Soccer Fans Flock to Virtual Football

Soccer Fans Flock to Virtual Football

AUCKLAND — 17 July 2006 — Internet industry auditor, Nielsen//NetRatings, today reported that FIFA World Cup fever was as evident in the online world as it was for viewers of the games on television.

42,489 players registered to compete in Television New Zealand’s online World Cup Game, TVNZ Virtual Football (www.tvnzvirtualfootball.co.nz). The objective for each player was to predict the outcome of each of the 32 games over the month-long FIFA World Cup competition.

The effect on TVNZ’s internet traffic was considerable, with Nielsen//NetRatings reporting that tvnz.co.nz’s sports section registered record traffic levels for the period of the competition, with a 64% leap in traffic from the week before the competition to the first week of play.

Visitor traffic to the tvnz.co.nz World Cup section was equivalent to 58% of the overall One Sport monthly total in July 2006 and the visitor traffic to One Sport in July 2006 was the highest recorded in the last 12 months, surpassing the traffic spike caused by the Commonwealth Games live-streaming in March 2006 by 29%.

About Nielsen//NetRatings

Nielsen//NetRatings is the global standard for internet audience measurement and analysis and is the industry’s premier source for online advertising intelligence with its SiteCensus, Market Intelligence, Netwatch, AdIntelligence, NetView, and Custom Research services. Covering 70 percent of the world’s internet usage, the Nielsen//NetRatings services offer syndicated internet and digital media research reports and custom-tailored data to help companies gain valuable insight into their business. Partly owned by international media and information company VNU, NetRatings, Inc. is a sister company to ACNielsen and Nielsen Media Research. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-netratings.co.nz.

Editor’s Note: Please source all data to Nielsen//NetRatings.

ENDS

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