2006 World Cup Competition Draws Millions Online

June 12, 2006 - Nielsen/NetRatings, a firm which collects information and viewer ratings as well as Internet website traffic, estimated that over 2.5 million UK fans frequented sports and gambling websites during the first week of the 2006 World Cup competition.

Between Monday, June 5 and Sunday, June 11, 2006, a number equal to one in six people in the UK visited websites to track the action. Ladrokes alone received 114,000 unique visitors, the largest number for any single website. BBC had 1.3 million unique visitors, making it the most popular sport website with Sky Sports landing the second most website hits.

The average visitor spent 21 minutes online at sports or gambling websites during the period. Betfair was determined to be the site with the longest visit lengths, averaging 1 hour 10 minutes, more than five times as long as visitors remained on the BBC website.

Alex Burmaster, European Internet Analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings indicated that the increased activity of sports and gambling websites during this period clearly shows what an important part Internet play has become to today's sporting events. He noted that the visitors that were betting remained at the websites they visited for an average of 39 minutes while those seeking news information only averaged 16 minutes of time at any single website. This clearly indicates that the gambling interest was particularly strong.

On the day of the opening game against Paraguay, nearly one million United Kingdom sports enthusiasts visited a gambling or sports website, even though it was the hottest day of the year. The following day, 1.1 sporting enthusiasts visited sports and gambling websites. Perhaps the post-match analyses contributed to the spike in website visitors.

It is clearly indicated that sports fans and those who love to bet on sports count on the Internet not only for information but also as a means to place bets and obtain streaming video of events. With the low cost of powerful home computers and inexpensive high-speed Internet connectivity, keeping up to the minute on favorite sports, players, teams and your odds of winning is easier and more popular than ever before.