Fueled heavily by the start of the NFL season and return of fantasy football, the digital sports media category in September posted its strongest comScore numbers this calendar year. Monthly multiplatform data showed the sports category posted a total audience of 186.6 million during the month, up 4.3% from August of this year and the highest figure since August '16. The average sports consumption of 130.8 minutes per user was up 39% from August, and the highest such figure since December '16. ESPN led all sports entities in reach for the 13th straight month and the 42nd time in the last 43 months with a total of 96.9 million unique visitors, the highest figure to lead the category since November of last year. ESPN’s average user consumption of 88.5 minutes per user also topped the category.
|
UNIQUE VISITORS FOR SPORTS SITES IN SEPTEMBER
|
|
RANK
|
SITE |
UNIQUES (000)
|
|
1
|
ESPN |
96,930
|
|
2
|
CBS Sports* |
75,333
|
|
3
|
Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network** |
65,348
|
|
4
|
Fox Sports-SI Group-Perform Media*** |
60,381
|
|
5
|
NFL Internet Group |
55,878
|
|
6
|
SB Nation |
53,771
|
|
7
|
USA Today Sports Media Group^ |
52,010
|
|
8
|
Bleacher Report-Turner Sports Network^^ |
47,360
|
|
9
|
MLB |
28,986
|
|
10
|
Minute Media# |
23,616
|
|
11
|
MSN Sports |
20,299
|
|
12
|
Deadspin.com |
12,130
|
|
13
|
NESN |
8,148
|
|
14
|
TheSportster.com |
8,040
|
|
15
|
Active.com sites |
7,819
|
|
TOTAL MINUTES SPENT ON SPORTS SITES IN SEPTEMBER
|
|
RANK
|
SITE |
TOTAL TIME SPENT (MINUTES)
|
|
1
|
ESPN |
8.57 billion
|
|
2
|
Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network** |
4.69 billion
|
|
3
|
MLB |
18.0 billion
|
|
4
|
CBS Sports* |
1.61 billion
|
|
5
|
NFL Internet Group |
1.60 billion
|
|
6
|
Bleacher Report-Turner Sports Group^^ |
920 million
|
|
7
|
Fox Sports-SI Group-Perform Media*** |
662 million
|
|
8
|
USA Today Sports Media Group^ |
647 million
|
|
9
|
SB Nation |
342 million
|
|
10
|
Minute Media# |
168 million
|
NOTES: * = Includes 247Sports.com, MaxPreps, and Scout Media. ** = Includes Rivals.com, The Vertical, The PostGame.com, Rotoworld and FanDuel. *** = Includes National Football Post, The FanSided Network, and Sporting News. ^ = 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 The Spun.
