Seattle based Ground Truth today released the only third-party, census-based study about the popularity of soccer-related mobile Web content during the World Cup, and found that traffic to those sites tripled during the tournament. This report shows t not only have Americans become soccer enthusiasts, they have also become increasingly reliant upon their mobile devices to keep apprised of news and events throughout the day.
Ten days before the start of the World Cup, an average of 10.7 percent of visitors to the most popular mobile sports sites accessed soccer-related content, but on the tournament’s inaugural day, a staggering 32.2 percent tuned in for soccer news and updates.
As the U.S. soccer team advanced in the World Cup, so did interest in soccer among visitors to leading mobile sports properties, reports Ground Truth, the mobile media measurement firm that provides precise, timely and actionable mobile intelligence. The day with the highest percentage of mobile browsers seeking soccer information was June 23; the day the U.S. faced Algeria, at 41.1 percent. Other U.S. games-”versus England on June 12 (38.6 percent), versus Slovenia on June 18 (35.8 percent) and versus Ghana on June 23 (40.8 percent) represented peaks in soccer traffic patterns to the sites.
“It’s a fascinating phenomenon–there was no run-up of interest prior to the first day of play, but on that day we saw a huge spike in the percentage of people interested in soccer, as well as an overall increase in daily unique subscribers,” observed Michael “Luni” Libes, founder and CTO, Ground Truth. “Beyond the interest in U.S. matches, each set of major games-”the quarterfinals, semifinals and final-”corresponded with a peak in traffic, with a trough corresponding with the period between the conclusion of the last round of play and the beginning quarterfinals, when no games were played.”
To conduct the study, Ground Truth used its patent-pending True View methodology to measure traffic to ESPN–the predominate sports site on the mobile Web, whose usage surpasses those of the 20 sport sites ranking below it, combined-”and its soccer properties, SoccerNet and ESPN/soccer from the period between May 31, 2010 and July 11, 2010. A graph depicting the trend is posted on the Ground Truth blog.
