- Boston Celtics Ranks as Most Popular Team Site and
Cleveland’s LeBron James Ranks as Top Player Page on NBA.com -

NEW YORK, December 13, 2007 – NBA.com set the all-time monthly traffic record to the site with more than 153 million visits during November 2007, the first month of the 2007-08 NBA season.  The new mark eclipsed the November 2006 total for visits by more than 80 percent and included an increase in visits from NBA fans in North America by 45 percent.

Along with NBA.com’s record traffic, ESPN.com’s NBA section also saw record traffic from fans on computers and wireless devices in the first five full weeks of the season. The site’s NBA content has seen average weekly online visits grow by 106 percent (compared to Nov. 2006), while average weekly visits from wireless devices have grown by 244 percent (vs. Nov. 2006).  Growth has extended to television as well, with ESPN’s NBA telecasts averaging 1,233,000 household impressions this season, an increase of 12 percent when compared to the same season-to-date period in 2006. The corresponding 1.3 average rating is up 8 percent over the 1.2 rating at this time last season.

NBA.com – Boston Celtics and LeBron James Lead Rankings
The Boston Celtics acquisitions of NBA All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, along with the team’s 13-2 record in November, resulted in the team ranking as the most popular NBA team site.

Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James (528,000 page views) lead the top 10 list as the most popular player page on NBA.com finishing ahead of Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (507,000 page views) and Garnett (387,000 page views).   Milwaukee Bucks’ rookie Yi Jianlian (316,000 page views) had the most popular international NBA player page finishing ahead of Houston Rockets’ Yao Ming (262,000 page views).

NBA.COM’s TOP 10 RANKINGS INCLUDE

NBA Team Sites

NBA Player Sites

NBA International Player Sites

1. Boston Celtics

1. LeBron James – Cleveland

1. Yi Jianlian (China) – Milwaukee

2. Los Angeles Lakers

2. Kobe Bryant – Los Angeles

2. Yao Ming (China) – Houston

3. Toronto Raptors

3. Kevin Garnett – Boston

3. Steve Nash (Canada) – Phoenix

4. Houston Rockets

4. Allen Iverson – Denver

4. Juan Carlos Navarro (Spain) – Memphis

5. Phoenix Suns

5. Yi Jianlian – Milwaukee

5. Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) – Dallas

6. Chicago Bulls

6. Kevin Durant – Seattle

6. Andrea Bargnani (Italy) – Toronto

7. San Antonio Spurs

7. Tracy McGrady – Houston

7. Kelenna Azubuike (United Kingdom) – Golden State

8. Cleveland Cavaliers

8. Dwight Howard – Orlando

8. Hedo Turkoglu (Turkey) - Orlando

9. Miami Heat

9. Yao Ming – Houston

9. Jose Calderon (Spain) – Toronto

10. Dallas Mavericks

10. Steve Nash – Phoenix

10. Manu Ginobili (Argentina) – San Antonio

 
NBA.com Receives Record Visits from International Fans
The continued success of NBA international events, including NBA Europe Live presented by EA SPORTS and the NBA China Games, both held this past October, contributed to more international visits to NBA.com than ever before.  Overall, approximately 60 percent of all visits to the site during the month came from fans outside of North America. 

In November, NBA.com saw visits increase substantially from fans in the four countries that participated in NBA Europe Live, including more than double from Italy and Spain, 85 percent from the United Kingdom and nearly 65 percent from Turkey.  Traffic from China more than doubled and now accounts for more than 30 percent of all visits to NBA.com.

NBA.com Video Usage Soars
NBA.com set the all-time monthly record for video streams with more than 38 million, an increase of 95% when compared to the same month last season.  The previous all-time monthly record of more than 30 million video streams was established in February 2007.  Currently, NBA video content is available in more places than ever before including ESPN.com, Yahoo! Sports and YouTube.