And The Winner Is. . .

Online News Sites, According To Nielsen/NetRatings

Auckland – 9 November 2000 – There’s still no clear outcome in the Presidential race, but as the Florida recount continues, there’s a plain winner in the media race: news sites on the Web.

"There's no question, this is the biggest day in Web history for news and information sites," said Alan Weiner, vice president of analytic services at Nielsen//NetRatings, the world’s leading Internet audience measurement service.

Yesterday, Nielsen/NetRatings said it would not have concrete traffic numbers until Wednesday US time. This could now be even later due to the recount, according to Brian Milnes, ACNielsen eRatings.com Managing Director Pacific.

Early statistics from ABCNews.com seem to lend credence to Weiner's prediction, when the site reported smashing its previous record. By 4 pm EST the news service believed it had surpassed the 10 million pageviews ABCNews.com received when it released the Starr Report in 1998.

Auckland-based Milnes said that news and information sites saw a huge jump in traffic during the weekend, because the Web was both "broad and deep."

“All eyes are on the big prize, with many speculating about how the Internet will play in the outcome of the election,” said Milnes. “Some of the surge in traffic is probably due to people looking for a hint of election results before the polls had closed.

"This isn't like the Super Bowl, where you have one game and two teams. This is 50 games and many teams, and TV and the newspapers just can't give as much detailed but personal information as the Web. Like everyone else, Americans are interested to see what's happening where they live, in their county, their states and their country.”

ENDS

About Nielsen//NetRatings

Nielsen//NetRatings, the audience measurement service from Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc. collects real-time data from more than 70,000 panel members in the United States. The U.S. panel sample consists of 62,000 at-home users and 8,000 at-work users. These panels collectively represent the largest representative media research sample of Internet users in the industry. Worldwide, Nielsen//NetRatings services are provided via a partnership with ACNielsen eRatings.com, a venture between ACNielsen and NetRatings, Inc. and measure the Internet experiences of more than 200,000 Internet users.

Nielsen//NetRatings services use unique technology capable of measuring both Internet use and advertising to provide the most timely, accurate and comprehensive Internet usage data and advertising information in the global marketplace. Nielsen//NetRatings services leverage proprietary data-collection technology from NetRatings, Nielsen Media Research's 50 years of expertise in research and audience measurement, and ACNielsen’s international leadership in supplying market research information covering more than 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.nielsen-netratings.com.

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