The Sites and Searches Scoring High for NBA Playoffs and Euro 2020

After almost a year without many professional leagues, it’s safe to say that for the most part, sports are back.

Following cancelled seasons and the postponement of championships, the sports world has finally ended its mild hiatus, and fans everywhere cannot wait to cheer their favorite teams on, even if in many places it’s from the comfort of their living rooms.

Two of the world’s top sporting events since the pandemic are taking place right now – the 2021 NBA Playoffs as well as the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship. As big data fans, we just had to see who the internet is cheering for and which websites have their eye on the ball.

Using Similarweb’s Research Intelligence, we took a look at key digital insights from the last three months to determine the digital winners for the NBA Playoffs and UEFA Euro 2020. Read on to discover what’s trending in the digital sports world, from trending keyword searches and audience behavior.

The NBA isn’t in a bubble anymore

Despite finishing the 2020 season with playoffs in an actual quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida, the NBA is back this year in full swing (and with less restrictions). Since the start of the 2021 Playoffs on May 22, traffic to nba.com has jumped 61% to 73.1 million total visits.

From the beginning of March, traffic has been peaking on the weekends. That makes sense because this is the time when the most popular games are scheduled and when viewers are most likely to check nba.com for highlights, scores, and in-depth information about the games.

While the United States owns a majority of the traffic share sent to nba.com (48.4%), we’re seeing international interest. In fact, web traffic trends from outside the U.S. follow similar patterns to what we see there. Almost all of the countries we analyzed show an increase in traffic leading up to the playoffs, as well as strong user engagement metrics.

If we dive deeper into nba.com’s audience, we find that nearly 75% of visitors identify as male, most likely between 18-44 years of age.

Sports news sites – who’s winning?

Five main sports news websites are in competition for keyword-related search for the NBA playoffs. Although espn.com has the highest total visits, when looking year-over-year (YoY), sports.yahoo.com is actually growing the fastest.

When taking a more granular view of May 2021, espn.com comes out the clear winner, outperforming its competitors across all user engagement metrics. This suggests that ESPN is successfully capitalizing on trending keywords and user interest to drive traffic to its website.

What are people searching for (and who’s winning traffic)?

The keyword nba playoffs had 1.1 million total search visits in May 2021, a 900% increase from April 2021 (109,200). Question queries related to the keyword, plus the keyword traffic leader, include:

• When do nba playoffs start (nba.com)
• How to watch nba playoffs (youtube.com)
• How many teams make the nba playoffs (reuters.com)
• How do nba playoffs work (basketballworld.com)
• When are the nba playoffs 2021 (nba.com)

The top organic competitors for these keywords are nba.com, youtube.com, espn.com, cbsports.com, and wikipedia.com, all of which experienced massive growth in May 2021. Take a look at the chart below to compare the traffic performance of news sports websites.

The social media effect

Social media plays a major role in driving traffic to the NBA’s website. In the last three months, social visits accounted for 3.5% of the website’s total desktop traffic, about 3 million visits. For comparison, nfl.com received 1 million social visits in the same time period. Together, YouTube and Reddit are responsible for over 50% of the total referrals to nba.com.

UEFA Euro 2020 traffic jumps

Now let’s turn to soccer. After being postponed for one year, as the first match of the UEFA Championship approached, traffic to uefa.com steadily increased as more and more fans prepared for the competition, which kicked off last Friday.

Total visits to uefa.com – European soccer’s governing body – was up 34% in May 2021 MoM and YoY traffic rocketed a whopping 440%.  After waiting a year for the championship due to COVID-19, soccer fans are eager to tune into the major sports event.

Almost all countries worldwide experienced a significant traffic share increase to uefa.com in the last three months. The countries with the biggest percent increase in May were Poland (122%), Russia (89%), Turkey (83%), and the United Kingdom (59%).

Uefa.com is now a “sticky” website

In May 2021, uefa.com saw a 54% increase in new users and a 52% increase in returning users in the U.K. alone. In the U.S., where soccer isn’t the most popular sport, there was still a 30% increase in new users, meaning interest is spreading to a new audience as the championship nears.

With hype around #EURO2020, traffic acquisition is strong. UEFA’s customers are frequently visiting their website and aren’t wandering off to find alternatives. The higher the frequency of purchases or clicks by return users, the more “sticky” your website is. All of the countries driving the most traffic to uefa.com are seeing audience growth and increased audience loyalty.

Similar to the NBA, 76% of audience members worldwide to uefa.com are males, most of whom are 18-44 years old.

Stay on top of the latest digital trends 24/7

For any successful market research strategy, you need to understand how seasonal events, such as a world championship, are affecting your market. Events like this will influence audience behavior and search interest, and in turn traffic patterns and trending keywords. You can analyze the digital trends and even benefit from what’s trending online. But to properly analyze these shifts and take advantage of their impact, you’ll need accurate data.

That’s where Simlarweb comes in. With Digital Research Intelligence, part of our suite of tools for publishers and media, you can compare your digital strategy and get all the information you need to make informed business decisions. Try it for yourself for free!