David Lieberman and Jon Swartz of USA Today examine the increase in ratings for televised business news and financial news on the Internet.
Lieberman and Swartz write, “Meanwhile millions of people are scrambling to the Internet. Visits to financial news sites for September were up 30%, to 64.3 million unique visitors, from a year earlier, Internet tracker ComScore says.
“Google searches for the word ‘stocks’ more than tripled on Sept. 30, compared with Aug. 2, according to data posted by Google’s website that tracks trends in what people look for online.
“Yahoo Finance, the largest finance site on the Internet, has experienced its biggest weeks for viewership in the second half of September. Activity is up 40% on Yahoo Finance message boards. Its video news program, Tech Ticker, drew a record 2.5 million streams on Sept. 15. ‘People are asking what is going on, how it affects them and where it may be headed,’ says Yahoo Finance general manager Mark Interrante.
“But that may not pay off if the crisis cripples financial-service companies.
“Many news providers have been working since the credit crisis hit last year to attract more tech, travel and luxury goods companies. ‘Advertising has been a leading indicator’ of the economy’s problems, says Vivek Shah, president of Time Inc.’s Fortune/Money Group. He says news providers may soon benefit as banks buy ads to re-brand following mergers.”
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