CNN Pipeline of CNN's archive through the pipeline player. Additionally, regular featured programs found on CNN's American services were unavailable to Pipeline users. This fact was not made clear in advertisements for the service, so some American or Canadian users expecting online access to CNN and Headline News, to which they were accustomed, were disappointed. Pipes was also used for special events as well. On September 11, 2006, the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, CNN Pipeline carried a real-time rebroadcast of CNN's then-live coverage of the attacks for 15 and a half hours. Free access for Pipeline was offered
CNN International news website CNN.com (initially an experiment known as "CNN Interactive") on August 30, 1995. The site attracted growing interest over its first decade and is now one of the most popular news websites in the world. The widespread growth of blogs, social media and user-generated content have influenced the site, and blogs in particular have focused CNN's previously scattershot online offerings, most noticeably in the development and launch of CNN Pipeline in late 2005. In April 2009, CNN.com ranked third place among online global news sites in unique users in the U.S. according to Nielsen/NetRatings; with an increase of 11%