Web Caught Up In World Cup Mania

What was the largest audience ever for a sports event online? ESPN claims it was the US vs Algeria World Cup game. But CBS counters it was the BYU-Florida NCAA basketball tournament game.

In any case, ESPN said the World Cup game audience of 6.6 million was the most for a non-holiday morning telecast ever for ESPN, and ESPN.com set a record with 1.7 million concurrent users logging in to check score updates or other news on June 23, beating the previous high by 42%. ESPN Mobile also had its highest-traffic day ever, with 650,000 watching the U.S.-Algeria game on handheld devices. Audience data coming in from ESPN -- which has U.S. broadcast rights to the World Cup in South Africa -- and other sources suggest that the 2010 tournament is generating an unprecedented level of interest among Americans.