The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States was a major event for US Internet users on Tuesday since many needed to rely upon online streaming on news websites to view the event from work. As one might expect, the Broadcast Media and Politics categories were the main beneficiaries from the Inauguration activities, increasing 33% and 53%, respectively, as compared to the market share of visits on the previous Tuesday. Other related categories also experienced increased visits on Inauguration Day, including the Federal Government which grew 13%, boosted by the launch of the new Whitehouse.gov; the News & Media parent category grew 10%, and visits to Social Networks increased 5% as Internet users turned to websites such as Twitter and Facebook to discuss the day’s events.

Within the Broadcast Media category, the top 10 websites were dominated by major news outlets, such as CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. The domain for CNN.com Video was the big winner on Tuesday, with an increase in market share of visits within the Broadcast Media category of 426%. Part of the success for CNN.com is tied to the partnership with Facebook to view the live stream of the Inauguration events while viewing status updates from friends and other viewers. An interesting inclusion in the top 10 is WRAL.com, a website for a local station in Raleigh, NC, where a huge snowstorm had closed many schools and businesses on Tuesday.

Another big winner in terms of traffic on Tuesday was the Whitehouse.gov website, which was relaunched under the Obama presidency and visits jumped 757% from the previous Tuesday.