ESPN ScoreCenter application tops 4.5 million downloads

Sports media giant ESPN announced its ScoreCenter application for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch has generated more than 4.5 million downloads in the months following its June 2009 introduction, emerging as the top free sports app in Apple's App Store. In addition, the company said its premium ESPN Radio application has reigned as the App Store's number one paid sports app since its September launch. ESPN also debuted a host of related mobile applications in 2009, among them ESPN World Cup, ESPN Fantasy Football, ESPN Fantasy Football Draft Kit, ESPN Streak For The Cash, ESPN NBA.com Fantasy Basketball Draft Kit, ESPN Spelling Bee and ESPN Zoom.

According to Nielsen Mobile, ESPN was the 8th most-trafficked mobile website in 2009, reaching more than three times the audience of rival sports sites. ESPN's mobile web traffic now averages 8.93 million unique visitors a month, up 35 percent year-over-year. Visits to ESPNSoccernet Mobile grew 379 percent over 2008, and visits to ESPNCricinfo Mobile increased 113 percent. ESPN Mobile delivered close to 900 million alerts in 2009, up 170 percent over the previous year--the number of fans signing up for alerts was up 117 percent, and the average number of alerts per fan increased 46 percent.

Unique viewers of on-demand ESPN Mobile video content increased 87 percent compared to 2008--total minutes dedicated viewing on-demand mobile video grew 106 percent. ESPN Mobile TV--available via the FLO TV and MobiTV platforms--delivered almost 850 live events in 2009, and total viewership minutes increased 186 percent over 2008 totals.

For more on ESPN's mobile growth:
- read this release

Related articles:
ESPN opens up its mobile playbook
ESPN Radio tunes in to the App Store