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Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK
Analyst Weblog
Video Games searches overtake Mobile Phones following release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
November 20, 2009
UK Internet searches for video games increased by 28% last week following the release of the much hyped and anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. As the chart below illustrates, Video Games overtook Mobile Phones to become the most searched for category within the Experian Hitwise Hot Consumer Electronics List last week – the first time this has ever happened.
A few other impressive stats: Over a third of Video Games searches last week related to the new game;’ modern warfare 2’ and ‘call of duty modern warfare 2’ were the second and third most popular search terms on the Consumer Electronics List; and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 became the most searched for product on the list, picking up more searches than Apple iTunes and iPhone combined.
As with the recent Windows 7 launch, there was also a ‘halo effect’ as a result fo this release: a 12% increase in searches for Games Consoles, with Sony’s PS3 the biggest beneficiary. Consequently, visits to online video game retailers also increased by 20% last week, although surprisingly they didn’t pick up the majority of traffic from searches for the new game. The table below lists the top 15 recipients of traffic from the search term ‘modern warfare 2’ for the week ending 14/11/09, and shows that content sites occupied the top four spots. The highest placed retailer was Play.com in fifth position (it paid for almost three quarters of its traffic from the term). Amazon UK paid for less of its traffic and ranked eighth, while GAME was 11th with a slightly lower paid rate again.
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Posted by Robin Goad at 08:50 AM
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In Categories Fast moving search terms | Gadgets | Games | Paid search | Retail | Search | Shopping and Classifieds
X Factor receives four times more UK Internet visits than Strictly Come Dancing
November 16, 2009
The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing have become staples of the pre-Christmas television schedules. The ITV and BBC shows rely on the reality TV show format, but appeal to quite different audiences. While Strictly is most popular with older viewers (and Internet browsers), The X Factor has seemingly achieved total domination amongst younger viewers and web users.
X Factor is winning the ratings battle and, as the chart below illustrates, its website is also picking up the most visits. The two shows were neck and neck until the end of September, but since then Simon Cowell and co. have pulled away from Brucie and his dancers. Last week (w/e 14/11/09) The X Factor homepage received over four times as many UK Internet visits as the Strictly Come Dancing equivalent.
Taking a slightly longer term view, the chat below shows that back in 2007 the two shows picked up very similar levels of web traffic. Last year was the first time that The X Factor pulled ahead of Strictly, and this year the gap has further widened.
Whereas traffic to the Strictly website typically peaks on a Saturday, The X Factor’s does better the following day; it has appeared in our list of the top 100 UK websites every Sunday since the beginning of October. Given that The X Factor has already beaten its peak last year, the question is: how popular can it get?
Given that I failed miserably in predicting last year’s winner, this time I’m handing the responsibility to Experian Hitwise Client Intelligence Analyst and X Factor fan Richard Seymour. Keep an eye on the blog and our Twitter feed for updates and predictions closer to the time…
Posted by Robin Goad at 02:15 PM
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In Categories BBC | TV
Property websites experience first increase in UK traffic for over two years
November 11, 2009
UK Internet visits to property websites increased by 4.8% between October 2008 and October 2009, the first annual increase in UK Internet traffic to the sector for over two years. The online property market was one of the first areas to suffer as a result of the credit crunch back in autumn 2007 and, as the chart below illustrates, by January 2008 visits to the category were contracting at an annual rate of 36.6%.
Traffic to online property websites has been recovering gradually throughout 2009, but this is the first month that we have experienced an actual annual increase. The internet is the first place many people turn when looking to move house, but over the last couple of years a lack of inventory on many sites has put people off. If, as predicted, the recent house price increases reported by Nationwide and Halifax result in more properties coming onto the market, it is likely that online traffic will increase further. While an increase in supply may lead to a short term reduction in prices, any increase in listings should help property websites attract more visitors.
The increase in UK Internet traffic to property websites is being driven by a growth in visitors from the south of England. During October 2009, people from London were 15% more likely to visit a property website than the UK average, while for both the South East and South West the figure was 9%. The parts of the UK with the lowest representation compared with their populations were Northern Ireland - which was one of the most popular parts of the country for property websites before the credit crunch - and Wales.
All of the top ten over-represented postal areas visits to property websites during October were in London or the South East, with London East Central (EC) and Bromley (BR) topping the list. At the other end of the spectrum, the list of the bottom ten was dominated by postal areas in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the North of England. Lerwick in Scotland (ZE) was the least represented postal area amongst UK visitors to property websites, while Durham (DH) was the lowest ranked English city.
The UK online property market is dominated by portal pages, which accounted for the majority of the top ten sites within the category during October. The largest of these is Rightmove, which picked up 23.6% of visits to the category – nearly five times as many as its nearest competitors, Find a Property and Primelocation. The highest ranked individual estate agency websites during October 2009 were Your Move (ranked 23rd), Knight Frank (26th), Foxtons (29th) and Savills UK (30th).
(It should be noted that Property Finder was recently acquired by Zoopla)
Posted by Robin Goad at 10:10 AM
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In Categories Economy | Postal Area | Property
Google Doodle: Sesame Street vs. Wallace and Gromit
November 10, 2009
Last week Google replaced its traditional logo with two Google Doodles. The first celebrated the twentieth anniversary of Wallace and Gromit, the second Sesame Street’s fortieth birthday. The chart below illustrates the increase in searches for the terms ‘wallace and gromit’ and ‘sesame street’ and it looks like Big Bird and co. benefited the most, picking up almost twice as many searches as the wensleydale loving man and his dog.
Posted by Robin Goad at 09:45 AM
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In Categories Fast moving search terms | Google | Search | TV
