NBCOlympics.com and Olympics.com on Track To Become One of the Largest Event Web Sites in Sports History

REDMOND, Wash., March 4, 2002 — The official Web sites for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, NBCOlympics.com and Olympics.com, as well as MSNBC sites together drew one of the largest combined Web audiences ever for a sporting event with more than 9 million unique users on average logging on each of the first three weeks of February.* The Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games (SLOC) and NBC noted that MSNBC and the MSN® network of Internet services, which together produced, hosted and distributed the official Web sites for the Games, are on track to exceed sponsors traffic expectations on the site.

“This has been a tremendous partnership between MSNBC.com, MSN, NBC and SLOC,”
said Mitt Romney, president and CEO of SLOC.
“The Internet was an important component to the comprehensive coverage from Salt Lake City. Were thrilled that the combined sites were so popular and attracted such a diverse audience from around the world.”

“Weve raised the bar for online advertising during this years winter games,”
said Richard Bray, vice president of MSN at Microsoft Corp.
“Our technology expertise showcased on the official Olympic Web sites aided key sponsors in winning over a large, global audience.”

More than 9 million unique visitors of the Olympic and MSNBC sites spent on average more than 10 minutes each week getting the latest news and headlines. Fueled by dramatic and controversial moments throughout the Winter Olympic Games, more than 2 million fans voiced their opinions on controversies ranging from ladies figure skating finals to the gripping ice hockey finish.

The Salt Lake Olympic Games have been a compelling online event. Olympic fans logged on for live, in-depth coverage on NBCOlympics.coms USA-focused site and on Olympics.com, which had a more international focus. Live Now was a very popular feature on both sites, providing users with detailed results of competitions while in progress. A total of 113 million pages of live results were served up throughout the duration of the Games. A dynamic and continually updated TV schedule had also proved to be a popular and well-trafficked feature.

“MSNBC.coms use of multimedia and interactive storytelling delivered a history-making audience online,”
said Ona Karasa, executive vice president and general manager for MSNBC.com.
“Were very proud of pushing the envelope to deliver the best Olympic Internet experience ever.”

As the official online content providers for the 2002 Winter Games, exclusive access to news and results helped make MSN the No. 1 portal in the United States and MSNBC the No. 1 news site according to Jupiter Media Metrix data the week ending Feb. 24. The Web sites were produced and promoted online by MSN, the worlds most-visited Internet destination, and MSNBC.com, the No. 1 Internet news site, and throughout NBCs television coverage of the Games on NBC, CNBC and MSNBC.

“This is definitely double gold for us,”
said Gary Zenkel, executive vice president of NBC Olympics.
“Our stellar ratings coupled with the success of NBCOlympics.com proved that our Complete Olympics coverage provided tremendous value for Olympic fans, Olympic TV viewers and our advertisers.”

MSN secured 10 leading brands to advertise on the Olympic Winter Games official site. With help from the latest advertising technology developed by MSN, these sponsors increased online awareness of their brands and extended their reach to Olympic fans through the largest event Web site in sports history.

About MSNBC.com

MSNBC.com is the leader in breaking news and original journalism on the Internet, MSNBC.com delivers the best of NBC News, MSNBC Cable, NBC Sports ( http://www.nbcsports.com/ ), CNBC and MSN. MSNBC is a 24-hour cable and Internet joint venture of Microsoft and NBC News.

About MSN

MSN attracts more than 270 million unique users worldwide per month. Available in 34 markets and 18 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and digital marketing solutions to businesses worldwide. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/ . MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.

* Source: Jupiter Media Metrix, Weekly Flash reports for weeks ending Feb. 10, Feb. 17 and Feb. 24

Microsoft and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

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