NBC SPORTS DIGITAL “BYTES”
September 10, 2015 – Vol. 66
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.
Start of 2015 NFL Season Boosts Rotoworld.com to Record Traffic
With the 2015 NFL season kicking off tonight, Rotoworld.com posted its best two days ever yesterday and Tuesday in unique users. Rotoworld.com, the internet’s highest-trafficked fantasy sports information site, received more than 687,000 unique users on Wednesday and more than 685,000 unique users on Tuesday, topping the comparable days leading into NFL Kickoff 2014 by 27% and 15%, respectively. In addition, Rotoworld.com also posted its second-best day for total visits on Tuesday, with nearly 1.2 million visits.
The NFL opens its regular season tonight, with NFL Kickoff 2015 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, as Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots host Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
The most popular players on Rotoworld.com for Tuesday and Wednesday included:
- New England Patriots WR Julian Edelman
- New Orleans Saints RB J. Spiller
- Cleveland Browns RB Duke Johnson
- Atlanta Falcons RB Tevin Coleman
- Houston Texans RB Arian Foster
- New York Giants WR Victor Cruz
- Detroit Lions RB Joique Bell
- Jacksonville Jaguars RB J. Yeldon
- Louis Rams RB Tre Mason
- Louis Rams Todd Gurley
NBCSports.com Re-Design
As previously announced, this past Monday, Sept. 7, the re-designed NBCSports.com launched to provide fans with a clean, streamlined experience that improves the prominence of live and short-form video as well as player news. Click here for more information and a full list of new features.
Free Golf with G-Mac
Free golf is good, but even better if you can play with U.S. Open Champion and touring pro Graeme McDowell. GolfNow’s latest national promotion, “Play Ireland with Graeme,” recently wrapped, and during the 13-week promotion period GolfNow garnered more than 1.3 million visits to the site and 176,000 unique entries, making it the second-most successful sweepstakes in the company’s history. Also, nearly 25,000 rounds of golf were booked by first-time users.
Sunday Night Football Digital Coverage
For the sixth straight season, and with a new look and feel, NBCSports.com is providing a destination for fans dedicated to behind-the-scenes and social media driven content of Sunday Night Football. SNF All-Access includes exclusive photos and videos of the Sunday Night Football production team, look-ins on SNF production meetings, SNF sideline reporter Michele Tafoya’s “Ten With Tafoya” interviews with key NFL players, and conversations with SNF and Football Night in America talent. In addition to the behind-the-scenes photos & videos, SNF All-Access houses all of the social media conversation surrounding SNF throughout the season. Fans can access tweets from across the league, Instagram photos, and see which players and topics are trending all within one experience.
In addition, NBC Sports Group’s all-new, interactive Sunday Night Football bus returns this season to travel the country visiting the host cities of all 17 Sunday Night Football games. Fans can follow along digitally at NBCSports.com/FollowSNF. The site includes an interactive map of where the bus has been, and where it’s traveling to next, allowing fans to take a virtual #SNF tour. Fans can also participate in a tweet contest to show their team pride and see which team is leading in Twitter mentions each week.
A dedicated producer will be collecting photos and creating videos of the bus’ travels and the cast of characters it encounters along the way. Life on the road with the Sunday Night Football bus will be featured on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as aggregated on NBCSports.com/FollowSNF using #SNF. Click here for more information about Sunday Night Football’s digital coverage.
Football Rules on CSN New England
CSNNE.com posted its third-best month for unique users ever in August 2015. The site has now also surpassed page views for all of 2014 heading into football season. During the upcoming NFL season, CSNNE will feature 11 weekly Patriots-related shows, many of which will include a major social media and digital presence. CSNNE.com Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran is host of one of these shows — Quick Slants — and appears in three others throughout the week to add his insight and expertise. CSNNE.com writer Phil Perry will also have an in-show presence, including a host position in the network’s newest football show Football Fix, which will make its debut on Saturday, September 12, at 6 p.m. ET.
@GolfChannel Reaches 500,000 Twitter Followers
Golf Channel’s Twitter handle, @GolfChannel, surpassed the 500,000 follower milestone on Twitter last week. @GolfChannel provides avid golf fans and viewers with the latest news and information they need to know surrounding golf’s biggest stars, professional tours and ways to improve their own game.
Storytelling with the Fighting Irish
CSN Chicago produced a digital documentary, Play Like A Champion: Miles Boykin Road to Notre Dame, which chronicles the story of Notre Dame WR Miles Boykin as he balanced academics, sports, family life and heavy recruitment to big time college programs. The digital-documentary developed from CSN Chicago’s DRIVE franchise last year where it profiled the Providence Catholic H.S. Football team that Boykin led to a 7A Illinois State Championship.
ICYMI on NBC SportsWorld, NBC Sports Digital’s Long-Form Website
Joe Posnanski takes a look at Tuesday’s match between Serena Williams and her sister, Venus Williams as Serena became one step closer to winning the US Open and achieving a historic calendar grand slam. Click here for the long-form story on NBC SportsWorld.
Posnanski revisits the summer 35 years ago when Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett nearly hit .400 for the year, and interviewed Brett about what the experience was like. Click here for the long-form story on NBC SportsWorld.
Ahead of the New England Patriots taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight on NBC, Corey Griffin penned a piece on Tom Brady’s return and the Patriots’ revamped defense. Click here for the long-form story on NBC SportsWorld.
Notre Dame Football Insider J.J. Stankevitz goes inside the program for an in-depth look at how the Fighting Irish are primed for a run at the FBS Playoff, led by quarterback Malik Zaire and the makings of a stingy defense. Click here for the long-form story on NBC SportsWorld.
Lance Briggs joins CSNChicago.com
Former Bears seven-time Pro Bowl linebacker – Lance Briggs - joins CSN Chicago for Chicago Bears TV and digital content. For the 2015 NFL season, CSN Chicago offers the comprehensive Bears, NFL mutli-platform coverage with 12 original shows including the only local halftime show – Bears Halftime Live – streamed on csnchicago.com and chicagobears.com.
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