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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

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BestMediaInfo Bureau
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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

publive-imagecomScore, 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.

Video Viewing Behavior in India Across Total Internet and Sports Category

March 2011

Total India – Age 15+ Home or Work Locations

Source: comScore Video Metrix
Jan-2011 Feb-2011 Mar-2011
Total Internet : Total Audience
Total Unique Viewers (000) 30,155 29,717 31,944
% Reach Web Pop 71.80 70.07 74.57
Videos (000) 1,755,186 1,655,111 1,863,927
Videos per Viewer 58.2 55.7 58.4
Total Minutes (MM) 9,132 9,310 10,791
Minutes per Viewer 302.8 313.3 337.8
Sports
Total Unique Viewers (000) 563 1,330 4,122
% Reach Web Pop 1.3 3.1 9.6
Videos (000) 3,430 6,975 37,066
Videos per Viewer 6.1 5.2 9.0
Total Minutes (MM) 20 191 514
Minutes per Viewer 35.7 143.3 124.8

*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.

Top Video Properties in India by Total Unique Viewers

March 2011

Total India – Age 15+ Home or Work Locations

Source: comScore Video Metrix
Total Unique Viewers (000) Videos (000) Minutes per Viewer
Total Internet : Total Audience 31,944 1,863,927 337.8
Google Sites 24,665 814,085 106.3
Facebook.com 11,843 96,442 22.3
Yahoo! Sites 4,791 36,025 25.8
Metacafe 3,534 28,497 34.1
ESPN 3,273 27,479 138.6
Dailymotion.com 2,811 25,580 57.5
VEVO 1,787 5,687 33.0
Mips.tv 1,542 7,644 56.9
Network 18 1,523 5,298 37.9
Microsoft Sites 1,160 6,535 16.6

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

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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