NBC SPORTS DIGITAL “BYTES”
November 5, 2015 – Vol. 73
NBC Sports Digital “Bytes” is a collection of highlights, information and metrics for NBC Sports Digital properties. Previous editions can be found on NBCSportsGroupPressbox.com.
Re-Design of NBCSports.com Leads to Record Traffic and Streaming Metrics
Since NBC Sports Digital re-designed its websites with an emphasis on live video on September 7, NBCSports.com experienced its best September ever with 27 million unique users, up 5% versus 2014; its best October ever, with 29 million unique users, up 20% versus 2014; and referred 3.2 million live video starts post-redesign, more than doubling the same time period last year and tripling the period before the re-design.
A significant amount of year-over-year increases are driven by the site’s new mobile web and video experience, which adapts to a users’ device and prominently features the live streaming schedule to the left of the page. Sunday Night Football is off to its strongest start ever on NBC Sports Live Extra, with SNF games in September and October accounting for eight of its top 10 most-streamed non-Olympic authenticated events ever.
Other highlights include:
- NASCAR Talk had its best month ever in October among visits (3.3 million) and page views (5.9 million).
- Two Notre Dame football games in September and October ranked among the top five most streamed Notre Dame authenticated games ever on Live Extra.
- Three Premier League games in September and October ranked among the top five most streamed BPL games ever on Live Extra.
- NASCAR races in September and October delivered 24 million live minutes, an 8% increase versus July and August races on Live Extra.
*Data provided by Omniture
Rotoworld.com Posts Best October Ever
Boosted by NFL and NASCAR content, Rotoworld.com posted its best October ever with 7.1 million unique users and almost 30 million visits. This marks Rotoworld.com’s 13th consecutive month in which unique users and visits have been up versus the year prior.
In addition Rotoworld.com recently experienced its best day ever on Sunday, November 1, with more than 1.2 million visits.
October’s most popular players on Rotoworld.com were:
- New England Patriots WR Brandon LaFell
- Chicago Bears WR Alshon Jeffery
- Seattle Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch
- San Diego Chargers TE Antonio Gates
- Houston Texans RB Arian Foster
- Kansas City Chiefs RB Charcandrick West
- Dallas Cowboys RB Christine Michael
- New England Patriots RB Dion Lewis
- Buffalo Bills RB Karlos Williams
- Baltimore Ravens RB Justin Forsett
CSNChicago.com Delivers Record Numbers in October
CSNChicago.com, the online home of Comcast SportsNet Chicago, had a record month in October, with 5.2 million unique users, nearly 7 million visits and 12 million page views, its best ever. The growth was spurred by high interest and a captivated city following the Chicago Cubs postseason run to the NLCS, along with the return of the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, the return of the Chicago Bulls under new coach and former Bulls player Fred Hoiberg, Notre Dame’s rise to No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and the IHSA Playoff Pairing Bracket Show live stream.
NBA Page Views Up in ’15 on CSNBayArea.com
Since the hire of Sacramento Kings Insider James Ham on September 25, CSNBayArea.com has generated a 568% increase in Kings page views versus the same period in 2014. This contributed to a surge in overall NBA page views on CSNBayArea.com, delivering 2.15 million in 2015 so far versus 1.2 million in 2014. In addition, Golden State Warriors Insider Monte Poole‘s NBA power rankings gallery delivered high metrics for the site, garnering 124,000 page views on Monday, November 2.
Submissions Open For NBC Sports Group’s CPTR’D (Captured)
Submissions for NBC Sports Group’s CPTR’D (Captured), a new sports short-form feature contest open to filmmakers of all levels who aspire to follow NBC Sports’ Emmy Award-winning storytelling heritage, open this Monday, November 9. Filmmakers are invited to submit short-form feature projects which run 10 minutes or less, on any sports-related topic.
Select short-form feature submissions will be presented across NBC Sports Group’s digital platforms, and the winning CPTR’D project will be telecast on NBCSN and will win $10,000. All CPTR’D entries must be submitted by January 12, 2016, are required to include originally shot footage, and are subject to all official rules of the contest. For more information click here: http://www.cptrdcontest.com.
Five CPTR’D finalists will be announced on February 4, 2016. The films will be posted onwww.cptrdcontest.com. Beginning that day, visitors to the site will be able to view all finalist selections and vote for their favorite project. All judging of initial CPTR’D submissions will be done by a panel of NBC Sports Group executives, as well as sports and entertainment industry influencers. The first through fifth-place selections will be decided by a collaboration of public and judges votes. First, second and third-place winners of CPTR’D will be announced on March 9, 2016.
C’s Deliver for CSNNE.com
Comcast SportsNet New England’s Celtics Season Opener against Philly on Wednesday, October 28, had its most successful live stream in several metrics, including total visits (up 75% vs. last season’s high); total unique users (up 72% vs. last season’s high); total live starts (up 50% vs. last season’s high); and total minutes (up 71% vs. last season’s high).
ICYMI on NBC SportsWorld, NBC Sports Digital’s Long-Form Website & NBCSports.com
Joe Posnanski captures the emotions among the Kansas City Royals while in the locker room with the team after they won their first World Series in 30 years. Click here for the long-form story on NBC SportsWorld.
In addition, Posnanaski revisits a Sports Illustrated article five years ago when he predicted that the Royals would win the World Series -- in 2015. Click here for the long-form story on NBC SportsWorld.
In an exclusive interview, Joey Logano talked about the “driver code” and what NASCAR needs to do to “control” the sport. Click here for the article by Dustin Long on NASCAR Talk.
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