CNN Digital Sets Multiple Records in August as Race for White House Intensifies

As Internet users sought up-to-the-minute news and information during the month of August, the CNN Digital Network had the highest average time per person – 35.8 minutes – among the Top 5 news and information sites. Additionally, CNN Digital registered a record 38.8 million unique users in August, securing a 22 percent increase in reach over this time last year. (Source: Nielsen Online Home/Work Panel)

In particular, CNN.com’s reporting and analysis of the road to the White House kept users turning to the news and information site in record numbers, driving CNNPolitics.com, the online gateway to the site’s up-to-the-minute political coverage, to garner its one billionth page view since launching less than a year ago.

During the Democratic National Convention, CNN Digital attracted more users than any other competitor, making it the No. 1 news and information site for the convention based on total minutes. As the most used online news entity for all four days of the convention, CNN Digital racked up 182.7 million usage minutes, 8.7 million more than MSNBC Digital and 28.7 million more than Yahoo! News. During the convention, CNN.com served a total of 15.2 million video streams, including 2.5 million live streams from CNN.com Live, the site’s live, multi-stream video news service. Compared to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the CNN Digital Network showed growth in average daily unique users garnering a 66 percent increase. (Source: Nielsen Online Custom Data and Nielsen Online, NetView)

On Friday, Aug. 29 – the day after Sen. Barack Obama’s acceptance speech and the day of the highly anticipated announcement of Sen. John McCain’s running mate – a record number of users turned to the CNN Digital Network, breaking multiple records including:

* • CNNPolitics.com had its highest traffic day ever with 16.1 million page views.
* • CNN Political Ticker – the No. 1 political news blog according to Nielsen Online – also reported its highest trafficked day ever with 2.96 million page views
* • iReport.com received 845 submissions in response to McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate – a record number of submissions for a single news event in a 24-hour period
* • Nearly 6,000 new contributors registered on iReport.com.

(Source: Nielsen Online and Omniture SiteCatalyst, Global)

In August, CNN Digital set other records as it served 127 million video streams, making August the highest month ever for the network’s video streams served, representing an increase in usage of 88 percent year to date. CNN.com Live served more than 6.3 million live streams during the month, quadrupling the amount of live video streams served over the prior four-week period. (Source: Nielsen Online and Omniture SiteCatalyst)

Traffic to iReport.com totaled more than 21 million page views, and the user-generated content destination served 4.2 million videos during the month of August. In addition to politics, other popular topics in the iReport.com community during August included hurricane-related submissions and contributions from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. First-hand accounts of the Georgia-Russia conflict, which numbered more than 1,200 contributions, added depth, context and detail to CNN’s coverage of that on-going international story. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst, Global)

As a key component of CNN’s dedicated “Issue #1” coverage of the economy, CNNMoney.com – CNN’s exclusive business site and the online home of FORTUNE, MONEY and FSB: FORTUNE Small Business magazines – also set a record with 818 thousand unique viewers for the month of August, which is CNNMoney.com’s highest unique viewer count ever. Also, CNNMoney.com saw users spend an average of 16.2 minutes per visit on the site in August, a 16 percent increase over last year. Additionally, CNNMoney.com saw a 28 percent increase in page views over the same time last year.

CNN Mobile remains the No. 1 mobile Internet news provider with 5.8 million unique users, maintaining its top ranking for the 22nd month in a row. CNN Digital Network mobile usage has increased 45 percent since last year. (Source: Nielsen Mobile).