Turks are driving the most online traffic for Champions League Matches!..

I always wondered how many people watched the Champions League matches on line from UEFA.com and ESPN360.com.
Well, my wondering ended!...In Washington Times newspaper ,there was an article done by Tim Lemke about this topic!
According to his article,Turks lead the online traffic for Champions League matches. Here is the Article..

European Champions League
I'm not an enormous soccer fan, but I have to admit a certain delight in following the Champions League, a hugely popular and remarkably intense tournament featuring the best teams from Europe. With many matches taking place this week, I pondered writing a story about the growing number of games available live on the Internet at places like ESPN360 and UEFA.com. I was operating on the theory that the availability of more matches online might actually pique the interest of casual American fans, who are less likely to pay big bucks for a special soccer television package like Setanta Sports or Fox Soccer Channel.


But, my reporting uncovered a lot of mixed information on the subject.


It's clear there is a market for streaming of live matches here in America. ESPN360 reported 3 million streams of the World Cup in 2006 and 500,000 streams for Champions League games earlier this spring. And for the 2007-08 Champions League tournament, ESPN360 will show three times as many games, so the number of streams should top 1 million.


"It's certainly growing," said John Zehr, ESPN's senior vice president of digital media production, of the popularity of Champions League games. "There are pockets of the country where European soccer has a pretty big following."


The network appears to be using the Champions League as highlighted programming as it seeks broader distribution of its new version of its video player, launched in September. (Currently, about 17 million people have access to the service and that will grow to 20 million by 2008, officials said.)


It's still unclear, though, who is tuning in to these online broadcasts. Zehr admitted the Champions League is "long tail" programming, meaning that it's highly appealing to a niche audience. He pointed out that die-hard Champions League fans who would prefer to watch games on big-screen televisions often can't in America because the games are played at 2:30 p.m. ET, smack dab in the middle of the workday. For those fans, a good online broadcast is the next best thing.


UEFA officials said they are specifically targeting the American audience for their online broadcasts at UEFA.com, because the sport can't get more popular in Europe.


"Our live online market is indeed in the USA and South America," said Andy Pattison, production manager for UEFA.com. "This does reflect the increased interest in soccer but also the saturation of the Champions League within Europe."


But Pattison also said the online games have been most popular in places where only the top games are available on television. (Turkish ex-pats are driving the most online traffic at the moment, he said, because UEFA.com is one of the few places fans can see games of top Turkish clubs Fenerbahçe and Besiktas.)


So is that the audience for online soccer? Die-hard fans who are stuck at the office and Turkish people who can't otherwise see their team's games?

I interviewed a number of European soccer fans who live in the U.S., and most said that they prefer to pay for a special satellite package or go to a bar to watch international soccer, if possible.


"The online games really don't impact us, because anyone who wants to get our games can get them on television," said Jim O'Donnell, president of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the North American Federation of Celtic Supporters Clubs. "I'm sure there are some football fans without an allegiance who might watch online, but I can't say what kind of effort they'd make."


Mike Kavanagh, president of Arsenal America, a club for American fans of Arsenal FC, said he knows a number of fans who were once uninterested in soccer but became huge supporters after watching online broadcasts of the World Cup last year.


"There were guys who couldn't have cared less about soccer, but they had ESPN360, and now they're into international football, which is fantastic," he said.


- Tim Lemke

http://video1.washingtontimes.com/sportsbiz/2007/11/european_champions_league.html