ESPN records biggest month ever to become number one sports network
The ESPN Digital Network has achieved its biggest month on record, with the local platform overtaking afl.com and jumping to number one in the sports category in Nielsen’s Digital Ratings for the first time.
Steph Brantz
In November last year, ESPN’s Global Digital Network saw 128 million users worldwide with a total of 1.1 billion site visits, ahead of Yahoo Sports/ NBC Sports Network’s 650.4 million and conquering afl.com who held the top spot in October within Neilsen.
On the back of the record, ESPN has announced it will cover the Australian Open using a model using its digital networks across the United States, Australia and the UK, tailoring the content produced to each region and their associated network.
The traffic is purely because Australians visiting the US espn.com site are being re-directed to the local espn.com.au site.
ESPN Aus/NZ have zero clue what their readers and viewers want. They completely ignore feedback, just checkout their social media sites – no response to anything
The ESPN website is benefitting from the fact that the NBA website and redirection to local sites is appallingly bad. To watch highlights or box score of an NBA game it is much easier to wait for someone to post it on youtube or go to ESPN. ESPN uses face-book and social media to generate traffic for it’s stories way better than Foxtel, and better capturing the redirected punter and keep them on the site.
The scheduling by ESPN channels is still terrible especially NBA games. Foxtel is no better, during a recent rugby sevens comp they cut to a mens pool game from several years ago rather than show a womens quarter final live.
Hats off to all involved. A remarkable piece of promotion. As a PR guy I look forward to watching them play out the EARNED media now via news.com.au, radio stations, online news outlets and all the TV networks who will line up to report on it, replay it a thousand times and drive comment around it. And guess what? They’ve earned it.
Like it or hate it this ad has got your attention. I’m pretty sure that was the intention.