In Chicago, Trib Is King, But ESPN Moving In

Chicago is a city with a rich local online scene, and the Tribune Co. has a dominant stake in its home turf. But an outsider with a national presence is encroaching on its territory: sports giant ESPN.

Linda Moss at NetNewsCheck reports the Tribune, the Windy City’s publishing and broadcast fiefdom, is the king of Chicago media. It has roughly a half dozen media Web sites, including one for its flagship newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, and one for flagship TV station, WGN, that are either market leaders or have solid traction as far as online traffic.

But another national media giant, The Walt Disney Co., has also entered Chi Town looking for a piece of the online pie, with its highly successful ESPN Chicago, a localized Web site.

And the local online action is substantial. Chicago, which is the nation’s No. 3 market in terms of local online advertising spending -- as well as its third-largest TV market -- this year is expected to garner $590 million in local online advertising, a 20% increase from last year’s $492.3 million, according to research and consulting firm Borrell Associates.

In two short years, ESPN’s local site established itself as a imposing competitor in the market.

“Based on ComScore, we’re the No. 1 digital sports site in the market,” said John Pastor, senior vice president and general manager of ESPNLocal.com. “We have got a brand name that people trust.”

But the Tribune’s Web site is formidable, with 28.4% of adults in the market logging onto it each month, according to data collected last year from Media Audit.

It was followed by SunTimes.com, the site for the Chicago Sun-Times, which had 16.2% of Chicago adults coming to it, according to Media Audit.

Chicagotribune.com attracted 2 million unique visitors in February, according to ComScore, while Suntimes.com drew 1.5 million.

ESPNChicago.com falls third behind Chicagotribune.com and Suntimes.com on Media Audit’s measurement list, with 14.5% of Chicago adults logging onto it last year.

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