The 2009 digital launch of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit franchise (www.si.com/swimsuit) saw record-setting traffic and unprecedented growth in video views for the third consecutive year.

A strategic emphasis on video programming resulted in more than 5.7 million video views on SI.com during the first two days of the 2009 Swimsuit launch (12:00 a.m. 2/10 – 12:00 a.m. 2/12). That number far surpasses the 3.3 million videos viewed during the entire six-week Swimsuit launch period in 2008. Additionally, SI’s YouTube Swimsuit channel, featuring the SoBe sponsored cover unveiling, had more than 1.8 million video views over the first two days of launch. By comparison, SI’s YouTube channel in 2008 had 2.1 million views for the entire month of February.

The growth in video views is the result of significant developments in three key areas. First, the SI production team worked at creating more compelling video content that was deeper and richer than in past years. Second, the SI digital edit team emphasized more strategic placement of video throughout the swimsuit site, including developing a custom “banner” on the SI home page. And, third, SI had Turner Technology, which powers the backend of SI Digital, develop a custom state-of-the-art video player that produced a dynamic experience and allowed for maximum portability. (The development of the video player took several months.)

The result produced record-setting traffic once again for SI.com. Unique visitors were up 5% on launch day and 6.7% on day two. All data via Omniture reporting.