Fans Around World Following The Olympics Online

FANS AROUND THE WORLD FOLLOWING THE OLYMPICS ONLINE

Nielsen Online Analyses Web Usage across Ten Countries and Host Country, China

Auckland, 20 August 2008: With week-one of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the history books, Nielsen Online, a service of the Nielsen Company, today reported insights into how fans around the world used the Internet to follow the games between 9 to 15 August 2008 in the first week of competition.

Fans from across 10 countries* measured by Nielsen Online visited Beijing2008.cn, the official Web site of the Beijing games, at a rate of nearly 930,000 per day, with traffic exceeding one million unique visitors on several days during the period, as fans sought out Olympics results, news and video.

“With the first ‘online Olympics’ in progress, the Internet has removed barriers related to international time zones, as fans have 24/7 access to updated Olympics content and video,” said Jon Gibs, Vice President, Media Analytics, Nielsen Online. “Local, regional and global Web sites are benefiting, and with English, French, Spanish and Chinese versions, Beijing2008.cn is a popular destination for Internet users around the world. Interestingly, traffic from outside of China to the official site tracked closely with medal results at the end of week-one, with visitors from the U.S., Australia and France in the top three."

Table 1: Average Daily Unique Audience to Beijing2008.cn, 9 August – 15 August 2008

Country / Average Daily Unique Visitors
1.U.S. / 554,800
2.France / 123,000
3.Australia / 71,300
4.Great Britain / 54,000
5.Japan / 36,500
6.Spain / 29,100
7.Germany / 24,000
8.Brazil / 15,100
9.Italy / 12,200
10.Switzerland / 7,400

Source: Nielsen Online, NetView Custom Analysis

Rooting for the Home Team – and Maybe Michael Phelps: Usage in China

Not surprisingly, Internet traffic in host-country China (with more than 250 million online users,** the world’s largest Internet population) reflected strong interest in the games. Through a partnership with ChinaRank (www.chinarank.org.cn), a large-scale Website ranking platform hosted by the ISC (Internet Society of China), Nielsen Online reported an analysis of traffic within China to more than 200 Olympics-related sites. ChinaRank data showed that, during the period, more than one-quarter of China’s online users visited Olympics-related content on a daily basis, with an average of 65.8 million unique browsers tracked daily, and viewed more than 4.6 billion Olympics-related pages over the course of the week.

Within China, traffic to the official site, Beijing2008.cn, averaged 1.5 million unique browsers per day during the first week of the games. And while online users in China searched a broad range of popular Chinese athletes throughout the week, American swimmer Michael Phelps appeared prominently in the top 10 most-searched Olympics terms during the week, as fans in China followed Phelps’ now successful quest for eight Olympic gold medals.

“Michael Phelps is clearly the global story of these games,” commented Gibs. “Online news, information and video have allowed fans from all over the world to follow his record-breaking performances and watch history in the making."

“The Beijing Olympics herald a new era for online sports and event broadcasting and we’re glad to be tracking all the action,” commented Megan Clarken, Managing Director, Pacific for Nielsen Online.

“We’re all behind our local athletes in their quest for gold and delighted to be covering the interest online during the games."

About Nielsen Online

Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, delivers comprehensive, independent measurement and analysis of online audiences, advertising, video, consumer-generated media, word of mouth, commerce and consumer behavior, and includes products previously marketed under the Nielsen//NetRatings and Nielsen BuzzMetrics brands. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen Online enables clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet, digital and marketing strategies. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-online.com.

About The Nielsen Company:

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), online intelligence (NetRatings and BuzzMetrics), mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.

* Nielsen Online ten-country Olympics reporting includes the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil, Japan and Australia.

**Source: China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) Editors’ note: Please source all data to Nielsen Online, with the exception of data related to usage in China, which should be sourced to ChinaRank.

ENDS

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