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TNT and PGA.com Successfully Launch PGA.com Pipeline with Ratings Growth and Record-Setting Site Traffic for Four-Day Coverage of the 2006 PGA Championship


WEBWIRE

August 23, 2006 - Golf fans flocked to PGA.com and TNT (Turner Network Television) for their exclusive coverage of the 2006 PGA Championship, resulting in increased television ratings and the successful debut of PGA.com’s broadband product PGA.com Pipeline in an unprecedented multi-platform undertaking for a U.S. golf event.

PGA.com, with help from TNT and the PGA of America, and a promotional push from Time Warner family members CNN, SI.com and AOL (America Online), recorded a significant 18 percent boost in total page views during the four days of tournament coverage over the previous year (2006: 49,776,993; 2005: 42,220,173), setting a single-day traffic record of more than 16 million page views (16,207,181) for Friday’s second round coverage. The tournament also brought over two million unique users (2,052,205) to the site from Thursday through Sunday. PGA.com Pipeline registered nearly one million video streams (968,478) from Thursday’s launch until the tournament’s conclusion on Sunday.

TNT also enjoyed success for its broadcast coverage, seeing a four percent increase for its 18 hours of coverage (Thursday and Friday 2 - 8 pm ET; Saturday and Sunday 11 am – 2 pm). The network averaging a 1.5 US rating for its four days of coverage, versus 1.4 in 2005, and also enjoyed a four percent growth in home delivery (2006: 1,676,000; 2005: 1,604,000). TNT also saw an increase in key demos with Persons 25-54 up six percent (2006: 694,000; 2005:657,000) and Men 25-54 up eight percent (2006: 507,000; 2005: 471,000), respectively.

PGA.com Pipeline’s success, both from a traffic and performance standpoint, coupled with our strong television ratings, indicates that our online product not only didn’t erode our television audience at all, but actually complimented it,” said David Levy, Turner Sports president. “It is a triumphant day at Turner Sports as we look to continue to successfully take advantage of multi-platform opportunities that allow us to maximize the incredibly talented people we have both in front of and behind the cameras.”

PGA.com Pipeline provided four distinct channels of streaming live video. The four broadband channels included: Greenside Live – TNT’s live telecast; The Player Cam – which followed a designated group of the day as they attempted to climb the leaderboard; Inside the Ropes – featuring press conferences, course flyovers, player profiles and historical moments and The PGA Learning Center – featuring insightful tips from many of the top names in golf.

Turner Sports, Inc., a Time Warner company, presents some of the best and most popular sporting events worldwide and is a leader in televised sports programming. With events airing on TBS and TNT - Turner Sports’ line-up includes the NBA, NASCAR and NASCAR.COM, Major League Baseball, college football, professional golf and PGA.com.



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