This report evaluates website performance across the top 50 ecommerce, travel, news and sports websites worldwide.

1. MULTI-INDUSTRY WEB PERFORMANCE
2016 STATE OF THE UNION
(desktop edition)
BREAKING IT DOWN BY INDUSTRY
NEED FOR SPEED
KING OF THE HILL
Ecommerce scored the best in
median TTI at 3.1 seconds. Even
so, 76% of pages tested fell outside
the 3-second target, owing to poor
image and script optimization.
How do you accomplish it?
BREAKING NEWS
News might be timely, but not for
websites delivering it. News &
media sites had a median TTI
of 4.1 seconds. Culprits include
too many images and excessive
JavaScript and server requests.
GOING LONG
Sports websites didn’t hit it out of
the ballpark either. Only 6% were
under 3 seconds with a median
TTI of 5.2 – the longest of any
industry tested. Gratuitous requests,
redirects and trackers are to blame.
BOOKING A DEAL
For an industry dependent on online
bookings, travel & hospitality sites
had a median TTI of 4.1 seconds.
Many sites fail to cache static
content, resulting in unnecessary
server requests.
LEARN FROM THE LEADERS
It’s not all doom and gloom. Several companies are leaders within their respective industries. The key is optimization.
TIME EQUALS MONEY WHEN IT COMES TO WEBSITE PERFORMANCE
Websites are trying to do too much, and website owners are failing to optimize. The result is lost revenue, because time
equals money when it comes to website performance. We measured the Time to Interact (TTI) – the load time needed before
users can take action on a webpage – of the top 50 sites of four industries reliant on websites to grow their businesses:
ECOMMERCE, NEWS & MEDIA, SPORTS AND TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY.
COMPRESS AND
REFORMAT IMAGES
Reducing an image’s file size
reduces image download times and
increases the number of images
that can be cached.
MINIMIZE REDIRECTS
Redirects trigger additional HTTP
requests and delay page rendering.
Minimize, or avoid, redirects to
improve site performance.
AVOID PLUGINS
Plugins might process special types
of content, but they can cause page
crashes and security breaches. Web
applications now allow content to
be handled without them.
READ THE
FREE REPORT
2016 STATE OF THE UNION REPORThttp://www.radware.com/industry-sotu2016/
© 2016 Radware,Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.
www.radware.com
eCOMMERCE
Amazon and Ikea set the bar
with a TTI of 1.8 seconds.
Despite a four-megabyte
footprint, their websites are
optimized via image compression
and script optimization.
NEWS & MEDIA
Content is the product. Google,
ESPN and the Huffington Post all
scored well with TTIs ranging
from 1.2 to 2.5 seconds by
prioritizing website layout (like
images) based on how/which
content most engages audiences.
SPORTS
The National Football League’s
website was the standout with an
impressive TTI of 2.9 seconds
despite prominent use of images
and videos. The key? Proportion of
requests by type across its main
website categories.
TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY
Priceline netted a TTI of 2.4
seconds by minimizing server
requests – just 39.