ESPN Leading Pack in Mobile 'Net; Yahoo, NFL, Bleacher Report, CBS far behind

[Cigar56]

Sports fans spent 4.1 billion minutes consuming ESPN content on smartphones and tablets in November; Mobile accounted for 54% of all ESPN digital usage; 28.6 million fans exclusively accessed ESPN content on smartphones and tablets.

ESPN Digital Media accounted for 35% of all sports category usage across computers, smartphones and tablets in November, more than the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 sports properties combined (Yahoo! Sports-NBC Sports Network, NFL Internet Group, and Bleacher Report-Turner Sports Network), according to comScore Multi-Platform data.

ESPN release: http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2013/12/espn-digital-media-sets-all-time-record-for-mobile-usage/

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

ESPN lagged far behind the others during the Olympics.
That is nut-cutting time in the business of web traffic, members and moderators.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

Does that include when people use the app to listen to ESPN Radio?

 

[Jake_Taylor]

Reading the release again, I noticed it includes WatchESPN. Adding up the minutes people spend watching a game and comparing it to reading the other sites isn't exactly comparing apples to apples.

 

[Cigar56]

Reading the release again, I noticed it includes WatchESPN. Adding up the minutes people spend watching a game and comparing it to reading the other sites isn't exactly comparing apples to apples.

Of the 4.1 billion minutes ESPN.com logged only 711 million minutes were on Watch ESPN, ESPN3 live and on-demand programming. Even if you pulled those minutes entirely, ESPN still wins. From the release:

• Viewers spent 711 million minutes with WatchESPN and ESPN3 live and on-demand programming across all platforms, up 91% from last November.1

 

[Jake_Taylor]

Fair enough, I just think that when you have a a gigantic broadcast arm with content available on mobile devices it's a lot different than what Yahoo! and others are trying to do with mobile.

 

[Cigar56]

Fair enough, I just think that when you have a a gigantic broadcast arm with content available on mobile devices it's a lot different than what Yahoo! and others are trying to do with mobile.

No worries. I am not an ESPN supporter. I offered the numbers up just as a point of information, and no more than that. But the numbers do show ESPN is far out in front as content delivery moves from the desktop to mobile devices.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

True. I consider it an upset the other guys are even in the same ballpark Web traffic wise considering the resourses and branding advantage ESPN has.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

This is the next hill to take, mobile devices.
ESPN can throw massive force at the challenge, but it does not own a search engine, either.

 

[Moderator1]

Mobile is indeed becoming king - smartphones and tablets.
A friend of mine runs a college-specific fan site. Got it started back in 1995 or so, built a very nice site. Very objective writing, very active message board, was making some decent money.
I saw him not so long ago, it had been a while because my beat writing days ended. He lamented being way behind the curve now. He was ahead initially, didn't do enough with mobile adaptability and fell behind. Some of his competitors who surfaced after he started got the jump on mobile and it was costing him.

We have it all in the palm of our hands. If you can't deliver it there, someone else well.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I know a few producers who have channeled their competitive energies into this, full-bore.
It does come at the sacrifice of more boutique-oriented journalism, unfortunately.
But you have to do what pays the bills and keeps you in the game.
New dynamic for a new frontier.

 

[playthrough]

Yep, it's all mobile. I worked for a major sports organization who, when I left, was putting the finishing touches on a full-site redesign that will launch soon. Absolutely everything in the redesign is mobile/tablet driven. Also, realizing that the majority of the site traffic has and will always be scoreboard-driven, there won't be as much writing. But there will be photo galleries and twitter feeds out the wazoo.