Tiger Woods Statement Was Very Good To ESPN

By airing Tiger Woods’ apology on multiple platforms, ESPN got a high audience for its various networks, whether it was on cable, radio or online.

Millions Tune into Tiger Woods’ Statement on ESPN Media Platforms
Millions of viewers, readers and listeners tuned into breaking news and analysis of Tiger Woods’ statement to the press live on Friday and through the weekend on ESPN media platforms. Across TV, online, mobile and digital audio, ESPN drew large increases to its audience.
Three ESPN television networks showed Woods reading his statement live. ESPN averaged a 1.4 rating, up more than three times the audience it had garnered in that time slot 24 hours earlier (0.4). ESPN2’s audience was 48 percent larger than the day before, and ESPNEWS’ was four times its average on Thursday, Feb. 18.
Over approximately a 60-hour time period from when Woods first read his statement live, ESPN.com logged in more than 5 million page views of Woods-related content and over 1.6 million video starts of related coverage, according to Omniture. The live stream of the event logged in an audience three times larger than its previous high, making it the largest concurrent audience ever on ESPN.com.
ESPN Mobile also logged 1.1 million page views of news surrounding Woods on the mobile Web site. Woods-related mobile video content was also the key driver in the biggest mobile video day of 2010. Video on the news about Woods from Friday accounted for three of the top six clips of February. The full 13-minute statement had an average time spent viewing on mobile of more than 9 minutes and 15 seconds.
By the end Friday, ESPNRadio.com had already logged in its largest concurrent streaming audience for a single event ever in its 10-year history as the statement was heard by 85,000 listeners, 5,000 of which were logged through the ESPN Radio app on iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices. Additionally ESPNRadio.com’s coverage generated over 750,000 page views, and the new Super Stream media player has generated over 350,000 listener sessions for the day (according to Ando Media & Omniture). 

Nothing else needs to be added.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

Quantcast