• by Masha Geller , March 20, 2003

Despite all our hopes for a peaceful resolution, the war has begun. Looks like the cable news networks will be covering the unfolding conflict commercial-free for the next 48 hours (at least) and all the general population can really do is wait and watch. With this war, however, consumers have more choices.

Much has been made by analysts of the so-called "CNN effect," a phrase coined during the first Gulf War, when Americans were glued to their TVs, watching the ghostly green explosions in a night sky. This time it’s safe to expect high TV viewing levels as well, but there is one major difference -- last time the U.S. bombed Iraq, in 1991, the Internet was in very early stages of development. This current conflict with Iraq will be the biggest war involving the United States since the Internet became a major medium.

For those of us in front of our computers today, the web is the primary source of information. Cable is no longer the dominant source for breaking news for many people, and the Internet is actually living up to its promises of accessibility.

To the relative delight of everyone in the Internet business, so far there have been no reports of web gridlock or outages, even though web traffic, especially to news sites, is hitting atmospheric levels. Reportedly, Yahoo Inc.'s news site saw about three times more traffic than it would in a typical hour directly after President Bush’s declaration last night; MSNBC is saying their traffic is running two to two-and-a-half times normal levels. CNN is loading a touch slower than usual today, also due to the heightened traffic, but they’re handling it well regardless.

The news sites were well prepared for this one. On Tuesday, the 15 top news sites reported an average 41% more traffic than their daily average over the previous four weeks, according to comScore Media Metrix, and many have adjusted accordingly.

Kudos to them all.