Net Gains: NBC Viewership Soars On Its Web Site

NBC.comAlthough NBC remains in last place among traditional TV viewers, in 2008, the network says its Internet viewing skyrocketed. It also earned the best average monthly unique visitors of all the networks.

Unique visitors--roughly akin to viewers in traditional television--averaged 8.3 million last year, more than any other network. NBC also noted that it was tops in seven of 12 months when it came to unique visitors. All data comes from Internet measurers Omniture, comScore and NetRatings.

Overall, NBC noted that unique visitors improved 34% versus 2007. Page views were also up 13%, and visits improved 29%, versus the year before. Analyzing two main video categories: Full-episode streams grew 25%, with short clips 66% higher at NBC.

"These results are tremendous," said Vivi Zigler, president, NBC Universal Digital Entertainment, in a statement. "In a year when entertainment was challenged by the strike, our users discovered the wealth of content on NBC.com, creating significant and sustained audience growth."

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NBC witnessed big activity late in the year, thanks to "Saturday Night Live." The "SNL" clip starring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton tabbed more than 11 million streams. Other popular short-clip streams included "SNL," "The Office," "America's Got Talent," Jay Leno's Garage and "Heroes."

When it came to full streaming episodes, the better results for NBC were tallied from solidly rated traditional TV shows: "The Office," "Heroes" and "30 Rock." NBC also had good numbers for lower-rated "Lipstick Jungle" and "Chuck."

NBC.com said its widget business soared throughout 2008, tenfold by the fourth quarter--22 million views--versus the first quarter's 2.3 million number.

 

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