{"id":76859,"date":"2021-06-14T13:46:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T13:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/?p=76859"},"modified":"2025-03-25T11:31:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T11:31:57","slug":"nba-euro-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/research\/digital-analysis\/nba-euro-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sites and Searches Scoring High for NBA Playoffs and Euro 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

After almost a year without many professional leagues, it\u2019s safe to say that for the most part, sports are back.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Two of the world\u2019s top sporting events since the pandemic are taking place right now \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Using Similarweb\u2019s Web Intelligence<\/a>, 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\u2019s trending in the digital sports world, from trending keyword searches and audience behavior.<\/p>\n

The NBA isn\u2019t in a bubble anymore<\/h2>\n

Despite finishing the 2020 season with playoffs in an actual quarantine bubble<\/a> 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<\/b><\/a> has jumped 61% to 73.1 million total visits.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/p>\n

While the United States owns a majority of the traffic share<\/a> sent to nba.com (48.4%), we\u2019re seeing international interest. In fact, web traffic<\/a> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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If we dive deeper into nba.com\u2019s audience, we find that nearly 75% of visitors identify as male, most likely between 18-44 years of age.<\/p>\n

\"gender<\/p>\n

Sports news sites – who\u2019s winning?<\/h2>\n

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

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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.<\/p>\n

\"espn<\/p>\n

What are people searching for (and who\u2019s winning traffic)?<\/h2>\n

The keyword nba playoffs<\/i> had 1.1 million total search visits in May 2021, a 900% increase from April 2021 (109,200).\u00a0Question queries related to the keyword, plus the keyword traffic leader, include:<\/p>\n