	3.0%	18,440	3.3
NFLShop.com	57,199	2.9%	6,255	9.1
Endless.com	47,288	2.4%	11,630	4.1
Skechers.com	45,847	2.3%	9,358	4.9

*Share of advertising voice among Top 15 online advertisers in the category

** Excludes house ads and small 120x120 ads

 

While athletic apparel (Under Armour, Nike, NFL Shop), shoes (Nike, Endless, Skechers), and t-shirts (American Apparel, Snorg Tees, and Busted Tees) are well represented among the top online advertisers in this segment, many of the largest apparel retailers are noticeably absent from this list.

 

“Apparel is one of the largest U.S. e-commerce categories, accounting for roughly 15 percent of total online retail sales,” said Evan Neufeld, comScore Vice President, Advertising Effectiveness. “However, some of the biggest retailers in the category are significantly underrepresented in the online display ad market. Given the Internet’s proven ability to drive both online and offline sales, those retailers failing to make use of this growing advertising channel are overlooking a substantial opportunity.”

 

American Apparel Advertises Heavily on Social Media Sites

In April, the majority of display ads for American Apparel were delivered via social media. Nearly half of its ads appeared on top social networking sites MySpace.com (24 percent) and Facebook.com (19 percent), while AOL’s AIM application carried nearly 12 percent.

 

Top Publisher Properties of American Apparel Display Ads April 2008 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Ad Metrix
	Total Display Ad Views (000)	Share of Advertiser Ad Views
Total Internet	483,389	100.0%
Fox Interactive Media (includes MySpace.com)	117,059	24.2%
Facebook.com	89,456	18.5%
AOL LLC (includes AIM)	60,283	12.5%
Photobucket.com	29,325	6.1%
Yahoo! Sites	7,793	1.6%
Google Sites	6,581	1.4%
Time Warner – Excl. AOL	5,895	1.2%
Amazon Sites	5,691	1.2%
DeviantArt.com	3,001	0.6%
eBay	2,991	0.6%

 

“American Apparel is a cutting edge brand, and its online advertising strategy clearly reflects that,” added Mr. Neufeld. “Using social media as the primary vehicle to drive its provocative ad campaigns has helped it build a strong presence among its core audience of young adults.”