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Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK

Analyst Weblog

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Apprenticeships and The Apprentice

March 13, 2009

UK Internet visits to the homepage of The Apprentice, the BBC TV show starring Sir Alan Sugar, have shot up over the last week. Some of this traffic is a result of anticipation for the forthcoming fifth series, but most of the visitors to the site are looking for information about this the celebrity edition of the show in aid of Comic Relief. On Wednesday (11/03/09) one fifth of visitors to the Apprentice homepage went to the Red Nose Day website afterwards.

UK_Internet_traffic_to_the_apprentice_website_2009_chart.png

Given his association with the show, the government secured a bit if coup when they signed “Surralan” up to front their current apprenticeships TV adverts. As a result of the campaign (which has also included press adverts), UK Internet searches for the term ‘apprenticeships’ have quadrupled since the start of the year.

UK_Internet_searches_for_apprenticeships_sir_alan_sugar_tv_ads_2009_chart.png

For the 4 weeks ending 07/03/09, the Learning and Skills Council’s Apprenticeships website received 69% of traffic from people searching for ‘apprenticeships’. Not surprisingly, the site’s fortune has mirrored the search growth - traffic also has increased four-fold over since the start of the year. The site is currently receiving more female than male visitors, and has appeal across the UK: the most over-represented regions are the North East and South East.

Looking at the Experian Mosaic Lifestyle lifestyle breakdown of visitors to the Learning and Skills Council’s Apprenticeships website over the last 4 weeks (illustrated in the table below), it seems that the campaign is appealing to the right audience. The two groups that most over-represent as visitors are Municipal Dependency (defined as ‘Families on lower incomes who often live in large council estates where there is little owner-occupation’) and Blue Collar Enterprise (‘People who though not well-educated are practical and enterprising and may well have exercised their right to buy’). The least represented groups consist primarily of professional / managerial workers and retirees.

Experian_mosaic_demographics_groups_for_UK_apprenticeships_website_chart.png

Two employers’ websites – BT and the RAF - appear in the top 10 list of sites receiving traffic from ‘apprentice’ searches. In addition to searches such as ‘modern apprenticeships’, ‘adult apprenticeships’ and ‘apprenticeships scotland’, many of the 200+ distinct search terms containing the word ‘apprentice’ that were typed into a search engine over the last 4 weeks made reference to a particular skill or employer. Here are the top 10:

1. plumbing apprenticeships
2. electrical apprenticeships
3. engineering apprenticeships
4. british gas apprenticeships
5. bt apprenticeships
6. it apprenticeships
7. hairdressing apprenticeships
8. electrician apprenticeships
9. raf apprenticeships
10. bae apprenticeships

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