Press Release

MSNBC.com Sets Single-Day Records with Katrina Coverage
Coverage solidifies leadership as multimedia news site.

For immediate release—With the dramatic news events surrounding the approach and arrival of Hurricane Katrina, MSNBC.com demonstrated why it is the #1 news site with unique, in-depth coverage including video from NBC News, photo slideshows, interactive features and up-to-the-minute reporting.   

With its trademark extensive video coverage in heavy demand, MSNBC.com shattered its single-day video record with nearly 9 million plays.  Video offerings included ‘Nightly News’, ‘Today’ and MSNBC TV.   Live video coverage began at dawn and continued throughout the day (while some competitive TV news sites had no live video) and produced nearly 2 million plays, also a record. 

As the storm surged, so too did traffic to MSNBC.com.  Daily traffic to the site was more than double the weekday average and MSNBC.com met traffic demands with none of the technology hiccups that caused deterioration in delivery at competitor sites.

“When an event like Hurricane Katrina occurs, we want to offer our consumers a news experience with sight, sound and motion in addition to written word,” said Charlie Tillinghast, General Manager and Publisher for MSNBC.com. “The great technology upon which we have built our site allows us to deliver our best -- comprehensive reporting, one-of-a-kind video, updated slideshows and interactive features -- along with the confidence that the site will be easily accessible during the most critical moments at the peak of demand.”

Additional highlights from MSNBC.com’s Hurricane Katrina coverage:

Photo slideshows, continually updated with photos throughout the day, illustrated the immense power of the storm and were one of the most-searched items on the site.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4999736/

An interactive hurricane tracker enabled users to track the current and projected path of Katrina and make comparisons to previous devastating hurricanes. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7845030/

Citizen Journalism efforts for Hurricane Katrina collected reports from citizens all over the gulf coast region. Stories and photos from people sharing their eyewitness accounts brought real-life flavor to coverage.  
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9076525/