X Games 13 Has Highest Ratings Ever

Record Online Audience For EXPN.com; Highest TV Ratings Across All Age Groups

The success of X Games 13, held in Los Angeles August 2 – 5, reflects the evolving ways that fans engage in action sports today and were a success across television, online and mobile media across the globe.  EXPN.com (ESPN.com’s action sports hub) recorded its most overall traffic ever for an X Games with first time live webcasts as well as fan voting for competition. Telecasts of X Games 13 on ESPN delivered the most-viewed X Games ever among Households and Men 12-17, 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.  ESPN's prime time telecasts were up 35% compared to 2006 among M12-17.

“Once again the best action sports athletes in the world came to X Games and provided fans around the world with remarkable performances”, said Rick Alessandri, Managing Director, X Games Franchise.  “And the fans responded in record numbers across ESPN’s global multi-media platforms”, added Alessandri.

In an effort to continue to expand the X Games franchise globally, on the opening night of X Games 13, the first five minutes aired live on 19 of ESPN's television networks, reaching a potential 267 million viewers in 145 countries.  In addition, fans around the world were then able to watch the entire broadcast streamed live on EXPN.com.  Both EXPN.com and ESPN360.com streamed 40 hours of live X Games 13 coverage.

The newly re-launched EXPN.com had its most successful X Games ever, with the number of unique visitors more than doubling X Games 2006 (up 116 percent), which was the previous record-setting event.   According to comScore Media Metrix, the site was accessed by more than a half million unique users, and generated more than 3.2 million page views over the course of the X Games.  Additionally, fans viewed X Games videos on EXPN.com and ESPN.com more than 1.6 million times over the four days of the competition. 

On television, nearly 38 million fans tuned into X Games 13, up 7% from 2006.  Overall, X Games 13 averaged a 1.0 Household coverage rating on ESPN, a 19% increase from 2006.