U.S. election sets new record for Internet news consumption

On November 4 Internet users seeking news about the election set a new record for the number of visitors per minute downloading news. Akamai keeps records of world-wide news consumption. It is interesting that 6 of the top 10 peaks involved sports. The other four in descending order were the 2008 U.S. election day, the day following the 2008 election, Anna Nicole Smith's death, and Cory Lidle's light plane crashing into a New York City apartment building.

	Rank		Date		Approximate Time (EST)		Peak Visitors per Minute		Compelling News Event*
	1		Nov. 4, 2008		11:00 PM		8,572,042		Barack Obama is victorious in historic presidential election
	2		June 22, 2006		12:00 PM		7,283,584		U.S. eliminated by Ghana in World Cup
	3		Mar. 20, 2008		2:30 PM		7,008,325		Day One of U.S. College Basketball 2008 Playoffs Coverage
	4		Mar. 16, 2006		3:00 PM		5,489,918		Day One of U.S. College Basketball 2006 Playoffs Coverage
	5		Mar. 15, 2007		2:30 PM		5,100,367		Day One of U.S. College Basketball 2007 Playoffs Coverage
	6		June 16, 2008		4:30 PM		4,963,050		US Open Championship
	7		Nov. 5, 2008		5:00 PM		4,885,406		Post Election Day 2008 coverage
	8		Feb. 8, 2007		4:30 PM		4,885,065		News breaks on the death of Anna Nicole Smith
	9		June 12, 2006		2:00 PM		4,733,201		U.S. plays Czech Republic in 1st Round of World Cup
	10		Oct. 11, 2006		2:45 PM		4,598,917		Cory Lidle's light plane crashes into New York apartment building