Regardless of whether or not David Beckham can boost soccer’s popularity in the states, it appears that his boost in Major League Soccer’s Web popularity is the real deal. According to recent comScore figures, Beckham has singlehandedly boosted worldwide traffic to mlsnet.com 117% in July 2007 compared to last year.
In July 2006, Beckham announced his retirement from his captain post for the England national soccer team. During this month, mlsnet.com attracted an audience of 478,000. The Web site’s popularity plummeted, and by December 2006 it only attracted 230,000 visitors.
However, when the Los Angeles Galaxy announced the signing of Beckham in January 2007, traffic hit 808,000 for the month, reflecting a 252% month-on-month increase.
Traffic slumped during February and March, but reached 567,000 in April, when the MLS season began in the U.S.
When Beckham made his LA Galaxy debut in July, traffic to the site skyrocketed to 1.04 million for the month.
“David Beckham’s impact on the MLS league’s official website has been enormous. The player has single handedly doubled the number of visitors to mlsnet.com versus last year, which let’s not forget, was a World Cup year. When you look at the huge traffic increase that occurred in January just because of the announcement of his signing for the club, the figures speak for themselves. If anyone can raise the profile of soccer in the States, David Beckham is undoubtedly the man to do it,” said Bob Ivins, EVP of International Markets at comScore.
U.S. traffic to mlsnet.com reached a record 594,000 in July 2007, a huge jump from the audience of 378,000 one year earlier.
The LA Galaxy and MLS are crossing their fingers in hopes that this is a precursor of many better days ahead.
Source:
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1598
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