ESPN reached more than 194 million unique users across ESPN Digital, YouTube and ESPN-branded social platforms throughout the month of March, representative of 69% of the adult population in the United States, according to data recently released by Comscore. As the company continues to maintain its stellar presence across these platforms, ESPN Social accrued 793 million engagements in a month for the 45th consecutive first-place finish. This equates to approximately 25.6 million engagements per day as ESPN covered seminal events throughout the month, such as the NCAA basketball tournaments, MLB opening day, among others. Furthermore, both ESPN Digital and Social registered No. 1 rankings in the U.S. Sports Category for the month.
Compared to the statistics from the previous month, the total number of unique users reached was down by 3%, and social engagements were down 23% reaching a still impressive 25.6 million engagements a day.
The ESPN App garnered 28.4 million unique fans throughout the month of March, a metric more than four times its closest competitor along with the next seven non-ESPN apps combined. The ESPN Fantasy app also amassed 5.8 million unique fans throughout the month, as the ESPN Tournament Challenge App reached 3.1 million unique fans for the month involving both the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments.
Last month, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro conveyed that there would be significant enhancements to the ESPN App as the company aims to have users authenticate their credentials through the medium to utilize these experiences. Some of these features include personalized editions of SportsCenter, a “Catch Up to Live” functionality and “Rivals Mode” that will allow users to see scores of other teams without having to select them as their favorites. These alterations will be instantiated as the company prepares to reveal a direct-to-consumer functionality later in the year that will allow users to subscribe to ESPN without a traditional pay television plan.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
