NFL Training Camps, Fantasy Football Helps ESPN Set Another ComScore Record

ESPN in August set another all-time sports category record in comScore Media Metrix Multi-Platform rankings, posting a total of 82.4 million unique visitors. The total, buttressed in part by the arrival of fantasy football registrations and NFL training camps, surpassed its prior record-setting, World Cup-fueled figure of 80.7 million unique visitors in June. ESPN has now also established the three largest monthly comScore totals in the history of U.S. digital sports media over the past three months. Last month’s comScore figures, meanwhile, also saw the first listing for the newly combined Fox Sports Digital-Sporting News Media entity, the result of a large-scale partnership struck earlier this year. That combined Fox-Sporting News entry ranked third in the category in August with a total of 61.2 million uniques, close to an initially stated target of at least 65 million uniques. ESPN last month also led consumption metrics in the category with an average of 66.7 minutes per user, down from 88.1 minutes per user in the same month last year. Meanwhile, Bleacher Report set its own internal traffic record in August with 45.9 million unique visitors during the month, 83% higher than the same month a year ago and its third consecutive month setting a new company record for uniques. Bleacher Report's Team Stream mobile application also led the entire sports category among individual apps with 682.2 million total minutes of consumption during the month, while four separate ESPN apps ranked in the top 10 mobile sports titles.