ESPN Digital Media in July: 105 Million Unique Fans Worldwide

Kevin Ota

August 31, 2016

Global scale: 104.5 million total unique global visitors, 841 billion visits, 5.4 billion minutes;
In the U.S.: 29th straight month at No. 1 for monthly unique users, total minutes and visits, Top 2 U.S. sports apps.

Driven by ESPN’s broad range of sports rights around the world, ESPN Digital Media reached 104.5 million global unique visitors in July, 20.8 million more than the No. 2 global sports property (Yahoo Sports/NBC Sports Network, 83.7 million).

ESPN was the most-trafficked sports property in the world for the month, racking up 841 million visits and 5.4 billion minutes of usage – up 47 percent and 51 percent, respectively, compared to the No. 2 sports property (Yahoo Sports/NBC Sports Network). ESPN accounted for 13 percent of all time spent on digital platforms in the global sports category, 51 percent more than the No. 2 property (Yahoo Sports).

In the U.S., July marked the 29th consecutive month in which ESPN led the digital sports category for monthly unique visitors, total minutes and visits.

More results from the July comScore U.S. Multi-Platform report:

ESPN’s digital content reached 79.1 million U.S. fans, 45 percent of all sports category users for the month.

ESPN’s lead in monthly unique visitors over the No. 2 property (Yahoo Sports/NBC Sports Network) was 24.1 million in July, 5.3 million more than the margin ESPN held over Yahoo Sports/NBC Sports Network, which was also No. 2, in the same month last year.

On mobile devices alone, 63.7 million unique users accessed ESPN web and app content. Users spent 2.6 billion minutes with ESPN on mobile devices.

ESPN reached 15.2 million average daily unique users on smartphones, 7.1 million more than No. 2 Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network (8.2 million).

70 percent of ESPN’s unique users – 55.1 million people – exclusively accessed content on smartphones and tablets. 54 percent of all time spent with ESPN digital content was consumed by mobile device users.

ESPN accounted for the top two sports apps on smartphones and tablets in July in terms of unique users, with the ESPN app topping the category (11.9 million), accompanied by No. 2 WatchESPN (5.9 million). The ESPN app also was No. 2 in the sports category for usage with fans spending 748 million minutes with the app during the month.

ESPN’s portfolio of apps maintained the sports category lead in unique users and minutes, reaching 19.2 million U.S. users in total and generating 1.3 billion minutes of usage.

Additional results from ESPN Research & Analytics:

6.4 million unique devices streamed WatchESPN content in July, up 23 percent from a year ago. Viewers spent 1.4 billion minutes with programming across all platforms, up 35 percent.¹