As vice president of interactive services for NBA Entertainment, Brenda Spoonemore oversees the integration, development and production of the NBA.com Internet Network -- more than 50 unique U.S. sites for the NBA's various leagues and teams, and five international sites. She's responsible for database marketing initiatives and has been a key player in the NBA's far-reaching content and marketing partnerships. In 2001, NBA.com was the first professional sports league to Webcast a live game when NBA.com streamed live video and audio of a Dallas Mavericks versus Sacramento Kings game.  She took part in an e-mail Q&A with OJR Senior Editor Staci D. Kramer.

Staci D. Kramer: What kind of traffic did NBA.com do during the All-Star weekend compared to a usual in-season weekend? How many video downloads?

	Brenda Spoonemore

Brenda Spoonemore: We had a record breaking NBA All-Star across the board with television ratings on TNT, attendance at NBA All-Star Jam Session, NBA merchandise sales and traffic to NBA.com.

On NBA.com, we received a record of more than 11 million visitors for the week including breaking the daily traffic record on consecutive days with more than 2 million visitors on NBA All-Star Sunday, and more than 2.1 million visitors on Monday, the following day. The daily traffic records to NBA.com marked the first time the site has ever received more than 2 million visitors in one day. This season, NBA.com is averaging more than 1.3 million visitors per day, an increase of more than 35% when compared to traffic to the site last year.

During NBA All-Star 2003, traffic to video and audio on NBA.com was up more than 30% compared to the average week during this season. Fans accessed audio, video ore one of the more than 275 photos in All-Star photo galleries more than two million times over the weekend. The three most popular video clips from the NBA All-Star Game included: Michael Jordan's shot with time winding down during the first overtime, Shaquille O'Neal's alley-oop from Steve Nash, and MVP Kevin Garnett sizzling from the floor during the second overtime.

SDK: What elements were new? What was particularly popular?

BS: The most popular features of the 2003 All-Star section on NBA.com were wireless voting for the All-Star Game MVP with Verizon Wireless, photo galleries of the more than 275 photos on and off the court during the weekend and audio and video highlights from Saturday's events and Sunday's game.

SDK: Do you have any preliminary take on the volume of e-commerce? Are people buying photos in high numbers? Is there a most popular photo/item?

BS: Sales on the NBA Store on NBA.com are up nearly 20% this season to date, with nearly 10% of all sales coming from outside the United States. Some of the more popular items include jerseys, our Hardwood Classics, caps, NBA footwear and, yes, photos.

We were thrilled by the fan response to this year's retro theme for the All-Star Game?this year's hottest item was the red and white retro All-Star Game jerseys, which sold out online within 48 hours of being posted.

SDK: Can you evaluate the relationship with RealNetworks -- how many subscribers, for instance?

BS: The NBA is very proud of our long-standing relationship with RealNetworks, a pioneer in the field of video delivery and programming online. With the launch of NBA Inside Ticket at the start of this season, and our overall partnership with Real Networks, NBA.com now offers a complete multimedia subscription that features premium video programming, NBA Audio League Pass, in-depth NBA analysis and special email reports -- all for $9.95 per month. For our fans, it is a premium package at the cost of what we offered NBA Audio League Pass alone for last year.

Through NBA Inside Ticket, our fans now have a unique multimedia subscription service that offers them an array of premium features that they can tap into while the casual fan can easily access narrowband video content generally available on NBA.com. Through NBA Inside Ticket and RealOne's Superpass, over 900,000 subscribers have access to NBA Audio League Pass, game highlights and other unique programming.

SDK: How do you view NBA.com's role compared to that of a sports news site like ESPN.com or SI.com?

BS: NBA.com is the single, dedicated destination for basketball fans around the world. With more and deeper video, statistics, games and off-the-court coverage than any other site, NBA.com provides a breadth of basketball coverage that eludes multi-sport, news-oriented sites. NBA.com also draws 40% of its audience from outside the United States, making NBA.com the single biggest destination for unique visitors to any US-based sports site.

With the NBA, WNBA and NBDL, official team sites in each league and five international sections on NBA.com (China, Espanol, Japan, Canada and United Kingdom), the NBA.com Network provides fans with NBA coverage at their convenience and catered to their passion -- whether you're a Lakers fan, Sixers fan or Spanish-speaking Pau Gasol fan.

Staci D. Kramer is Editor at Large at Cable World and was a contributing editor to Inside.com. Based in University City, Mo., Kramer's clients have included Time, Life, the Detroit Free Press, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, Multichannel News, APBNews.com, mediainfo.com, Editor & Publisher, The Sporting News, St. Louis magazine, several major papers in Canada, and numerous others. Her work has been syndicated by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, reprinted in two books and she has even co-produced a segment for "Nightline."