Audiences and Ad Impressions Up on Sports Sites In a recently released report by David Martin, manager, Analysis Milpitas, and derived from a sample of Internet users based on the
current Nielsen//NetRatings research methodologies, one conclusion presented is that "when traffic levels increase on Web sites, the result is a potential goldmine for both publishers and
advertisers." The report goes on to say that as unique audience levels on sports Web sites have increased in the past five months, so have ad impressions levels on those sites. During the period
April through August, paid impressions on sports sites increased an average of 23 percent per month, despite an overall market that saw an up and down summer.
Despite the impressions growth, the
number of advertisers purchasing ads on those properties went up for the first time in five months in August, suggesting that the appeal of seasonal crossover was too great to pass up for some
advertisers who had pulled spending previously.
Some of the data included in the report include findings such as:
Traffic to sports sites increased 5.3 percent in August over the month of
July (a gain of nearly two million unique visitors.) Augmenting the increase in visitation, users spent more time on sports sites and viewed more pages, as shown by a 29 percent category gain in page
views in August.
MLB.com appeared to hit a minor decline, dropping by 11 percent over July. While the football season may have had something to do with that drop, strike worries may have also
swayed interest temporarily. Summer golf action also fueled an 18 percent increase in the unique audience of the PGA Tour official Web site, as their 1.2 million visitors put them at 15th on the top
sports sites list.
College Sports Network spiked by 61 percent over July. While the predominant draw is college football, OCSN hosts the official athletic pages for many universities entire
lineup of athletics. OCSN’s popularity ranked them seventh on the top sports properties list.
NHL.com in August was down 31 percent over July numbers, and the property currently sits 37th in the
rankings for sports sites. These numbers reflect website traffic from the US only, and NHL numbers are most likely much higher in Canada.
Usage of Top Sports Properties (U.S. Combined At-Home and
At-Work Users)
| | August UA | July UA | Change (%) |
| All Sports Sites | 38,348 | 36,408 | 5 |
| ESPN | 13,173 | 12,178 | 8 |
| NFL Internet Network | 7,867 | 3,781 | 108 |
| Yahoo! Sports | 6,838 | 6,000 | 14 |
| Sportsline | 6,316 | 6,677 | -5
|
| CNNsi | 5,937 | 6,113 | -3 |
| Majorleaguebaseball.com | 4,837 | 5,455 | -11 |
| OCSN | 3,319 | 2,066 | 61 |
| eBay Sports | 3,248 | 3,313
| -2 |
| nascar.com | 3,232 | 3,065 | 5 |
| sportingnews.com | 2,032 | 1,721 | 18 |
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, August 2002 UA Unique
Audience
Retailers, promoting fall clothing lines, back to school gear, and the inevitable holiday shopping romp, increased impressions purchases by 94 percent from July to August and led
all advertisers with nearly 1.4 billion impressions on sports sites in the month.
Ad Impressions by Industry on Sports Sites
| Industry | August Impressions (000,000) | July Impressions (000,000) | Change (%) |
| Retail Goods & Services | 1,398 | 720 | 94
|
| Web Media | 1,033 | 954 | 8 |
| Consumer Goods | 625 | 602 | 4 |
| Travel | 319 | 422 | -24 |
| Business to Business | 284 | 369 | -23 |
| Financial Services | 274 | 270 | 2 |
| Entertainment | 191
| 129 | 48 |
| Telecommunications | 165 | 116 | 43 |
| Automotive | 149 | 207 | -28 |
| Software | 133 | 68 | 95 |
| Hardware & Electronics | 107
| 106 | 1 |
| Public Services | 85 | 84 | 1 |
| Health | 60 | 41 | 47 |
Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings, September 2002
Hewlett Packard led all advertisers on sports properties in the month of August with close to 200 million impressions, but that figure was down 39 percent from
July
Top Advertisers on Sports Sites
| Advertiser | August Impressions | July Impressions | Change (%) |
| Hewlett Packard Company | 199 | 326 | -39 |
| eBay, Inc. | 165 | 129 | 28 |
| CMGI, Inc. (uBid) | 114 | 21 | 454 |
| MBNA Corporation | 108 | 102 | 6 |
| Microsoft Corporation | 94 | 21 | 356 |
| Orbitz | 93 | 105 | -12 |
| priceline.com Incorporated | 82 | 159 | -48 |
| Philip Morris
Companies Inc. | 80 | 57 | 39 |
| MegaSports | 80 | 49 | 63 |
| Diageo PLC | 78 | 61 | 27 |
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, September 2002
For more information on the Nielsen//NetRatings research methodologies, see nielsen-netratings.com.