January 2, 2002

ESPN.com continues to reign among sports sites, generating a record 10.9 million unique users in November 2001, a 67% growth from a year ago, according to Media Metrix. By comparison, AOL Sports generated 9.5 million, NFL Internet Group attracted 7.5 million, and the SportsLine.com sites had 6.3 million. ESPN.com's previous traffic record was 9.7 million, which was recorded in both September and October 2001.

"These record numbers reflect the continued loyalty of our existing users as well as the emergence of new users," said John Skipper, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN.com. "In the last year, we've dramatically broadened our breadth of coverage, adding new sections – Page 2, ESPNRadio.com, ESPNdeportes.com, an outdoors section – as well as new reporters, such as Len Pasquarelli and Bill Simmons, and we've received a good number of new users from our recent deal with MSN."

ESPN.com also led in average daily unique visitors, with 1.6 million, followed by Yahoo! Sports, with 1.1 million, and AOL Sports, with 939,000. ESPN.com's users also spent a total of 533 million minutes on the site, compared to 441 million for Yahoo! Sports and 355 million for the SportsLine.com sites.