Lycos Reports Boom in Search Activity for WWE's Chris Benoit

Authored by Scott Goldberg on June 27, 2007 - 11:33am.

Today Lycos released search data for the week ending June 23, and perhaps a bit of a surprise was the enormous interest in the story of Chris Benoit, the WWE wrestler who was found dead in his home last week along with his wife and son. Bizarre facts of the case have begun to emerge and search interest reflected the developments of the case as the term “Chris Benoit” rose 3,638% from Monday to Tuesday. It is believed Benoit strangled his wife to death, and more than a day later suffocated his son. Benoit apparently waited some time to then hang himself using a weight machine as a pulley. Lycos’s search data reveals other interesting trends in the week as well:

The second most searched term was “Barry Bonds,” perhaps not as surprising as the third-most searched term, “Katie Holmes.” Bonds is, after all, within closing distance of the home run record. I’m not sure what Katie Holmes did last week, so if you can explain it, please let me know. The rest of the top 10 goes as follows:

1. Chris Benoit (3638%)
2. Barry Bonds (267%)
3. Katie Holmes (233%)
4. Hillary Clinton (200%)
5. Ryan Phillipe (175%)
6. Elliot Yamin (107%)
7. Maria Sharapova (103%)
8. Tour de France (100%)
9. Elin Nordgren (95%)
10. Apple (50%)

Tracking search data is one of the most reliable ways to gauge internet interest in a particular topic, and has come to represent a poll in and of itself. It’s worth noting, for example, that Elin Nordegren, wife of golfer Tiger Woods, was more searched than her husband. The couple had their first child the day after the US Open ended, June 18th. Who would’ve thought she would be more popular than Tiger?

Also of note, Hillary Clinton’s place in the top 10, as opposed to other 2008 presidential candidates, could reflect an interest in the NY Senator that foretells election results.

And finally, it might seem surprising that Apple finished so far down the list, with the much-hyped release of the iPhone due out on Friday. Either way, it made the top 10, and supports the idea that people can’t seem to get enough news about Apple.

Scott Goldberg