MySpace and Yahoo! Duke It Out

The battle for page views continues, and apparently News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox Interactive Media -- helped, of course, by its wildly popular MySpace Internet hangout -- bested Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) last month.

According to November data from comScore, Fox Interactive knocked Yahoo! into second place for total page views. However, Yahoo!'s use of Ajax technology to speed up Web use may be resulting in deceptively low numbers (that's what Yahoo!'s saying, anyway). Meanwhile, Yahoo! is still No. 1 when it comes to unique visitors; Fox Interactive ranks No. 6.

Last summer, Hitwise revealed somewhat similar findings -- however, its data was more granular, pitting MySpace against Yahoo! Mail. Yahoo! bristled at the notion at the time, since it's an entire network of content and services above and beyond Yahoo! Mail.

The comScore data is interesting, since the usual suspects are listed in the top 10, as well as some more traditional (and arguably surprising) media names, perhaps boosted by on-demand and online video services. After Fox Interactive and Yahoo! come Microsoft's MSN, Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Network, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), Facebook, Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Craigslist, and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA).

MySpace has been in the news a lot lately. MySpace founder Brad Greenspan recently alleged that the News Corp. deal wasn't exactly on the up-and-up, although longtime Fool Rick Munarriz dismissed that idea in a recent article. And there's always the question of whether MySpace's 15 minutes are over; is it an "if" or a "when"?

I am not entirely convinced that MySpace can keep up its popularity, given a whole set of variables, not least of which is that the youthful audience is fickle and might not be too enthused with MySpace's increased advertising. The increased old-fogey presence could also be detrimental -- in October, comScore said more than half of MySpace visitors are now older than 35; YouTube's got an older demographic than one might expect as well.

As I said last summer, Yahoo! may get less respect these days, but it's still a major force in the online media world, and it does have a history of staying power on its side. It certainly could lose its mojo as AOL did years ago, but then again, one shouldn't underestimate the power of Yahoo!'s brand and portal content. While the November data is certainly interesting, the battle for audience and page views on the Internet is far from over.

Time Warner, eBay, and Yahoo! are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. Microsoft is a Motley Fool Inside Value pick. Check out either service free for 30 days.

Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.