MSNBC draws 19 million online viewers for Jackson memorial service

Msnbc.com had an impressive number of live streams during yesterdays Michael Jackson memorial service. Over 19 million people streamed at least part of the service, beating Msnbc.com’s previous record set during the Inauguration.

Msnbc.com shattered its online video stream record yesterday with nearly 19 million total streams from its coverage of the Michael Jackson memorial service. The new milestone surpassed the site’s previous video stream record set during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. Msnbc.com also experienced a massive spike in traffic with a record-breaking number of page views and video streams to the site’s popular Entertainment Section. Consumers were engaged with NBC News’ and MSNBC’s compelling video content, spending an average of 12.1 minutes per visit viewing Michael Jackson-related video.

Msnbc.com also had an interesting Twitter page to go along with their coverage. CNN also used new media during their broadcast, once again teaming up with Facebook.

Additionally, for the first time in its coverage of a major news event, msnbc.com unveiled an innovative way for consumers to participate in its coverage via Twitter. Msnbc.com launched a Twitter stream page that allowed consumers to watch the live video feed alongside a live Twitter stream. The collapsible widget, powered by Tinker.com, collected more than 75,000 Michael Jackson-related tweets and displayed a selection of them during the event. NBC News and MSNBC personalities, including Courtney Hazlett, the pop culture and entertainment columnist for msnbc.com, provided live tweets from the event.

CNN.com has yet to release their stream numbers, but expect them to also be in the high millions. With the right technology in place, more and more people are turning to the internet for streams of live news. Its only a matter of time until MSNBC streams its regular cable channel all online also along side special events.

Update: CNN received 10.5 million live streams.

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