Sports Site Traffic in India Reaches New Heights as Nation Readies for Third Season of India Premier League Cricket Competition

Yahoo! Cricket Reigns as Most Visited Sports Site in India

Mumbai, India, February 24, 2010 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on traffic to Sports sites in India as the country prepares for the India Premier League’s (IPL) third season. The study found that more than 10 million Internet users at home and work locations in India visited a sports site in January 2010, nearly double the number from the previous year.

“The sports category has experienced tremendous growth throughout the last year as more Indians turn to the Internet as their first source of up-to-the-minute news on their favorite teams and players,” said Will Hodgman, Comscore executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. “January saw a particularly strong increase in traffic fueled by the IPL3 player auction on the 19th of the month. With IPL3 set to begin in March, we expect to see continued growth at many sports sites as fans prepare for the tournament’s return to India.”

More than 10 Million Visit a Sports Site in January

In January 2010, 10.3 million Internet users age 15 and older visited a sports site in India from a home or work location, an increase of 97 percent from the previous year. Yahoo! Cricket led as the most visited sports destination with nearly 4 million visitors, up 305 percent versus last year. ESPN grabbed the #2 position with 3.5 million visitors (up 109 percent) followed by Sify Sports with more than 1 million visitors (up 379 percent). Cricket-specific sites also posted strong visitation figures including CricBuzz.com (640,000 visitors), CricketNirvana.com (523,000 visitors),KrishCricket.com (306,000 visitors) and Cricketnext (278,000 visitors).

Most Visited Sports Sites by Unique Visitors
January 2010 vs. January 2009
Total India Age 15+ - Home/Work Location
Source: Comscore World Metrix

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Jan-09

Jan-10

% Change

Total Internet : Total Audience

32,523

37,269

15

Sports

5,244

10,322

97

Yahoo! Cricket

972

3,940

305

ESPN**

1,669

3,491

109

Sify Sports

216

1,036

379

FANIQ.COM

637

771

21

CRICBUZZ.COM

651

640

-2

CRICKETNIRVANA.COM

173

523

202

ESPNSTAR.ASIA

N/A

315

N/A

KRISHCRICKET.COM

92

306

232

Cricketnext

N/A

278

N/A

MSN Sports International

153

271

76

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
**ESPN includes CricInfo among other entities.

Engagement Accelerates at Sports Sites

Not only did Sports sites achieve strong gains in visitation during the last year, but audience engagement also soared to record levels. Total time spent, page views, and visits to the Sports category all increased by 100 percent or more in the past year. The average Sports category visitor spent 30.1 minutes at sports sites, viewing 41 pages of content and visiting the category nearly 6 times throughout the month.

Sports Category Engagement
January 2010 vs. January 2009
Total India Age 15+ - Home/Work Location
Source: Comscore World Metrix

Jan-09

Jan-10

% Change

Total Minutes (MM)

155

311

100

Total Pages Viewed (MM)

203

420

107

Total Visits (000)

22,678

61,175

170

Average Minutes per Visitor

29.6

30.1

1.8

Average Pages per Visitor

39

41

5

Average Visits per Visitor

4.3

5.9

37.0

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

Continued Mr. Hodgman, “With the recent announcement that YouTube will have the official right to live stream the IPL cricket games, the Internet is poised to play an increasingly important role for cricket fans around the globe.”

Comscore also recently announced the introduction of its MMX 360 service into the Asia-Pacific region. This new panel-based unified measurement service combines Comscore’s proprietary Internet user panel with site server data to provide a harmonized approach to audience measurement and a uniquely comprehensive measure of Internet usage, including traffic from Internet cafes and mobile devices, which are both significant drivers of Web usage in India. For more information, please visit: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/2/Comscore_Announces_Media_Metrix_360_Reporting_Methodology_for_Asia-Pacific

About Comscore

Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Contact:
Sarah Radwanick
Director, Regional Product Marketing
Comscore, Inc.
+44 (0) 20 7099 1784
worldpress@comscore.com