ABC.com was the most-visited TV broadcast network website for the 2007-08 season, but CBS.com's market share of US online visits increased 41 percent from the 2006-07 season - the largest growth among the six leading broadcast network websites, according to (pdf) Hitwise, MarketingCharts writes.

• ABC.com received 27.14 percent of US visits among the six networks' websites for the weeks ended September 29, 2007 - May 24, 2008, followed by NBC.com with 27.01 percent.
• CBS.com received the third-largest average market share of US visits with 21.51 percent, followed by FOX with 17.54 percent.
• CWTV.com received 6.61 average percentage of US visits, and MyNetworkTV.com received 0.19 percent of all US visits among the six broadcast networks.
• The CW website recorded the second-largest growth in average visits: 27 percent. Visits to FOX.com and aggregated websites to the domain increased 6 percent.

"Online traffic among the networks has become increasingly more competitive. Media executives must understand how their programming and promotion investments have fared against the competition in order to fuel future decisions," said Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise.

"The continued popularity of reality television shows, especially during the writers' strike, has also translated to online visits, helping to drive traffic as fans seek additional content about their favorite stars."

Time Spent on Site

During the 2007-08 broadcast television season, users spend the most time, on average, on CBS.com - 10 minutes and 24 seconds, or a 39 percent increase from the 2006-07 season.

• NBC.com was second, with 10 minutes and 7 seconds, followed by CWTV.com with 9 minutes and 42 seconds.
• The CW website recorded the second-largest increase in average time spent - 27 percent - compared with the previous season.

American Idol Most-Visited Website

AmericanIdol.com was the most-visited broadcast network television show website among a custom category of 100 TV show websites from the six leading broadcast networks for the 2007-08 television season.

• AmericanIdol.com received an average of 14.01 percent of all US visits to websites within the category.
• NBC's Deal or No Deal website received the second-largest average percentage of US visits, 13.33 percent, for the 2007-2008 season. Next was ABC's Dancing with the Stars website, which received 7.33 percent of visits.
• CBS's Survivor Micronesia website received 4.78 percent of visits, and FOX's America's Most Wanted website rounded out the top 5 visited shows, receiving 3.86 percent of visits.

Those results are from weekly Hitwise Conversions reports that rank the selected broadcast network television show websites, whether a standalone site such as American Idol's or a section within a larger website such as Deal or No Deal's. The show websites are ranked by market share of US visits among all the websites included.

Note: Broadcast networks are CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, The CW and MyNetworkTV; the 2007-2008 season refers to the period with weeks ended September 29, 2007 - May 24, 2008.