The number of Indian internet users browsing on sport sites nearly doubled to 10.3 million in January, ComScore said.
Engagement in sports sites also soared to record levels, with time spent browsing, page views and visitations all at least doubling in the past year.
“The sports category has experienced tremendous growth throughout the last year as more Indians turn to the Internet as their first source of up-to-the-minute news on their favorite teams and players,” ComScore executive vice president for APAC Will Hodgman said.
The upcoming third season of the India Premier League cricket competition intensified this growth, he added.
Yahoo Cricket was the most popular sports destination in January, with nearly 4 million visitors, a 305% increase on January 2009. And Indian cricket-specific sites received strong visitation figures.
The second-most visited site was ESPN, with 3.5 million visitors, followed by Sify Sports, with more than 1 million.
The average sports page viewer spent 30.1 minutes browsing sports sites throughout the month, viewing 41 pages of content.
ComScore added that this trend will only intensify once the cricket kicks off in March.
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