NBC SPORTS DIGITAL “BYTES”
September 17, 2015 – Vol. 67
NBC Sports Digital “Bytes” is a collection of highlights, information and metrics for NBC Sports Digital properties. Previous editions can be found on NBCSportsGroupPressbox.com.
NBC Sports Live Extra Breaks Records for NFL Kickoff Week
As previously announced, NBC Sports Live Extra posted records for NFL Kickoff week last week, with Thursday night’s unauthenticated “NFL Kickoff” game (more than 32 million minutes) becoming NBC Sports Live Extra’s most streamed event ever behind the Olympics and the Super Bowl, and the Giants-Cowboys game on Sunday, which required authentication, ranking as NBC Sports Digital’s most-consumed authenticated event of all-time (excluding Olympics) delivering 19.6 million minutes.
Through two games, the 2015 NFL season has delivered 52 million live minutes and 831,000 unique users on NBC Sports Live Extra, up 20% and 6%, respectively, from 2014. Click here for more information.
SNF continues this Sunday, Sept. 20, with an NFC Championship Game rematch, as the Green Bay Packers host the Seattle Seahawks.
Rotoworld.com Continues Record Traffic Streak To Start 2015 NFL Season
Rotoworld.com continues to deliver record traffic leading into the second week of the 2015 NFL season, posting its best week ever for NFL Kickoff week (Sept. 7-13), and posting its best day ever on Sunday, Sept. 13. Rotoworld.com, the internet’s highest-trafficked fantasy sports information site, received 2.7 million unique users last week, topping the previous record of 2.4 million unique users (Aug. 31 - Sept. 6). On Sunday, Rotoworld.com posted nearly 690,000 unique users, breaking previous single-day records just set last week on Wednesday, Sept. 9 (687,000 unique users) and Tuesday, Sept. 8 (685,000 unique users).
Fans Can Win Big With Quicken Loans $16m Perfect Grid Challenge As 16 Drivers Battle Over 10 NASCAR Playoff Races
As previously announced, NASCAR fans have an opportunity to compete in a championship of their own as the 2015 NASCAR playoffs begin this weekend, by filling out a grid in Quicken Loans $16 Million Perfect Grid Challenge, as well as the Weekly Playoff Grid Challenge. Participants can predict how the 16 drivers will advance through each round of the Chase at NBCSports.com/GridChallenge. Fans are able to make their Perfect Grid picks until 2:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 20, 15 minutes before NBCSN’S broadcast of the Sprint Cup Race at Chicagoland. More information about the Perfect Grid and the Weekly Playoff Grid Challenge available here.
Digital Documentary Series on CSNBayArea.com Begins with Baseballet
Baseballet is the first in a series of digital documentary shorts on CSNBayArea.com that visualizes a unique relationship between athletes from two disciplines that on the surface seem very different. San Francisco Giants announcer and former Major League pitcher Mike Krukow and his son Weston Krukow, a professional ballet dancer currently with the Smuin company based in San Francisco, had ongoing discussions about the similarities between their two professions. Weston and his colleague Ben Needham-Wood then set out to choreograph a baseball-inspired dance routine to be performed on the field at AT&T Park. Working with a team of producers and videographers from CSN Bay Area, they crafted a concept to perform at sunrise, providing a stunning and fresh look of one of the more scenic sporting stages in the world.
Baseballet is the result, telling the journey that brought father and son together on a baseball field 25 years after Weston was born, in a much different manner than the former major league baseball player would have ever imagined.
#FantasyFootball Rules on CSN Chicago
CSN Chicago Digital launched “Fantasy Football Fix Powered by Rotoworld,” a weekly digital short-form show providing analysis, insight, industry interviews and start/sit recommendations. This year, the show producers launched a companion weekly podcast available on iTunes and Soundcloud, with content integration from NBC Sports Digital’ Rotoworld. This week’s show features an interview with Bengals Pro-Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green, who shared a funny story about how a fan who plays fantasy football motivated him. Click here for a link to the piece.
DRIVE: Friday Night Lights digital docu on Chicago’s South Side
CSN Chicago and CSNChicago.com launched a new season of its acclaimed digital-documentary show, DRIVE. This year’s featured team is the Homewood-Flossmoor Vikings, who are currently 3-0 and ranked #1 the Chicago area by CSN’s Preps Power Rankings. CSNChicago.com digital producers Scott Changnon and Mark Strotman provide up-to-the-minute Vikings news all season long, plus original short-form video and player/coach interviews via @CSNDrive and @CSNPreps on Twitter. Every episode of DRIVE is made available for VOD on CSNChicago.com here. The show is sponsored by Aurelio’s Pizza, a Chicago south suburb classic.
ICYMI on NBC SportsWorld, NBC Sports Digital’s Long-Form Website
Joe Posnanski spent time in Chicago with Cubs president Theo Epstein, and talked to the former Red Sox wunderkind about how he’s trying to enjoy his team’s ahead-of-schedule success while staying detached enough to continue to guide them properly. Click here for the long-form story on NBC SportsWorld.
Posnanski also wrote about being a long-suffering Browns fan, and how he’s decided to jump on board once more, even though Week 1 brought back some old, familiar -- and painful -- feelings. Click here for the long-form story on NBC SportsWorld.
CSNBayArea.com’s Raiders Insider Scott Bair profiled Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, including how he is driven by his faith. Click here for the long-form story on NBC SportsWorld.
High Profile Events on NBC Sports Live Extra
NBC Sports Live Extra - NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs - will provide fans with coverage of numerous high-profile event this weekend, including Week 2 Sunday Night Football action with Seattle-Green Bay; the start of the 2015 NASCAR playoffs from Chicagoland; continued Premier League action; Penultimate tournament of the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship; the Notre Dame-Georgia Tech football game; Formula One Singapore Grand Prix; and more.
The NBC Sports Live Extra app is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store and Apple TV. For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra.
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