Online Viewers at TV Network Web Sites Increase an Average of 155 Percent in September, According to Nielsen Online

Market Wire, November, 2008

Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, today announced that all four television networks enjoyed month-over-month growth in online video viewers in September, coinciding with the season premieres of many popular and new television shows (see Table 1). NBC.com had the largest increase in video viewers, growing 312 percent month-over-month, followed by FOX Broadcasting and ABC.com, with 165 percent and 105 percent growth, respectively.

"A combination of series and season premiers, political news and parodies, and coverage of the financial crisis all contributed to increased online video viewing for the television networks in September," said Jon Gibs, vice president, media analytics, Nielsen Online. "Consumers are increasingly relying on the Web to catch up on content they missed when it aired on television and the networks are beginning to capitalize on this trend. Case in point -- anyone who didn't see Tina Fey's impersonation of Sarah Palin on 'Saturday Night Live' had to log on and watch it or risk having nothing to say around the proverbial water cooler."

Table 1: Online Video Metrics for Television Network Web Properties,
September 2008

                    Unique Viewers      Unique Viewer Percent Change
Name                (000)               from August
----                --------------      ----------------------------
NBC.com                      5,557                               312
ABC.COM                      5,246                               105
CBS Television               3,296                                38
FOX Broadcasting             1,371                               165

Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus
Note: Includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.



Table 2: Time Spent per Viewer at Network Web Properties, September 2008

Name                Minutes Spent per Viewer
----                ------------------------
FOX Broadcasting                       114.3
CBS Television                          48.4
ABC.COM                                 45.5
NBC.com                                 34.6

Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus
Note: Includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.

Comic Relief Online?

The television network Web properties were not the only ones to see significant growth in online video viewing in September. The glum economic situation may be driving Web visitors online for comic relief -- total video streams increased in a variety of entertainment categories last month (see Table 3).

Table 3: September's Top 5 Fastest Growing Entertainment Categories - Total
Streams (000)

Name                               Aug-08       Sep-08     Percent Change
----                               ------       ------     --------------
Entertainment - Online Games       30,267       50,814                 68
Entertainment - Events              3,132        5,094                 63
Entertainment - Books               1,179        1,902                 61
Entertainment - Music             107,461      161,369                 50
Entertainment - Broadcast Media   180,171      269,798                 50

Source: Nielsen Online

Nielsen Online today also provided overall online video usage and top brands ranked by video streams for September 2008. The overall number of unique viewers increased 6 percent month-over-month, while total streams increased ten percent.

Table 4: Overall Online Video Usage (U.S.)

                                   Aug-08       Sep-08     Percent Change
                                   ------       ------     --------------
Unique Viewers (000)              117,916      125,061                  6
Total Streams (000)             8,061,706    8,885,068                 10
Streams per Viewer                   68.4         71.1                  4
Time per Viewer (min)               183.9        197.2                  7

Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus
Note: Includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.



Table 5: Top Online Brands ranked by Video Streams

Brand                   Total Streams (000)     Unique Viewers (000)
-----                   -------------------     --------------------
YouTube                           5,354,392                   81,881
Yahoo!                              264,266                   29,908
Fox Interactive Media               242,444                   19,258
MSN/Windows Live                    164,776                   10,980
Nickelodeon Kids and
 Family Network                     162,971                    6,152
Hulu                                142,261                    6,324
ESPN                                127,794                    8,434
CNN Digital Network                 117,708                    9,451
MTV Networks Music                   97,207                    4,762
Disney Online                        87,193                    9,146

Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus
Note: Includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.

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