Football fans flock to BBC site

Fans flocked to websites for news of Wayne Rooney's injury

The BBC Sport website is the most popular online source for World Cup news in the UK, according to a study.

More than 1.3 million football fans visited the site in the first week of the tournament.

The study, by internet research firm Nielsen/NetRatings, showed more than half of the number of people visiting sports websites chose the BBC.

The BBC attracted nearly four times as many visitors as its nearest rival Sky Sports, the study showed.

New services

There was a surge in the number of people following the action online on Sunday, following England's win over Paraguay.

Another peak occurred last Wednesday following Wayne Rooney's final metatarsal injury scan.

"Traffic during the week peaked the day after the first game with over 1.1 million sports fans going online," said Alex Burmaster, European internet analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings.

Fans logged on following England's win over Paraguay

"The large audience figures for the weekend shows the major advantages the internet has in on-demand content."

The BBC Sport website has launched a number of new initiatives for the World Cup including live video, player ratings and virtual replays.

The BBC is streaming live on the net every match it is showing on television

"We're delighted with the audience figures we've seen for the first few days of the World Cup," said Ben Gallop, editor of BBC Sport Interactive.

"A huge amount of work has gone into this World Cup from the BBC Sport web team, so it's great to see our efforts are appreciated by the people who pay our wages."

Peak flow

Gambling sites such as Ladbrokes and Betfair also saw a surge in traffic.

Ladbrokes attracted more than nearly 115,000 people in the opening week of the World Cup.

Visitors tended to spend more time on gambling sites than news sites, the study showed.

People spent an average of one hour 10 minutes during the week on Betfair compared to just 13 minutes on the BBC site.

Most sports fans averaged 21 minutes online during the week.

The most popular time of day for people to get their World Cup fix was between 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening.

Overall, one in every six people using the web in the UK over the last seven days visited a sport or gambling website, the study found.