Fantasy Football Growth Continues at Rapid Pace

Nielsen Online Senior Manager of Media Analytics Jason Lee and Fantasy Sports Association Chair Clay Walker presented an in-depth analysis of online fantasy sports players at today's Fantasy Sports Association Sports Media & Technology Conference in New York.

Lee outlined a still-growing community in each sport as he explained findings over unique month-long surveys. More than 11.7 million unique users visited fantasy football sites in September with 5.4 million of them turning to Yahoo. In May of this year, there were 3.7 million unique fantasy baseball players, Lee said.

As of August 2006, about 12.8 million American adults were playing fantasy football, making up about 80 percent of the $4 billion fantasy sports market, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. Industry experts say the number of players has roughly doubled since 2000.

Fantasy sports players tend to be more affluent, male, and, with the exception of fantasy golfers, overwhelmingly part of the 25-49 demographic.

An FSA survey discovered that found fantasy players spend up to five hours per week playing and researching fantasy sports. Also, the fantasy sports audience attends live sporting events more than any other audience. Fantasy players also have a higher household ownership in the consumer electronics categories.

"There are a lot of opportunities for publishers and manufacturers to hit a niche audience that's very valuable in fantasy sports players" Lee said.

A niche that continues to surge each year as more people find new ways to play fantasy sports using mobile devices, especially on Sundays during football season. Check out men at the mall on weekends this holiday season. Are they studying the latest offerings at Pottery Barn Crate or gazing at their Blackberrys for NFL scoring updates?