Online fantasy sports are big… really big.

In September 2005, over 9.5 Million people in the United States were involved in a fantasy sports league through one of the three largest fantasy services - Yahoo, Sportsline and ESPN. To put this in perspective, the volume of people playing fantasy on these three sites equates to the population of Michigan (the 8th most populated U.S. state)!

As such, fantasy sports have emerged as big business and changed the way sports are viewed, reported and discussed. I won’t go so far to say Fantasy Sports has changed the world, but it certainly is an interesting topic to investigate from a social and business perspective.

To peel back the layers of Fantasy Sports, we analyzed the online fantasy sports activity of the 2 Million+ strong Compete member community and also conducted a targeted survey of over 300 fantasy sports fans.

Some of our interesting findings:

1. Enthusiasts participating in Fantasy Sports at Yahoo, ESPN and Sportsline are 31% female
2. Respondents that pay to play are seasoned veterans - 37% have been in the game for more than 7 years
3. Yahoo captured 68% of the fantasy market share in paid and free services, while Sportsline at 18% and ESPN at 13% lag behind
4. 47% of all respondents owned a video game console - Sony’s Playstation was the most popular

Wireless telephone providers often run internet promotions that offer deals with significant savings over other retail outlets. But many people seem to be unaware of the savings potential of ordering their phones online.

In a recent Compete survey of over 2,200 wireless phone users, just 28% felt that the internet offered the best deals on wireless phones and services. People also indicated a reluctance to purchase online, with just 27% indicating that they are at least somewhat likely to buy their next wireless phone via the internet.

The most common reason given for not buying online? “I’m uncomfortable purchasing a phone without holding it.”

In your opinion, which sales channel offers the best deals on wireless phones and services?