Cricket World Cup drives surge in online video viewing in India

Video Viewing of Sports Content Up 632 Percent in March vs. Beginning of Year

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | April 27, 2011

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the latest report on online video viewing in India from its comScore Video Metrix service. The report found that online video viewing in India experienced a sharp increase in February and March driven by the Cricket World Cup. In March, more than 37 million video streams were viewed on Sports sites, up from 3.4 million in January.

“Online video became an important viewing channel during this year's Cricket World Cup,” said Joe Nguyen, comScore vice president for Southeast Asia. “The ability to watch matches and replay coverage from the convenience of one's home or work computer provided a way for fans to continually be a part of the tournament. As streaming quality continues to improve with continued deployment of broadband across the country we expect online video to play an increasingly important role in major sports events across the market.”

More Than 37 Million Videos Streamed on Sports Sites in March

In March 2011, nearly 32 million viewers age 15 and older watched online video from a home or work location, representing 75 percent of the entire online audience (note: these figures do not include viewing from public computers such as Internet cafes or via mobile devices). For the first three months of 2011, overall engagement with online video peaked in March, with viewers consuming an average of 5.6 hours of video and averaging 58 videos per viewer across the web. A primary driver in this growth was the heightened interest in the Cricket World Cup with video viewing on Sports sites jumping sharply in February and March. During March, 4 million unique viewer (representing 10 percent of online users) watched video on Sports sites. In total, 37 million videos were viewed on Sports sites in March, a tenfold increase from the 3.4 million videos viewed in January before the tournament began.

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Among Top Video Properties, Viewers Spend Most Time on ESPN in March

An analysis at the top video properties in India during March revealed that Google Sites reigned as the leading property with 24.7 unique viewers, who watched a total of 814 million videos. Viewership was driven mainly by YouTube.com, which accounted for 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Cricket match viewing prompted high viewership at the ESPN property. ESPN, which was largely driven by viewership at ESPNStar.com, attracted 3.3 million unique viewers in March, ranking as the fifth largest video property in India. Viewers consumed a total of 27.5 million videos at ESPN for an average of 2.3 hours during the month, making ESPN the most engaging destination of the top properties.

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

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