ESPN in August led monthly comScore sports rankings of multiplatform digital reach for an 18th consecutive month, and increased by more than 8 million uniques from July to reverse a four-month decline in its audience total. Its totals, however, remain below its record-setting figures from June ’14-January ’15, when it set four separate comScore sports category records. ESPN's consumption figures during August were also a mixed story. It once again led the category with 5.8 billion minutes in time spent, and 73.8 minutes per user. But both of those numbers were down from July, despite the arrival of fantasy football registrations boosted by a new partnership with daily fantasy company DraftKings, and the beginning of NFL preseason games. The NFL did make its own expected seasonal jump, rising from ninth in the category in July with 29.3 million unique visitors to fourth and 51.1 million in August. But much of the category saw only minimal boosts from the return of football. CBS Sports was an exception to that, rising by nearly 9 million uniques in July, fueled in part by a company record 14.8 million uniques from 24/7 Sports.
| RANK |
SITE |
UNIQUES
(000)
|
| 1) |
ESPN |
79,099
|
| 2) |
Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network* |
57,330
|
| 3) |
Fox Sports Digital-Sporting News Media |
52,334
|
| 4) |
NFL Internet Group |
51,087
|
| 5) |
USA Today Sports Media Group** |
47,442
|
| 6) |
Bleacher Report-Turner Sports Network*** |
46,652
|
| 7) |
CBS Sports^ |
46,381
|
| 8) |
SB Nation |
43,573
|
| 9) |
MLB |
39,441
|
| 10) |
Sports Illustrated sites# |
23,560
|
| 11) |
MSN Sports |
16,104
|
| 12) |
Active.com sites |
10,973
|
| 13) |
Deadspin |
8,782
|
| 14) |
WWE |
8,523
|
| 15) |
CBS Local Sports |
6,308
|
| RANK |
SITE |
TOTAL TIME SPENT
(MINUTES)
|
| 1) |
ESPN |
5.839 billion
|
| 2) |
Yahoo-NBC Sports Network* |
2.893 billion
|
| 3) |
Fox Sports Digital-Sporting News Media |
1.717 billion
|
| 4) |
NFL Internet Group |
1.333 billion
|
| 5) |
USA Today Sports Media Group** |
703 million
|
| 6) |
Bleacher Report-Turner Sports Network*** |
1.475 billion
|
| 7) |
CBS Sports^ |
1.083 billion
|
| 8) |
SB Nation |
353 million
|
| 9) |
MLB |
2.862 billion
|
| 10) |
Sports Illustrated sites# |
256 million
|
NOTES: * = Includes Rivals.com, ThePostGame.com, Rotoworld and FanDuel. ** = Includes 81 local Gannett-owned newspaper sites, 23 Gannett-owned broadcast TV sites, USA Today High School Sports, The Big Lead and For The Win. *** = Includes NBA.com, NCAA.com and WNBA.com. ^ = Includes 24/7 Sports. # = Includes 120 Sports, National Football Post and the FanSided Network.
