Live Earth Concerts on MSN.com are the Most Watched Entertainment Event in Online History

Live Earth Concerts on MSN.com are the Most Watched Entertainment Event in Online History

MSN delivers 30 million streams to date; more than 8 million people worldwide enjoyed live online coverage.

REDMOND, Wash., July 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A history-making audience of viewers from around the world united at http://www.liveearth.msn.com/ to experience the excitement of the Live Earth concerts and confront the threat of global warming. Since the start of the first Live Earth concert in Australia, MSN(R) has delivered more than 30 million live and on-demand video streams of the concerts. During the exclusive live coverage on MSN, more than 8 million people watched over 15 million streams, with peak simultaneous viewership of 237,000 people making it the most watched entertainment event in online history.

"July 7, 2007, was the greatest day in the history of MSN. Our Live Earth offering has delivered more than 30 million video streams and reached more than 8 million people around the world, a milestone in online history," said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN. "We are thrilled that MSN connected a global audience together for this important issue, and invite people to explore the in-depth experience available on MSN, which millions are continuing to enjoy."

Millions of people are still expected to visit the MSN Live Earth coverage over the coming weeks. Hundreds of Live Earth concert performances are available on demand at http://liveearth.msn.com/, along with artist interviews and exclusive backstage footage. Viewers can easily find specific performances, share their favorite performances with friends, and learn more about the climate crisis through in-depth information, tools and resources.

The U.K. concert at Wembley Stadium was the most watched live stream, and peak simultaneous viewership of 237,000 occurred during Madonna's closing performance in London. Other popular artists throughout the day included Kelly Clarkson, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rihanna and Shakira.

"Live Earth is committed to continuing to provide our global audience with ways to 'Answer the Call' and individually make a difference to help solve the climate crisis," said Kevin Wall, founder and producer of Live Earth. "By providing the opportunity to view the shows in their entirety online, coupled with our unique solutions campaign, we're able to communicate our message on a mass scale in a way that engages people and inspires them to act."

About Live Earth

Live Earth is a monumental music event that brought together more than 2 billion people on July 7, 2007 to combat the climate crisis. Live Earth staged concerts in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Hamburg, and featured a mix of both legendary music acts like The Police, Genesis, Bon Jovi and Madonna with the latest headliners like Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyed Peas and Jack Johnson.

Live Earth's 24 hours of music across seven continents delivered a worldwide call to action and the solutions necessary to answer that call. Live Earth marked the beginning of a multi-year campaign to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve the climate crisis. Live Earth is partnering with the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group, Stop Climate Chaos and other international organizations in this ongoing effort. Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, a worldwide executive producer of the Live 8 concert series in 2005, and is supported by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

About MSN

MSN attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information about the greening processes of Live Earth venues and the campaign to combat global warming: Visit http://www.liveearth.org/.

FCMN Contact:

Photo: NewsCom:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO
AP Archive:

http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Microsoft

CONTACT: Brynn Vitale, +1-212-907-6649, bvitale@waggeneredstrom.com, or
Rapid Response Team, +1-503-443-7070, rrt@waggeneredstrom.com, both of
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide for Microsoft; or Yusef Robb of Live Earth Press
Team, +1-323-384-1789

Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/
http://www.msn.com/
http://www.liveearth.org/

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft(R) Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft's corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft's Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

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