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Fantasy Big Leagues: How Fantasy Sports are Scoring with Users

3 minute read | November 2013

Between the return of professional football and the MLB playoffs, September was a busy month for sports fans. Sports websites attracted more than 87 million Americans and 36 million smartphone owners tapped into the action using a sports app.

Fantasy sports in particular have become big business since sprouting from a rotisserie, or owner simulation, game decades ago. The growth of this niche industry has also picked up momentum as technological advances in interfaces, devices and statistical data aggregation have allowed players a way to easily check scores, adjust rosters and trash talk from anywhere and on any deviceโ€”thatโ€™s light years from having to hand-tabulate player stats in the years before the digital age.

During the second quarter of 2013, fantasy sports players were most likely to be male and between the ages 25-34 (49% and 72% more likely than the average U.S. internet user, respectively). Compared with the average adult online, fantasy sports players were also 21 percent more likely to be Asian-American, 12 percent more likely to have children and 7 percent more likely to make between $50,000 and $75,000.

A Demographic Profile of U.S. Fantasy Sports Players(Adult Internet Users, Q2 2013)

Demographic Audience Comp % Index vs. Online 18+
Female 31.6 59
Male 68.4 149
18-24 17.3 163
25-34 30.7 172
35-44 25.1 129
45-54 15.6 77
55-64 7.6 45
65+ 3.8 25
HHI: $25,000 – $49,999 22.4 95
HHI: $50,000 – $74,999 25.9 107
HHI: $75,000 – $99,999 16.8 96
HHI: $100,000+ 20.1 97
Married 50.6 91
Not Married 49.1 112
No Children 50.4 91
One+ Children 49.6 111
African-American 12.3 105
Asian-American 4.1 121
Hispanic 14.9 118
White 74.6 96
Read as: 68% of adult fantasy sports players online are male, 49% more likely to be male than the average U.S. adult online.
Source: Nielsen

So which sports sites and apps do fans draft when theyโ€™re looking to build their fantasy teams? Power rankings by Nielsen show that familiar names like ESPN and Yahoo! Sports are top picks among fantasy sports players.

Top 5 Sports websites among Fantasy Sports Players by Unique Audience In Q2 2013

Sports sites and Brands Unique Audience Index vs. Online 18+
Yahoo! Sports Websites 1,253,000 143
ESPN Digital Network 1,038,000 150
FOXSports.com on MSN (Network) 957,000 150
MLB.com 614,000 165
Big Lead Sports by FSV Network 609,000 165
Read as: During Q2 2013, 1.3 million adult fantasy sports players visited Yahoo! Sports Websites/Adult fantasy sports players online were 43% more likely to visit Yahoo! Sports Websites than the average U.S. adult internet user.
Source: Nielsen

Fantasy To-Go

Fantasy sports players are also taking their teams with them on the road, as more than 10 million Americans accessed fantasy football apps on their smartphones, up 15 percent from a year ago. Looking at the top fantasy football apps, Yahoo! and ESPN each had five million unique users, respectively, during September. Overall, fantasy football app users spent 2 hours 14 minutes per person, on average, using these smartphone apps during September 2013, and they opened them 27 times per person on averageโ€”thatโ€™s almost once a day

What Items are in Fantasy Playersโ€™ Online Shopping Cart?

Believe it or not, sports arenโ€™t the only thing consuming fantasy playersโ€™ time online. Just like any other consumer, they shop online for a variety of products and are more likely than the average adult U.S. internet user to have shopped online for things like movie tickets (84% more likely), credit cards (67% more likely) and beer (49% more likely).

What are U.S. Fantasy Sports Players Shopping for Online?

Shopped Online in the Last 30 Days
(Adult Internet Users, Q2 2013)
Index vs. Online 18+
Beer 149
Cell Phones/Service 157
Clothes/Shoes/Accessories 118
New Credit Card 167
Event Tickets 158
Fitness and Diet Products 139
Home Electronics 160
Insurance (Any) 166
Movie Tickets 184
Deodorant 155
Read as: Adult fantasy sports players online are 57% more likely than the average U.S. adult online to have shopped online for cell phones/service.
Source: Nielsen