Fantasy sports take off on the Internet

NEWS RELEASE

YAHOO! CANADA

************************* 'Fantasy' Sports searches spike on Yahoo! Canada Buzz Index Armchair coaches live out fantasies on Yahoo! Canada TORONTO, Nov. 8 - From basketball to horse racing, figure skating to boxing, sports ruled Canadian online culture last week.

True to Canadian spirit, hockey was the overall winner, even in the fantasy world. Basketball fantasies made the biggest moves, with 'Fantasy NBA,' becoming the week's top breakout search term, while 'fantasy basketball,' 'NBA fantasy,' and 'NBA' also jumped high (up 150 per cent, 135 per cent, and 71 per cent respectively).

Meanwhile, searches for 'NHL' and 'fantasy hockey' were the top two sports searches overall.

"'Fantasy sports' allows stats-happy fans to indulge their obsessions in ways unique to the online world, bringing together participation from across Canada and around the world," says Oliver Ho, pop-culture specialist and editor of the Buzz Index for Yahoo! Canada. "Hockey remains the national favourite, but with the season opener in Toronto this past week, basketball is definitely making an impact."

Top Sports Movers (week beginning Oct. 31, 2006): 1. Fantasy NBA: Breakout! 2. New York Marathon: +1108% 3. Breeders Cup: +749% 4. Skate Canada: +188% 5. UEFA: +179% 6. Fantasy basketball: +150% 7. NBA fantasy: +135% 8. NBA: +71% 9. Boxing: +65% 10. Boston Bruins: +52% 11. Toronto Raptors: +49% 12. Raptors: +45%

Top Overall Sports Searches: 1. NHL 2. Fantasy hockey 3. WWE 4. NFL 5. Toronto Maple Leafs 6. NBA 7. NASCAR 8. CFL 9. Toronto Raptors 10. Fantasy football

Top 10 Searches Overall: 1. NHL 2. Trans fats 3. Fantasy hockey 4. WWE 5. NFL 6. Dancing With the Stars 7. Oprah 8. Martha Stewart 9. NBA 10. NASCAR Yahoo! Canada Buzz Index: How the online water cooler works The Yahoo! Canada Buzz Index (http://ca.buzz.yahoo.com/) provides insight and commentary for the top Canadian searches as measured by Yahoo! Canada Search.

After the data has been collected from the Yahoo! Canada Search log files, the Buzz Index team reviews the total number of people searching for specific subjects, along with spikes of interest in searches at particular times of the year. Editors then further filter out company names (such as Yahoo!), utilities and formats (email, MP3 etc) and general terms (movies, downloads, hockey) to define and list subjects that are most relevant and of interest to the broadest possible audience.

To this end, searches for adults-only content are also excluded. "Top Movers" are the top 10 subjects with the greatest percentage increase in searches for a given week.

When a subject goes from zero to a large number of searches, it is referred to as a "Breakout".

About Yahoo! Canada Yahoo! Canada Co. is a leading Internet destination that provides online products and services to meet the needs of Canadians and offers a range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users.

Yahoo! Canada services Canadians in both English and in French through its sites, www.yahoo.ca and http://francais.yahoo.ca

Yahoo! Canada is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

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