Is ESPN’s (NYSE: DIS) new mobile strategy paying off? For three days, ESPN.com has had more visits to its NFL content through its mobile phone web site than it did through its PC web site, reports Adage.com. Moreover, ESPN reported that usage of its mobile web site is up more than 200 percent year over year. An executive who was briefed on the data told Adage.com that for one particular 24 hour period ESPN’s wireless NFL section saw 4.9 million visits, compared to its PC NFL section which drew 4.5 million visits. ESPN ABC sports customer marketing and sales president Ed Erhardt chalked it up to multitasking fans whom he believes watch football on TV and use their phones to check fantasy-league information on scores of other games, statistics and trivia.

Disney pulled the plug on Mobile ESPN, the company’s attempt at attracting sports fans with their own MVNO, late in 2006. It regrouped in 2007, and announced a new strategy in which it repositioned itself as a content application and struck an exclusive deal with Verizon.

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