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Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - UK
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Visits to Weather Sites Soar Along with Temperatures
July 20, 2006
Yesterday's record breaking temperatures, reported to reach over 36 degrees Celsius near Gatwick, saw UK consumers visit weather sites in unprecedented numbers. Visits to websites in the Hitwise News & Media - Weather category nearly doubled compared with one week earlier and the category rose to capture more than 1% of all UK internet visits. Hitwise created the Weather sub-category in February, and yesterday was the first day that the category broke through the 1% mark.
The BBC's Weather Centre remained the top ranked site in the category, attracting nearly half (49%) of visits to Weather sites yesterday. The MetOffice took the #2 spot, in the category with 10% of category visits. Analysis of the search terms sending visits to the sites reveals that The MetOffice is used primarily for information on domestic temperatures (as is the BBC Weather Centre). Interest in local temperatures fuelled visits to these two sites.
The Weather Channel - US, the #3 ranked site in the category yesterday, by contrast is used to find temperatures abroad, in particular Switzerland, Marbella, Tunisia and for "world weather". The Weather Channel - US had ranked 4th last week and 8th two weeks ago in the News & Media Category, whereas it ranked 3rd yesterday. The site has likely benefited from searches for world weather with recent coverage in the news media of climate change as a factor to explain record breaking temperatures. The site's popularity also no doubt stems from increased interest in last minute summer holidays as we all look for ways to escape the heat!
Posted by Heather Hopkins at 11:29 AM
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Great data, love the hitlist rankings of most visited sites. Do you capture data by age bands or do you where this could be obtained? I am specifically interested in 24-34 age groups
Posted by David Hancock | July 21, 2006 01:13 AM