Managers beware: cubicle sitters looking busy this week might well have been surfing the web instead. This week, millions flocked to sites offering such celebrity sightings as pictures of baby Suri Cruise, as well as a biopic of Steve Irwin—otherwise known as the “crocodile hunter”—whose untimely death shocked the world.

Celebrity gossip sites are becoming some of the most-trafficked sites on the web these days (seeCashing in on Tom Cruise).

Vanityfair.com, which ran the first public photos of Suri Cruise, the infant daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, on September 6, saw a huge spike in traffic, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Traffic to parent site CondeNet increased by over 100 percent over the week—from 1.6 million unique visitors to a whopping 3.5 million. Among home users, 87 percent of the traffic to VanityFair.com went to the page that had pictures of Suri.

Meanwhile, a memorial tribute to the late Mr. Irwin, killed September 4 by a stingray, drove massive amounts of traffic to the site for the Discovery Channel. In the week ending September 10, traffic levels were up by 80 percent, from 1.4 million to 2.5 million unique visitors. Nearly half (48 percent), went to Animal Planet, where a memorial video of Mr. Irwin is posted.

Other big draws were TV network sites, with viewers coming to check out the news on upcoming season premiers. ABC Primetime increased 85 percent week-over-week, from 581,000 unique visitors to 1.1 million. Fans of Grey’s Anatomy, Dancing with the Stars and Desperate Housewives all visited the site in anticipation of season premieres.

Katie Couric’s entry on CBS News September 5 as the first female solo news anchor led viewers to flock to CBS’ web site. Traffic grew 83 percent week-over-week, increasing from 1.3 million unique visitors to 2.4 million.

Contact the writer:SMugrabi@RedHerring.com

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