Twins Daily's Box Score: 5/26-6/1/19

The graph for a week by week comparison of page views is above and I think it tells an interesting story. Expectations were low this spring after a disappointing 2018 season. On the other hand, expectations were high going into 2018 after making the Wild Card game in 2017. The traffic at Twins Daily reflected that. Our page views through March were down 15%.

For the next three weeks, the traffic was very similar to 2018. And then, about the third week in April, people started to believe. That’s why I thought the low attendance stories that started percolating in April were so ludicrous. The interest was certainly there. The problem with game attendance is that it is a lagging indicator. Twins Daily’s page view are a lot closer to a real time gauge of fan interest.

(As an aside, congratulations to the Twins marketing department for nipping that little narrative in the bud. I’m sure the release of a 20,000 or so cheap seats in early May was mostly to bring people back to the ballpark, but it’s a nice side effect that they don’t have to deal with the perception that their fan base doesn’t care about them.)

So for the last two months, I’ve been able to tell people that page view are down, but you can see from the graph that wasn’t going to last. It didn’t. On Saturday, page views caught up from the three-month head start 2018 was given. Which brings us to this week’s numbers….

Overall Traffic Last Week

• Users – 46,508 (up 163% from 2018)
  
• Sessions – 102,694 (up 105% from 2018)
  
• Page Views – 275,601 (up 55% rom 2018)
  

The numbers last week almost perfectly matched the numbers from the week before. Last week's numbers has us freaking out, so it looks like we have a new reality. If you are one of the people who regularly share stories or posts from the sites with friends, thank you so much for contributing to the community’s growth.

This week should be interesting, as the three days of the MLB draft are usually among Twins Daily’s most visited dates of the year. Last year, for example, the first two days of the draft were our third and fourth most page views of the year. (Trade deadline in which Brian Dozier was traded was #1. Eduardo Escobar trade was #2.)

Stories

Andrew Thares has provided so much good quality MLB Draft content over the last month, he deserves the page views his stories have generated. This week his page views were sandwiched between Seth and Tom, which tells you just how much the readers are appreciating his great work. I mentioned that the MLB Draft has become a bit of a specialty for Twins Daily, thanks in large part to the work done in previous years by Jeremy Nygaard. We’re very grateful to Andrew for carrying that tradition forward.

I’m struck by how many of our contributing writers are getting even more page view than some of our founders, which NEVER used to happen. I, for instance, am tenth on the list. That might be a good topic for a future Box Score.

Forums

• Registrations – 19 (we had 19 the same week in 2018)
  
• Topics – 84 (up from 54 the same week in 2018)
  
• Posts - 2613 (up from 2761 the same week in 2018)
  

Twins Daily now has 11,403 members. That’s a lot of people who want to talk Twins. Don’t you? Just register and tell us your thoughts.

(I know I’m overdue for a post calling out the top participants in the forums, but it takes a while to generate that report, and this Box Score is already running a little long. I’ll try to give a recap of all of May next week.)

Blogs

The blogs have blown up. Eleven new entries this week, including:

• a brand new blog that already has two entries,
  
• an entry with 20 comments,
  
• a continuation of a series on the first round picks that I talked about last week,
  
• talk about signing Dallas Keuchel,
  
• a remembrance of Bill Buckner,
  
• a blog called The Always Fashionable Uncle Charlie,
  
• an entry on the top five Twins prospects who should be promoted,
  
• a post on what shoulder impingement is,
  
• a look at the AL Central race and
  
• some old friends doing their usual fine work.
  

Whew. Thank you all. I’d encourage everyone to make the blog section a part of your routine when visiting Twins Daily. There’s a lot going on there.

If you have any ideas for Twins Daily, or feedback that you want to share, please don’t hesitate to give it, good or bad, in the comments below. I promise to read your thought and respond when appropriate.