Online travel sites' report released.

Byline: STOKELY BAKSH

WASHINGTON, July 27 (UPI) -- While Travelocity had the highest sponsored click-through rate for April 2006 among the most-visited online travel agencies, according to a recent report from comScore Media Metrix, Orbitz received the highest percent of click-throughs from sponsored ads.

The new report is part of comScore's launch of its new search analysis product "Competitive Search Marketing Reports."

Online travel agencies comScore looked at included Expedia.com, Orbitz.com, Travelocity.com and CheapTickets.com, finding that more "than 50 percent of the total click-throughs to these sites were generated by sponsored ads, compared to just 11 percent across all Web search activity," according to the release.

Orbitz.com and CheapTickets.com led, each receiving about 72 percent of click-throughs from sponsored ads. Expedia received 62.5 percent and Travelocity received 55.9 percent.

"With search advertising accounting for roughly 40 percent of total online spending, it's clear that advertisers view the medium as a critical component of the advertising mix," said Peter Daboll, president and chief executive officer of comScore Media Metrix. "This is particularly true for the leading online travel agencies, which receive nearly two-thirds of their search-generated click-throughs from sponsored ads. This high volume of advertising makes it even more important for advertisers to focus on the search terms that have the most relevance to their target audience."

However, comScore also noted that even though Travelocity.com received a lower number of sponsored ad click-throughs than Expedia or Orbitz, it had the most "effective sponsored search advertiser, yielding a 6.5 percent click-through rate, compared to the 4 to 5 percent click-through rates achieved by competitive sites."