Yahoo!’s virtual stadium wins big

Korea’s baseball fans were not the only ones celebrating their team’s victory over the United States in the World Baseball Classic yesterday. Yahoo! Korea Corp., the local subsidiary of the U.S. portal engine, said that over 2 million people watched the ballgame live on its webcast. After the huge upset yesterday, Korea remains the only unbeaten team in the inaugural tournament. The number of viewers of Yahoo! Korea’s webcast has increased steadily since the national team’s opening match against Chinese Taipei on March 3. The portal site said that 860,000 people watched the first game, but that figure quickly doubled to 1.65 million during the second round game with Mexico. Korea won that game 2-1 on Monday. “These World Baseball Classic games are televised in the afternoon, making it difficult for office workers and students to watch them on TV,” said Kim Byeong-seok, director of public relations at Yahoo! Korea, which has the exclusive local rights to show the games on the Internet. “Those people can not only watch games live, but they can also write replies in real time for added fun.” Korea faces off with regional rival Japan tomorrow. The game will be played at noon, Korean time. by Yoo Jee-ho