Golf.com sees mobile traffic increase during Masters

By Rimma Kats

April 15, 2010

Golf.com saw an increase in mobile traffic at the recent Masters tournament

Golf.com saw a mobile traffic increase of 131 percent in unique visitors and a 140 percent increase in page views during the 2010 Masters.

The company also saw a 211 percent increase in unique visitors and a 216 percent increase of page views on Sunday, April 11, alone. The mobile traffic increase was higher than the site traffic, which spiked by 35 percent in unique visitors and 29 percent in page views – there was a 102 percent increase in unique visitors on Sunday and 72 percent increase in page views.
 
“The rise in Golf.com mobile traffic can be attributed to a combination of the overall growth of Internet usage on mobile devices along with the quality of content that Golf.com provides both in terms of live, real-time scoring and on-the-ground coverage from our team of reporters and photographers,” said Kenneth Fuchs, vice president and general manager of Sports Illustrated Digital, New York.

“No matter where you’re trying to access information on the tournament, Sports Illustrated Golf Group can provide a comprehensive overview offline, online and through mobile,” he said.

Golf.com provides instruction, equipment reviews and travel coverage for golf enthusiasts.

Tee time
Consumers were encouraged to opt-in for tournament mobile alerts where they received the latest scores twice each day during the game.

Besides the mobile-optimized site, Golf.com has a dedicated iPhone and iPod touch application.

Here is a screen grab of the application:

Consumers can enter their scores and statistics, and the application will calculate a recreational handicap, greens in regulation, total putts and other stats to help identify the areas of a game that might need work.

Additionally, users can update their status, comment in real-time on friends’ updates and find golf courses.

“In addition to continuing to provide a continual forum for our writers and photographers online and in mobile, golfers tend to be on-the-go and heavy users of mobile network devices,” Mr.  Fuchs said.

“This provides opportunities beyond the 24/7 news coverage into other areas of the game like instruction, equipment and travel,” he said.

Golf update
The Masters aggregated fan conversations via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Yahoo.  

Golf.com will be integrating another opt-in service for the next tournament.

“While there was more traffic to the Web site, there is an overall circular effect to the engagement,” Mr. Fuchs said. “People realize they can access the tournament in a variety of ways, and they are more apt to do so depending on their current access opportunities. 

“Either way, people were coming to Golf.com for their coverage,” he said. “Online and mobile traffic feeds off one another and creates a 360-degree coverage opportunity.”