It’s been just over three years since ESPN officially pulled the plug on Mobile ESPN (NYSE: DIS), its MVNO (service shut down on Dec 31, 2006), and it’s clear that the company has learned much about what it takes to sustain a successful mobile presence since then.
How successful? Find a rundown of the company’s mobile performance—everything from iPhone apps and games, to mobile video shows—in 2009.
—Mobile apps: ESPN launched a slew of paid iPhone apps in 2009. No details on how much revenue the company has brought in, but its ESPN ScoreCenter app ranked as the top free app in the App Store, and has been downloaded over 4.5 million times. (That’s up from 2.2 million in September).
—Mobile TV and video: Unique viewers of video clips (on-demand) from ESPN Mobile increased 87 percent vs. 2008; total minutes spent increased by 106 percent across all carriers.
Meanwhile, people watched nearly 850 live events on ESPN Mobile TV, the non-stop streaming video network that runs on FLO TV and MobiTV. Total minutes spent viewing ESPN Mobile TV were up 186 percent year-over-year.
—Mobile web: ESPN’s mobile site was the 8th most-trafficked site on the mobile web for the year. It averaged over 8.9 million uniques per month—up 35 percent vs. 2009—per Nielsen Mobile.
ESPN gained mobile traction both in the U.S. and abroad, with unique visits to its ESPNSoccernet site up 379 percent, and visits to ESPNCricinfo up by 113 percent (per Omniture). Meanwhile, its ESPN Deportes Mobile averaged nearly 360,000 uniques per month.
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