ABC.com Debates NBC's Top Claim

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Which TV network is No. 1 when it comes to its respective Web sites? It depends on the measuring service.

Early last week, NBC claimed number one status for its NBC.com Web site in 2009. ABC now says its ABC.com was tops in January 2010. Not to be outdone, NBC said on Friday, according to two different measuring services, that it has the number one position in January.

For January 2010, ABC.com said it had 5.1 million unique monthly viewers to NBC.com's 4.3 million. CBS.com was in third place at 4.1 million; CWTV.com was at 904,000 and Fox.com at 782,000. ABC's data comes from Nielsen Online VideoCensus Report.

ABC also said it had grown 46% over the previous month (December 2009, 3.5 million). Plus, it claimed seven of the top 10 spots for its programming, with "Lost" at No. 1 with 1.18 million unique viewers.

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ABC's "The Deep End" was second at 1.16 million; NBC's "Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" was at 1.10 million; and ABC's "The Bachelor" and "Grey's Anatomy" were each at 1.09 million.

Why was No. 1 TV-rated show "American Idol" not included on the list? "Idol" doesn't put full episodes on its Web area, and secondly, the show isn't accounted for on Fox.com.

NBC's data for 2009 comes from Internet research companies Omniture and comScore Media Metrix, which put NBC.com just over 7.0 million average unique visitors every month -- just a bit better than ABC. com, which was at 6.9 million. CBS came in at third place, with 5.0 million unique monthly visitors; Fox was next at 3.7 million, and the CWTV.com had 2.4 million.

Why such discrepancies? One executive says NBC's data from Omniture and comScore Media Metrix counts not just video but other non-video content. Nielsen NetViews numbers also encompass more than video content. Nielsen VideoCensus pulls just long and short-form video -- which is why unique visitors generally for all networks are lower than the comScore Media Metrix.

An ABC spokeswoman says that generally, ABC and NBC unique visitor totals were so close over the past year in direct-to-direct comparisons that they alternate being No. 1.

Analysts say one long-term problem with the Internet is that there are varying metrics and services to measure the space, unlike that of traditional TV, where there is essentially one -- Nielsen.

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