Hitwise To Go - UK

Swine Flu fears driving web traffic

2009-04-30T10:00:00Z

Following the breaking news around swine flu earlier this week, UK Internet traffic to the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention increased more than 200% each in just 4 days. For the week ending 25/04/09, 'swine flu' was already the number one search term driving traffic to cdc.gov, showing the urgency of the public to find out more about the disease.

More to come next week on the UK blog when our Research Director, Robin Goad, will analyse search data around the potential pandemic.

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Net-a-Porter launches theOutnet.com

2009-04-23T14:00:00Z

Following the April 16th launch of Net-a-Porter's newest outlet site for discounted designer fashion, theOutnet.com, traffic to the site increased 800% in a week (w/e 18/04/09 compared to w/e 11/08/09). Within the Apparel and Accessories category, the Outnet moved up the rankings 599 places to #87 during the same period. Looking at the first week of trade (w/e 18/04/09), Google UK (10.1%), Facebook (5.61%), and Net-a-Porter (5.3%), were the top 3 sites receiving traffic from theoutnet.com.

Susan Boyle tops all searches in the UK and US

2009-04-21T12:00:00Z

Last week the top five fastest moving search terms amongst All Categories were: 'susan boyle', 'britains got talent', 'hillsborough disaster', 'hells kitchen', and 'guido fawkes'. After Susan Boyle’s recent break-through performance on Britains Got Talent, the clip of her singing has notched up almost 50 million views on YouTube and the search term 'susan boyles' was the top non-branded term driving traffic to YouTube last week. Her success has also been noted in the US with 'susan boyle' being the number one fastest moving search term overall for the same period.

Searches for 'federico macheda' increased 55-fold in a week

2009-04-16T16:00:00Z

2 of the top 3 fastest moving search terms in the social networking category for the w/e 11/04/09 were related to the 17-year old Italian Manchester United footballer, Federico Macheda: (#1 'federico macheda' and #3 'macheda'). After his recent winning goals in his games against Aston Villa on 05/04/09 and Sunderland on 11/04/09, the footballer has caused quite the stir in the media and people are looking to learn more about Man Utd's new star player. Wikipedia, Manchester United, and YouTube were the top 3 sites receiving traffic from searches for the young footballer last week, together just under 50% of traffic.

Searches for 'mothers day'

2009-03-23T14:00:00Z

For the second year in a row the number one site receiving traffic from UK searches for 'mothers day' last week was Woodlands Junior School (27.6%), followed by Wikipedia (19.4%) and Marks & Spencer (7.8%). Compared to last year, when searches for 'mothers day' peaked during the actual week of Mothering Sunday, this year the spike occurred one week earlier (w/e 14/03/09), suggesting that people were planning in advance this year. Traffic to the Flowers and Gifts category increased 27% for the week ending 21/03/2009, with 'flowers' being the number one non-branded search term driving traffic to the category.

Traffic to tastelondon.co.uk increases 633%

2009-03-17T10:00:00Z

TasteLondon, a UK diners' club, celebrated its 3rd birthday last Thursday March 12th by giving away complimentary annual memberships to the first 2000 people who registered their details on www.tastelondon.co.uk/thirdbirthday. Hitwise UK reports that traffic to the site increased 633% on the day, but unfortunately the massive spike in traffic caused the site to crash, leaving many people unable to register. With those who did not make the first 2000 still able to register for a one month free membership, it comes as no surprise that within the Food and Beverage category, tastelondon.co.uk moved up the rankings 192 places to 78th last week compared to 270th the week before.

Traffic to NS&I increases 320%

2009-03-13T16:00:00Z

Following the monthly announcement of the Premium Bond winners, traffic to the National Savings & Investments (NS&I) website tends to peak towards the beginning of each month. From the end of February to the first week in March UK Internet visits to NS&I increased 320%, with 'premium bonds' being the #1 search term driving traffic to the site for the 4 weeks ending 07/03/09. 8 of the top 10 fast moving search terms in the Banks and Financial Institutions category for the week ending 07/03/09 were also related to National Savings & Investments or Premium Bonds.

Michael Jackson searches increase by 1200%

2009-03-10T13:00:00Z

Following Michael Jackson's announcement last week that he is to play 10 dates at the O2 this summer, searches for the King of Pop increased by 1200%. With fans able to register for presale tickets traffic to www.michaeljackson.com increased 3-fold for the week ending 07/03/09, while ‘michael Jackson tickets’ was the top search term sending traffic to Ticket Exchange websites. With his comeback show predicted by many to make show business history, it comes as no surprise that 'michael jackson' was the 3rd fastest moving search term in the UK last week, behind 'v festival' (#1) and 'dr seuss' (#2 after featuring in a Google Doodle) for the same period.

Comic Relief and TK Maxx

2009-03-06T16:00:00Z

In the lead up to Comic Relief's Red Nose day 09 (Mar 13th), UK traffic to both rednoseday.com and comicrelief.com has increased. For the week ending 28/02/09, 'red nose day t shirts' was the 5th most popular search term containing 'red nose day', and the 4th most popular search term driving traffic to the Red Nose Day - Shop website. For the same period Red Nose Day - Shop contributed the 3rd largest amount of traffic (5.4%) to TK Maxx , the exclusive seller of Stella McCartney's Red Nose Day t-shirt range. The search term 'comic relief' was also the first non-branded term driving traffic to TK Maxx.

Spotify traffic up 250% in a month

2009-02-27T17:00:00Z

UK Internet traffic to Spotify.com, the streaming music player offering legal and free access to a huge library of music, has grown 250% in the past 4 weeks. Searches for 'spotify' are also on the rise, increasing 4-fold over the same period. Looking at Experian Mosaic data, the type of people most likely to visit Spotify are from the Urban Intelligence group - defined as “young, single and mostly well-educated people who are cosmopolitan in tastes and liberal in attitudes”.

Cinema traffic increases in lead up to the Oscars

2009-02-26T16:00:00Z

UK internet traffic to cinemas increased by 30% last week. Out of all cinemas in the custom category, Apollo Cinemas experienced the largest spike in traffic (53.57%) as the pre-Oscars buzz encouraged people to view the nominated films.

UK Internet searches for Best Picture Nominees

2009-02-19T14:00:00Z

In anticipation of Sunday's Oscar results for best picture of 2009, the most searched-for nominee in the UK last week was Slumdog Millionaire. 'slumdog millionaire' was also the first non-branded search term driving traffic to IMDB. During the same period IMDB was the biggest recipient of traffic from all the nominee search terms; except 'benjamin button', which sent 26% of its traffic to www.benjaminbutton.com.

Top Valentine flower websites

2009-02-17T16:00:00Z

The top 10 florist websites for the week ending 14/02/09:

1. Interflora UK (accounted for 4.29% of all UK visits to the Flowers and Gifts category)
2. Flowers Direct (1.28%)
3. NEXT Fresh Flowers (1.24%)
4. Asda Flowers (1.17%)
5. Bunches (.97%)
6. Flying Flowers (.78%)
7. Serenata Flowers (.73%)
8. Arenaflowers.com (.69%)
9. Teleflorist (.62%)
10. iflorist.co.uk (.62%)

Interestingly more women than men visited the top flower sites: 55% of visitors to the custom category last week were women. Showing its romantic side, Scotland was the most overrepresented region in terms of visits to flower sites, while the East was the least represented region in the UK.

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Twestival or Bust?

2009-02-13T17:00:00Z

UK Internet traffic to Twestival.com, the charity: water festival bringing together Twitter communities globally, has increased 4 fold since its launch on February 5, 2009. For the week ending 07/02/09 over a quarter of all traffic to Twestival came from Twitter with Google UK, YouTube, and Facebook also contributing. Over half of the visitors to the site are under the age of 34 with 31.7% being aged 18-24.

Searches for ‘valentine breaks uk’ increase by more than 50%

2009-02-11T12:00:00Z

Due to the current economic downturn, the number of UK Internet searches for Valentine breaks to UK destinations has increased compared to last year. Popular locations include Scotland, London, Yorkshire, Cornwall, and Northern Ireland. At the same time, searches for Valentine breaks abroad have decreased. For example, last year ‘valentine breaks to paris’ was the 20th most popular search term containing the phrase ‘valentine breaks’, but this year it has fallen to 29th.

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