AS strengthens its position as the worldwide leader in Spanish-language sports media
AS.com records its highest ever audience and increases its lead over other sports-focused websites. In the US, the website saw record traffic.
AS (AS.com) consolidated its number one ranking for Spanish-language sports media websites, according to the latest report for the month of May from Comscore, the official audience ratings agency used by advertisers. A total of 10.9 million unique users visited AS, its best every audience figure. Marca (7.4 million) and Peruvian site Depor (2.1 million) make up the top three. Two other Spanish titles, Mundo Deportivo (1.5 million) and Sport (1.4 million) complete the top five.
AS has added to the growth seen over the past several months, with 840,000 more unique users than in April (+8%) with an additional four million in the past 12 months (+58% compared to May 2019). The PRISA-owned title achieved its greatest ever lead over Marca (3.5 million) with its third consecutive month leading the rankings since it reclaimed top spot in March. In 2020 AS saw average monthly growth of 21.83%.
Closer than ever to ESPN
AS maintained its second place in the global ranking for sports media websites in all languages (not including aggregators), behind ESPN. The ranking includes sports media sites as well as official competition sites. The US giant claimed top spot with 13.9 million unique users, followed by AS (10.9 million). Behind AS lie: Marca (7.4 million), Bleacher Report (5.3), Sponichi.co.jp (5.1), NBC Sports (4.4), Daily.co.jp (4.3), CBS Sports (4.2), Nikkansports (4) and Hochi News (3.9).
AS cut the gap to ESPN in May by nearly 2.3 million readers (17.9 million since January 2020) and has seen the greatest growth of any outlet in the category, which fell by 2%, dragged down by falls at ESPN (-9%), NBC Sports (-14%), Daily.co.jp, (-32%), CBS Sports (-20%) and Hochi News (-32%).
Into the top three in the United States
AS.com set a new record audience in the US, with 28.3 million unique users, hitting third place in the rankings for sports media published by Comscore, behind ESPN (46.1 million) and CBS Sport (29.3 million). Behind AS are several major US outlets including Bleacher Report (22.5), NBC Sports (21.4) and Sports Illustrated (15.6). Thanks to the strong growth from April to May, of 23.1 million readers (441%), AS took an audience share of 15% in the most competitive market on the planet. An unprecedented success in the history of the PRISA-owned title.
These figures are based on Comscore's two May reports, for MMX desktop and MMX multiplatform. The first is a worldwide ranking (domains only), with figures from a sample of computers around the world. The second is Sports Category Ranking for the US (domains only), with figures from computers and mobiles (multi-platform). The difference in the sources used give rise to the differences in the figures; the most important thing about the reports is the ranking of the outlets, given that the percentage share is the same. Comscore also uses internal audience data from the publishers to adjust the figures.