Sports Media Digest- August 22, 2013

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NBC Digital Sees Best Traffic Month Ever in July

NBC Sports reports that its digital division saw record traffic during the month of July. Total viewership during the month topped pout at 102.6 million visits.

Here are the numbers as reportewd by NBC PT:\

NBCSports.com recorded its best month ever in uniques and visits with 20.4 million and 51.8 million, respectively. Many SportsTalk sites also experienced their best-ever July:

• ProFootballTalk recorded its best month ever in uniques and visits, with 9.8 million uniques, up 115 percent year-over-year, and 27.4 million visits, up 106% year-over-year.
• ProBasketballTalk posted its best month ever in visits and page views for the third consecutive month, fueled by NBA free agency news. ProBasketballTalk had 10.8 million visits and 18.5 million page views in July.
• HardballTalk had its best month ever in all key metrics, as its 3.8 million uniques marked the first time that the site exceeded 3 million, driven by the suspensions tied to the Biogensis fallout.
• ProHockeyTalk scored its best month in visits for the third consecutive month, with 2.9 million visits, breaking the 2 million mark for the second time.
• ProSoccerTalk saw its best month ever in all key metrics for third consecutive month, and the site’s 1.3 million uniques was the first time it surpassed one million.
• MotorSportsTalk finished with its best month ever in page views since launching in February 2013 with 941,000.

GolfChannel.com, the digital website for 2012’s fastest growing cable network, posted its second consecutive month with more than 30 million page views and fifth consecutive month with more than 3 million uniques.  GolfChannel also generated more than 1 million video starts and drew a 25 percent uptick in unique visitors, compared to last year.

The NBC Sports Regional Networks’ digital platforms also spiked in growth, earning their best month ever in visits and page views, with 17.5 million visits and 31.7 million page views, up 62 percent and 25 percent year-over-year, respectively. CSN Philadelphia and CSN New England contributed remarkable advances, though all of the Comcast SportsNet regionals notched increases in uniques, visits and page views. Four NBC Sports Regional Networks posted their best month ever in a key metric:

• Patriots and Celtics coverage pushed CSN New England to 4.1 million visits and 6.2 million page views in July, marking all-time highs for each metric.
• CSN Philadelphia drew 1.9 million video starts, another record high.
• 49ers and Raiders training camp stories boosted CSN Bay Area to 1.4 million uniques, its best month ever.
• CSN Houston recorded its best month ever since its October launch in page views with 1.1 million as the Houston Rockets landed free-agent megastar Dwight Howard

NBC Sports Group apps also grew in July:

• The NBC SportsTalk app delivered a record 6.2 million visits (the record was set in March 2013 at the height of NFL free agency) and 66 million page views and – its second best performance to date.
• The NBC Sports Digital apps recorded their best month ever in visits and page views, with 18 million visits, up 55 percent year-over-year, and 117.8 page views, up 43 percent year-over-year.
• NBC Sports Live Extra, NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktop, mobile and tablets, has surpassed 6.1 million downloads.
• Golf Channel mobile apps generated more than 500,000 uniques, the most ever for the platform in a month, and the second highest page views for a month ever with more than 28 million.
• “The continued traffic growth across NBC Sports Digital properties shows our strategy focusing around video, NBCSportsTalk and mobile is working.  It also validates our important and growing partnership with Yahoo! Sports,” said Rick Cordella, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Digital, NBC Sports Group.

“The continued traffic growth across NBC Sports Digital properties shows our strategy focusing around video, NBCSportsTalk and mobile is working.  It also validates our important and growing partnership with Yahoo! Sports,” said Rick Cordella, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Digital, NBC Sports Group.

Fox Sports 1 and MLB to Produce Behind-the Scenes Access Leading to the Playoffs

Fox Sports and Major League Baseball have announced a collaboration which will give baseball fans an exclusive look behind the scenes with a specific team fighting to reach the Postseason and win the World Series.

Mission October will follow players, coaches and front office personnel over the course of a weekend series, and each show will be produced and edited as the weekend series unfolds, allowing for episodes to air on Monday evenings each week.

“Our fans crave behind the scenes access to their favorite stars, and they want to see it right away. Mission October satisfies both of those desires, and we know MLB Productions is up to the task of this extremely quick editing schedule,” said Chris Tully, Senior Vice President, Broadcasting, Major League Baseball. “We’re thrilled to be working with Fox Sports 1 on this series, which will provide a unique glimpse each week inside the inner workings of our Clubs during this most critical time of the season.”

“This is what the Pennant race is all about. Fighting tooth and nail to get the opportunity to play in October. It’s a privilege that MLB and the players have let our viewers be this close to the action at this most crucial and exciting time of the season. You will really get to see the race for October from the inside out,” said Michael Bloom, Senior Vice President, Original Programming, Fox Sports 1.

The eight-part series will debut Monday at 7:30p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.