Sports websites becoming key advertising venues, study finds

26th September 2007

Sports news websites are becoming a key venue for advertisers, according to a new study.

comScore looked at three major US sports news websites and concluded that they attract key sections of the consumer demographic.

Sports sites such as ESPN.com, Fox Sports on MSN, and Yahoo! Sports are extremely popular with the prized 18 to 34-year-old age group, the researchers found.

Two thirds of the visitors to the sites were male, although each of the three sample sites seem to attract different proportions of the older age groups.

Yahoo! was more popular with the younger users, ESPN.com had the largest share of 35 to 44 year olds and Fox Sports had the most users over the age of 45.

Commenting on the findings, eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna said: "Despite the dominance of television and event sponsorships in the sports marketing landscape, sports sites are emerging as key venues for content and advertising."