Baseball Owners Analyze Their Web PerformanceBaseball Owners Analyze Their Web Performance

Three things cannot be overanalyzed: the weather, sports, and IT. Case in point--Major League Baseball wants to know if its revamped Web presence is paying dividends. MLB's Internet arm, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, has turned to NetIQ Corp.'s WebTrends Live service to get an idea of how fans are interacting with MLB.com, as well as the 30 franchise sites. Through the service, MLB Advanced Media now has Web-based access to analytics that provide a snapshot of visitor experiences, current to within the last 15 minutes.

In the past several months, the league has reorganized its Internet operations under MLB Advanced Media; launched a video archive built around Virage Inc. technology; cut a deal with RealNetworks Inc. to create revenue from online radio broadcasts of games; and introduced E-commerce, promotional, and community features to its sites. WebTrends Live is giving the league a better idea of what features fans are accessing most frequently, letting it respond quickly by tailoring its sites to fans' tastes.

Kristen Fergason, marketing manager for MLB Advanced Media, says the league selected WebTrends Live in part because it provided a diverse, quick-response service that's designed to preserve privacy. "We're not trying to look at individual users, see what they're doing, and personalize their experiences," Fergason says. "We're trying to get an overall look at the baseball fan."

David Daniels, a Jupiter Media Metrix analyst, says MLB's move to analysis technology that's embedded in Web pages is a logical step. Daniels says the quicker, more accurate data will let MLB more efficiently determine what content it should be caching at the edge of its network for easier retrieval.