Search The Web

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Sports Site Traffic in India Reaches New Heights

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on traffic to Sports sites in India as the country prepares for the India Premier League’s (IPL) third season. The study found that more than 10 million Internet users at home and work locations in India visited a sports site in January 2010, nearly double the number from the previous year.

“The sports category has experienced tremendous growth throughout the last year as more Indians turn to the Internet as their first source of up-to-the-minute news on their favorite teams and players,” said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region. “January saw a particularly strong increase in traffic fueled by the IPL3 player auction on the 19th of the month. With IPL3 set to begin in March, we expect to see continued growth at many sports sites as fans prepare for the tournament’s return to India.”

More than 10 Million Visit a Sports Site in January

In January 2010, 10.3 million Internet users age 15 and older visited a sports site in India from a home or work location, an increase of 97 percent from the previous year. Yahoo! Cricket led as the most visited sports destination with nearly 4 million visitors, up 305 percent versus last year. ESPN grabbed the #2 position with 3.5 million visitors (up 109 percent) followed by Sify Sports with more than 1 million visitors (up 379 percent). Cricket-specific sites also posted strong visitation figures including CricBuzz.com (640,000 visitors), CricketNirvana.com (523,000 visitors),KrishCricket.com (306,000 visitors) and Cricketnext (278,000 visitors).

Most Visited Sports Sites by Unique Visitors
January 2010 vs. January 2009
Total India Age 15+ - Home/Work Location
Source: comScore World Metrix
  Total Unique Visitors (000)
  Jan-09 Jan-10 % Change
Total Internet : Total Audience 32,523 37,269 15
Sports 5,244 10,322 97
Yahoo! Cricket 972 3,940 305
ESPN 1,669 3,491 109
Sify Sports 216 1,036 379
FANIQ.COM 637 771 21
CRICBUZZ.COM 651 640 -2
CRICKETNIRVANA.COM 173 523 202
ESPNSTAR.ASIA N/A 315 N/A
KRISHCRICKET.COM 92 306 232
Cricketnext N/A 278 N/A
MSN Sports International 153 271 76

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Engagement Accelerates at Sports Sites
Not only did Sports sites achieve strong gains in visitation during the last year, but audience engagement also soared to record levels. Total time spent, page views, and visits to the Sports category all increased by 100 percent or more in the past year. The average Sports category visitor spent 30.1 minutes at sports sites, viewing 41 pages of content and visiting the category nearly 6 times throughout the month.

Sports Category Engagement
January 2010 vs. January 2009
Total India Age 15+ - Home/Work Location
Source: comScore World Metrix
  Jan-09 Jan-10 % Change
Total Minutes (MM) 155 311 100
Total Pages Viewed (MM) 203 420 107
Total Visits (000) 22,678 61,175 170
Average Minutes per Visitor 29.6 30.1 1.8
Average Pages per Visitor 39 41 5
Average Visits per Visitor 4.3 5.9 37.0

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

No comments: