ESPN FC celebrates first anniversary with record-breaking growth
Enjoys fast-growing audience engagement, mobile visits in India. Video views exploding in India, APAC and globally
BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | August 27, 2013
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ESPN FC – ESPN's global, multi-language and multiplatform football brand – celebrates its one-year anniversary on digital platforms today, and football fans have made ESPNFC.com and ESPN FC on mobile a top destination for football coverage year-round online and on mobile devices. Traffic to the site and on the mobile Web has generated record-breaking numbers and continues to gain momentum worldwide, logging double-digit percent growth across the board.
On this occasion, Bimal Kapadia, Senior Director, ESPN FC, said, “The success we've seen in ESPN FC's inaugural year underlines the commitment and dedication that ESPN FC has made to cover the world's most popular sport globally and across all screens. With unique ability to cover the sport in an integrated way across television and digital platforms we can deliver for fans around the world with excellent day-to-day coverage as we build towards the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.”
Ramesh Kumar, Head of ESPN Digital Media India & ESPNcricinfo, said, “ESPNcricinfo is well known as the authority for the sport of cricket, and as ESPN focuses on growing its digital business in India and across the APAC region, ESPNFC is developing an offering for Indian football fans that aims to deliver the same kind of sport-specific leadership. It is part of a suite of online and mobile products that delivers unmatched coverage to fans and great reach and engagement to advertisers. Across online and mobile, ESPNcricinfo, ESPN FC, ESPN.com, ESPNF1 and more are reaching millions of India fans every month, making ESPN the leading digital sports brand in India.”
James Martin, Deputy Editor, ESPN FC, said, “The numbers over the past year show how fans have come to know ESPN FC as a trusted source of information for the latest news and coverage from around the world of football. We have made, and continue to make, a concerted effort to add a high-caliber group of global contributors to deliver breaking news, thoughtful commentary and quality journalism to best serve football fans.”
Major accomplishments of ESPNFC in India and worldwide over the last one year:
| INDIA |
| Interest in football among Indian fans is growing, with the time spent on the top 10 football-specific sites or sections in India growing +31% since last year, and engagement with ESPN FC is outpacing the market at 44% growth in time spent since last year. ESPN FC is also a top-three football site in terms of reach in India. (source: comScore) |
| Indians are increasingly consuming ESPN FC on mobile devices, through mobile web and via apps (growth of 97% year-on year) (source: Adobe Site Catalyst) |
| Online traffic to ESPN suites (ESPNcricinfo, ESPN.com, ESPNF1 and more) has grown 37 percent year-on-year, while mobile traffic to ESPN digital brands in the region has grown 36 percent |
| GLOBAL |
| Earned the crown of the best consecutively trafficked months in the site's history |
| The site witnesses averaging 5.1 million unique visitors per month, up 11 percent compared to the same time period the previous year |
| Additionally, the ESPN FC mobile Web has generated double-digit percent growth globally – up 22 percent in both page views and visitors compared to the previous year. (Adobe SiteCatalyst August 2012 – July 2013) |
| ESPN FC is the no. 1 football-specific digital destination in the U.S., Malaysia, Singapore and Australia** (source: comScore; except Australia = Nielsen) |
ESPN FC VIDEO
One of ESPN FC's biggest successes to date on digital platforms is online and mobile video – where India and the APAC region have been major contributors.
| INDIA |
| India now is the 9th largest market for viewing ESPN FC video globally, logging a half million views per month – a 40-fold increase year-on-year. |
| India joins other APAC markets as major contributors to the growth in ESPN FC video viewing (Singapore – 2nd, Malaysia – 3rd, Australia - 4th, Hong Kong - 8th and New Zealand - 10th). Collectively, the region accounts for nearly eight million views of video in July 2013. |
| GLOBAL |
| Globally in July, ESPNFC.com reached 23.2 million video starts, marking four consecutive months of record-breaking video traffic on the site. |
Each month, fans from around the world are watching more videos, including breaking news, clips and original video from the likes of The Boot Room and ESPN FC – the brand's signature daily multi-platform program.
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