Hitwise says Craigslist is growing considerably as it seeps into new local markets. Leading online competitive intelligence service Hitwise said the market share of total U.S. Internet visits to www.craigslist.org increased 73 percent the week ending June 25, 2005 versus a year-ago (week ending June 26, 2004). The site www.craigslist.org is the service's core domain and serves as the local site for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Meanwhile, the collective market share of visits to 60 of the most popular Craigslist domains for individual U.S. cities increased 98 percent over the same period. "Craigslist may appear barebones, but its utility and ability to tap into local communities and marketplaces is evidenced by rapid audience growth in existing and new local markets," said Bill Tancer, vice president of research, Hitwise.

Among the 30 most popular Craigslist city sites, 23 had year-over-year gains in market share greater than 100 percent, and three others have since more than doubled. Among the fastest growing local sites were: fresno.craigslist.org, up 422 percent; providence.craigslist.org, up 405 percent; miami.craigslist.org, up 363 percent; and dallas.craigslist.org, up 322 percent (week ending June 25, 2005 versus week ending June 25, 2004).

The market share of U.S. visits to eBay (www.ebay.com and my.ebay.com) is 14 times greater than the 60 popular U.S. Craigslist sites noted above, according to Hitwise, down from 25 times one year ago. (eBay owns a 25 percent statke in Craigslist.) The market share of visits to eBay increased six percent the week ending June 25, 2005 versus year-ago; and the site now accounts for 3.0 percent of all Internet visits.

"Craigslist is not an outright competitor to the popular eBay model, but it is the only other significant presence in consumer-to-consumer etailing," said Tancer.

The term "craigslist" now is number 30 in the ranking of most popular search terms across all major engines, according to Hitwise.

http://www.hitwise.com