The digital sports media category showed audience growth during January, a month that often sees retreats following the seasonal conclusion of fantasy football leagues. Monthly comScore rankings of multiplatform digital reach and consumption showed the category generated a cumulative audience of 186.86 million during the month, up from 182.6 million in December and 184.6 million in January ’18. The average time spent of 99.3 minutes per visitor on sports content last month similarly was up from the same month last year, but down from 121.4 minutes per visitor in December. ESPN led all sports entrants with a reach figure of 94.96 million uniques and consumption figures of 5.31 billion total minutes and a per-user average of 55.9 minutes. The sports section of Fox News, meanwhile, made a return to the sports list, ranking 14th with a reach total of 10.9 million uniques. The site last appeared in these rankings in September, and the latest traffic surge is believed to be driven in part by coverage around the Super Bowl LIII halftime show.
|
RANK
|
SITE
|
UNIQUES (000)
|
|
1
|
ESPN
|
94,962
|
|
2
|
CBS Sports*
|
69,157
|
|
3
|
NFL Internet Group
|
58,604
|
|
4
|
Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network**
|
57,667
|
|
5
|
USA Today Sports Media Group***
|
49,840
|
|
6
|
Bleacher Report-Turner Sports Network^
|
49,643
|
|
7
|
SB Nation
|
40,067
|
|
8
|
Sports Illustrated sites
|
28,178
|
|
9
|
Minute Media^^
|
22,526
|
|
10
|
MSN Sports
|
18,021
|
|
11
|
MLB
|
13,132
|
|
12
|
Fox Sports Digital
|
13,031
|
|
13
|
Deadspin.com
|
11,504
|
|
14
|
Fox News Sports
|
10,918
|
|
15
|
NESN
|
10,094
|
|
RANK
|
SITE
|
TOTAL TIME SPENT (MINUTES)
|
|
1
|
ESPN
|
5.31 billion
|
|
2
|
Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network**
|
3.10 billion
|
|
3
|
NFL Internet Group
|
1.70 billion
|
|
4
|
Bleacher Report-Turner Sports Network^
|
1.30 billion
|
|
5
|
CBS Sports*
|
1.24 billion
|
|
6
|
MSN Sports
|
542 million
|
|
7
|
USA Today Sports Media Group***
|
490 million
|
|
8
|
Minute Media^^
|
428 million
|
|
9
|
SB Nation
|
403 million
|
|
10
|
Sports Illustrated sites
|
193 million
|
NOTES: * = Includes 247Sports.com, MaxPreps, and Scout Media. ** = Includes Rivals, 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 90min, 12UP, DBLTap and The Spun.
WHY RUIN A GOOD THING: Yahoo Sports and NBC Sports Group have renewed their long-standing digital alliance for three more years, continuing a partnership that began in late ’12. The two sides will continue to jointly sell advertising and promote each other’s content. Like the prior pair of three-year terms, the latest deal will rely heavily on revenue sharing, and the two outlets will maintain their joint entry in the monthly comScore traffic rankings. Each entity will still operate separate sites and mobile apps under their own editorial control. During the six-plus years of the partnership to date, the Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Group alliance has combined to be one of the most heavily trafficked digital sports entities in the industry.
