Compete January Category Data Show Surge in Demand for Accountancy and Tax Services
Traffic to Tax-Related Websites Suggests Taxpayers Are Getting an Early Start on Returns

Boston MA, –  ( Marketwire - February  25, 2011) - Compete, a Kantar Media company, today released data for January showing that the Accountancy and Tax Services category as a whole jumped 258.45 percent for the month. Apparently taxpayers are getting an early jump on filing their 2010 federal income tax returns, fueling an increase in unique visitors (UVs) to tax-software sites, tax-preparation services sites and government-sponsored tax sites during January.

January and February have historically been the peak months for tax-related sites, according to Compete, so accountants and tax-software firms should expect February UVs to increase once again, with the downward trend starting in March.

For January, the notable category move was by Intuit, the company behind wildly popular software such as QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax®. It made a remarkable 242-spot climb up Compete's ranked list for January, from #282 in December 2010 to #40 in January 2011. Intuit.com traffic shot up 259.71 percent for the month and 7.36 percent for the year. The company's increasingly popular Turbotax.com rose 875.70 percent for the month.

Public sector site Irs.gov garnered a whopping 18.5 million UVs in January -- a 212.52 percent increase for the month. More than one million dutiful taxpayers also flocked to Eftps.gov, where the U.S. Department of the Treasury has provided citizens with the free option to pay federal taxes electronically. Eftps.gov experienced a 74.92 percent year-over-year rise in UVs.

Among other notable findings for the category:

    * Traffic to the websites of the U.S.'s most well-known national tax preparers (and recent legal adversaries) Hrblock.com and Jacksonhewitt.com, grew in January, increasing 428.79 percent and 190.19 percent respectively.
    * Sites offering free tax preparation tools and advice grew dramatically in January, including Taxactonline.com (up 1072.91 percent), Freetaxusa.com (up 930.24 percent) and Incometaxmadeeasy.com (up 2406.61 percent).
    * Business-related Talx.com, a provider of HR, payroll and tax management solutions, experienced a 279.28 percent lift in UVs for the month, and its service providing online access to W-2 forms, W2express.com, increased 797.14.

Information regarding aggregate web categories is drawn from the Compete PRO Enterprise edition on Compete.com. For more information on the enterprise offering, please contact Gavin Blackmore at [email protected].

About Compete

Compete, a Kantar Media company, helps the world's top brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Leading advertisers, agencies and publishers rely on Compete's products and services to create engaging online experiences and highly profitable advertising campaigns. Compete's online panel -- the largest in the industry -- makes the web as ingrained in marketing as it is in people's lives. Compete is located in Boston, MA, with offices throughout the U.S. For more information, please visit http://www.compete.com/.

About Kantar Media

Established in more than 50 countries, Kantar Media helps clients master the world's multimedia momentum through analysis of print, radio, TV, internet, cinema, mobile, social media, and outdoor worldwide. Kantar Media offers a full range of media insights and audience measurement services through its global business sectors -- Intelligence, Audiences, TGI and Custom. Kantar Media companies also include Compete, Cymfony and SRDS. Drawing upon the deepest expertise in the industry, Kantar Media tracks more than 3 million brands and delivers insight to more than 22,000 customers worldwide. www.KantarMediaNA.com/.