In a year of major domestic and international news stories including the closest presidential race in U.S. history, CNN/U.S. solidified its position as the number-one cable news network in the United States for the year, leading all cable news networks in rating, household delivery and total viewers. In its fifth year, CNN.com trumped all other news sites for election coverage, hauling in more than 8.5 billion page impressions for the year and ranking number one in Gross Usage Minutes (GUM). In the fourth quarter, as the election coverage intensified, CNN/U.S. posted dramatic ratings gains compared to the previous year—with the largest net gain of total viewers among cable news networks for both total day and prime time. Additionally, CNN/U.S. achieved the largest net gain in viewing (households) of any basic cable network for both total day and prime time in the fourth quarter.

For the year to date (Dec. 27, 1999, to Dec. 17, 2000), CNN/U.S. was consistently the most-watched cable news network, attracting the most cable news viewers 49 out of 49 weeks this year¹ and airing all 10 of the top 10 most-watched cable news programs. For the year, CNN/U.S. led all cable news networks with a prime-time average of a .8 rating, 615,000 households (HH) and 759,000 total viewers. CNN/U.S. garnered an annual total-day rating of .4 with 344,000 HH and 399,000 total viewers.

In the fourth quarter (Oct. 1-Dec. 17), CNN/U.S. continued its lead over the competition and posted dramatic ratings gains from previous quarters. During prime time, CNN/U.S. garnered a 1.3 rating, 1,014,000 HH and 1,277,000 total viewers and during total day, CNN/U.S. drew a 0.8 rating, 603,000 HH and 712,000 total viewers. This was double the rating and total viewers compared to the third quarter of 2000 and the same period the previous year, fourth quarter 1999, for the largest net gain of total viewers among all cable news networks for both prime time and total day.

CNN further strengthened its position as America's Election 2000 headquarters in the fourth quarter, out-delivering the cable news competition in households and total viewers for Election Day and each of the 36 consecutive days following the election leading up to Al Gore's concession speech. Throughout the year, in coverage of the major political news events, CNN consistently out-delivered the 24-hour cable competition combined in total viewers, establishing its coveted position as the most-watched cable news network for Election 2000 coverage.

Larry King Live claimed the coveted title of number-one, most-watched cable news program for its 15th consecutive year. The program remains unrivaled by any other news program on cable or broadcast with its slate of top political news-making interviews, including both presidential candidates and their spouses, vice-presidential candidates and other key newsmakers. Larry King Live out-delivered its nearest cable news talk show competitor by 90 percent in households and 86 percent in total viewers for the year, as well as in its time period (9-10 p.m.). Larry King Live maintained an even larger advantage over the other cable news networks.

CNN/U.S. led cable news networks not only in its unsurpassed coverage of Election 2000, but also in its ability to offer the highest-rated international breaking news coverage—including the Elian Gonzales controversy and strife in the Middle East and Yugoslavia. CNN was the only news network positioned to broadcast from Belgrade immediately at the outbreak of the revolt over the country's disputed presidential election. Furthermore, CNN/U.S. distinguished itself from its competition by earning viewers' trust. As in years past, CNN/U.S. was named the most-trusted source of news information among all television and online sources by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press in its June credibility survey.

The CNN Web Sites
The CNN Web sites outranked all other news sites in Gross Usage Minutes, or GUM, for November, maintaining the top spot for the year. GUM combines reach with "stickiness" and is a quantifiable way to demonstrate how engaging a site is or how loyal its users are.

For the year, CNN.com celebrated its fifth anniversary and saw a year of stellar traffic, new Web sites and sections, business deals, unique online chats and numerous firsts for CNN's Internet community. Internet users surveyed in June said they trusted CNN's online news more than other online news sources, just as they trusted the network's television news more than other on-air news sources, according to the Pew Research Center.

CNN.com's year 2000 highlights included:

• More than 8.5 billion page impressions as of Dec. 19. That's 1.7 billion more than 1999's total and a 100 percent increase over 1998's 4.2 billion total.
• With allpolitics.com, CNN Interactive's Community Department hosted an online news interview with President Bill Clinton, the first of its kind with a sitting U.S. president.
• CNN.com's The Spin Room, a real-time chat room, gave birth to the CNN/U.S. program, The Spin Room—the first online feature to do so.
• CNN.com added three new sections to its navigational bar—CNN.com Career, CNN.com's Law Center and Greta@Law, featuring Web-exclusive, video interviews from legal analyst Greta Van Susteren.
• CNN.com launched three international sites and one domestic site.

CNN Interactive is responsible for the award-winning news site CNN.com, as well as 13 other Web sites and the distribution of CNN news content via other platforms such as mobile phones. The CNN sites, which include nine international sites, are among the world's leading news and information destinations and are ranked the most trusted by Internet users worldwide. The CNN sites rank number one in Gross Usage Minutes among all online news sites. GUM an industry metric derived by multiplying unique users by time spent per user. The CNN Web sites produced 756,745,000 Gross Usage Minutes in November 2000, according to Nielsen NetRatings.

CNN is one of the world's most respected and trusted sources of news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable television networks; three private place-based networks; two radio networks; 15 Web sites, including CNN.com, the first major news and information Web site; CNN Mobile, which provides news and information to mobile devices; and CNN Newsource, the world's most extensively syndicated news service.

¹ It is impossible to compare news ratings on MSNBC during the Olympics to CNN news audiences due to the Nielsen processing of audience data that resulted in a blended Olympics and/or news number.

Source: from Nielsen Media Research Data
Source for GUM data: from Nielsen NetRatings.