David Beckham's arrival drove web traffic up 117 percent in July 2007
over the previous year, reaching over one million unique visitors.
Beckham signed with the LA Galaxy at the beginning of the year.
At the end of 2006, traffic to mlsnet.com had fallen to 230,000 unique
visitors, down from 478,000 in July. When the LA Galaxy announced the
signing of Beckham in January, traffic spiked to 808,000 unique
visitors, a 252 percent month-on month increase.
When Beckham made his debut as a Galaxy player on July 13 and playing
debut on July 21, worldwide traffic to the site jumped to over one
million unique visitors.
Bob Ivins, EVP of International Markets at comScore, said, “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.”
Bob Ivins, EVP of International Markets at comScore, observed, “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.”
U.S. interest in the official MLS site also increased significantly
following the announcement of the Beckham deal in January. Traffic grew
155 percent, from 159,000 in December 2006 to 404,000 in January 2007.
As seen in the case of the worldwide trend, visitation immediately
tailed off until Beckham's subsequent debut for the club in July, when
it reached its highest ever figure at 594,000 unique visitors.
