NTRT Netratings (MM)

College Basketball Fans Pre-Register at CBS Sportsline.com Sites in Anticipation of Live NCAA Games NEW YORK, March 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nielsen//NetRatings, a global leader in Internet media and market research, reported today that daily traffic to sports-related Web sites spiked on the first day of March Madness, the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, growing 21 percent to 9.7 million unique visitors from Wednesday, March 15th to Thursday, March 16th. CBS's decision to broadcast the NCAA games live via the Web led to many sports fans visiting the online registration prior to the start of the games, which began last Thursday, March 16th. NCAA-related sports Web sites enjoyed a daily traffic increase of 21 percent, from March 15th to the 16th, garnering 9.7 million unique visitors on Thursday as Internet surfers, particularly at work, visited sports sites to stream the live games. CBS Sportsline.com Network sites saw an 84 percent increase to 3.6 million unique visitors, followed by AOL Sports (Web-only), which rose 31 percent to nearly one million unique visitors (see Table 1). FOX Sports on MSN grew 29 percent to nearly two million unique visitors. "We're off to a great start in 2006 for broadband events, first with this year's Olympics, and now with March Madness," said Jon Gibs, senior director of media, Nielsen//NetRatings. "CBS had a great opportunity to stream out-of- market content to office workers during a high point of the college sports year, and managed to take advantage of the confluence of high consumer interest, great content and the inability of office workers to leave their desks." Table 1. Daily Change in Traffic to NCAA-Related Sports Web Sites, (U.S., Home and Work) ________________________________________________________________________ Site Wed: 3/15 Thurs: 3/16 Fri: 3/17 Wed-Fri UA (000) UA (000) UA (000) Growth ________________________________________________________________________ CBS Sportsline.com Network** 1,958 3,603 3,135 84% ________________________________________________________________________ AOL Sports (Web-only) 761 999 1,006 31% ________________________________________________________________________ FOX Sports on MSN 1,510 1,953 2,237 29% ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Sports 2,121 2,601 2,377 23% ________________________________________________________________________ SI.com 724* 819* 773* 13%* ________________________________________________________________________ ESPN 3,074 3,312 2,941 8% ________________________________________________________________________ Total Unduplicated UA 8,005 9,659 9,573 21% ________________________________________________________________________ Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, March 2006 ** Note: Traffic to CBS Sportsline.com Network includes traffic to CBS Sportsline.com, CSTV.com Networks, NCAASports.com, PGA Tour and TennisDirect.com and does not include traffic to NFL Internet Network. * Indicates these estimates are calculated on smaller sample sizes and are subject to increased statistical variability as a result. During the week ending March 12th, even before the start of the tournament, sites belonging to the CBS Sportsline.com Network were among the fastest growing sites overall. Web ratings show that people were drawn to sites that offered pre-registration as the first day of the tournament approached. NCAASports.com jumped 201 percent to 1.2 million, while CSTV.com grew 46 percent over the previous week to 3.3 million unique visitors. CBS Sportsline.com (Web channel) saw a 28 percent growth to 2.4 million unique visitors (see Table 2). Table 2. Traffic Growth Two Weeks Prior to March Madness at CBS Sportsline.com Network Sites (U.S., Home & Work) ________________________________________________________________ Site W/E 3/05/06 W/E 3/12/06 W-O-W % Change UA (000) UA (000) ________________________________________________________________ NCAASports.com 391* 1,178 201% ________________________________________________________________ CSTV.com Networks 2,261 3,296 46% ________________________________________________________________ CBS Sportsline.com 1,869 2,398 28% ________________________________________________________________ Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, March 2006 * Indicates these estimates are calculated on small sample sizes and are subject to increased statistical variability as a result. "CBS Sportsline.com did well to promote early user registration for its streamed live games, contributing to a spike in traffic on its network of sites," said Gibs. "While there was some concern that CBS would not be able to handle the massive amount of streaming traffic, so far few concerns have been voiced by consumers. The only real question that remains is if CBS can turn these 'March Madness' customers into long-term visitors." March Madness at Work March Madness saw more people visiting sports sites at work than at home, indicating office workers are visiting the NCAA sports sites during the day when the live games are broadcasted. At-work traffic to NCAA sites attracted nearly 5.9 million unique visitors on March 16th versus 4.8 million unique visitors at home (see Table 3). The CBS Sportsline.com Network of sites attracted 2.5 million unique visitors at work versus 1.3 million at home. "There have been in the past, and there will be going forward, concerns about the effects of major sporting events on worker productivity," said Gibs. "Workplaces, however, should consider that many of these same workers could just as well be taking long lunches, or repeatedly refreshing browser windows to see new scores. So while video is certainly not adding to worker productivity, the jury is still out on its negative effects," continued Gibs. Table 3. NCAA Traffic from Work vs. Home, Ranked by Work Unique Audience (U.S.) _______________________________________________________________________ Site 3/15 UA 3/16 UA 3/15 UA 3/16 UA (000)(Work) (000)(Work) (000)(Home) (000)(Home) _______________________________________________________________________ NCAA Sports Sites 4,486 5,857 3,963 4,831 _______________________________________________________________________ CBS Sportsline.com Network** 1,087 2,511 1,107 1,339 _______________________________________________________________________ -CBS Sportsline.com 724 1,546 765 773 _______________________________________________________________________ -NCAASports.com N/A 1,180 179* 412 _______________________________________________________________________ -CSTV.com Networks 313* 531* 231* 338 _______________________________________________________________________ Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, March 2006 ** Note: Traffic to CBS Sportsline.com Network includes traffic to CBS Sportsline.com, CSTV.com Networks, NCAASports.com, PGA Tour and TennisDirect.com and does not include traffic to NFL Internet Network. * Indicates these estimates are calculated on small sample sizes and are subject to increased statistical variability as a result. About Nielsen//NetRatings NetRatings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRT) delivers leading Internet media and market research solutions, marketed globally under the Nielsen//NetRatings brand. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen//NetRatings is the global standard for Internet audience measurement and premier source for online advertising intelligence, enabling clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet and digital strategies. The Nielsen//NetRatings portfolio includes panel-based and site-centric Internet audience measurement services, online advertising intelligence, user lifestyle and demographic data, e-commerce and transaction metrics, and custom data, research and analysis. For more information, please visit http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/. CONTACT: Jennifer Fan, +1-408-832-2581, or Suzy Bausch, +1-408-941-2965, both of NetRatings, Inc. DATASOURCE: Nielsen//NetRatings CONTACT: Jennifer Fan, +1-408-832-2581, or Suzy Bausch, +1-408-941-2965, both of NetRatings, Inc. Web site: http://www.netratings.com/

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