Europe

Analysis: Twitter Overtakes MySpace in the UK

Authored by Robin Goad on September 1, 2009 - 6:44am.

Last week Twitter received more UK Internet visits than MySpace for the first time. As the chart below illustrates, for the week ending 29/08/09 Twitter.com picked up 1 in every 400 UK Internet visits and ranked as the 27th most visited website in the UK, one position above MySpace.

Four People Associated With The Pirate Bay Found Guilty In High-Profile Case

Authored by Jay Baage on April 17, 2009 - 7:30am.
Stockholm, Sweden - The four men involved in the Swedish-based BitTorrent tracking website The Pirate Bay were found guilty on Friday of being accessories to violating copyright law in the high-profile court case in Sweden. Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde (interviewed in the video embedded above) were each sentenced to a year in jail and 30 million SEK in damages (around 3.5 million USD).

Buzz Watch: Social Networks Overtake Adult Websites in the UK

Authored by Robin Goad on January 27, 2009 - 7:55am.

Last week we provided the BBC with some interesting data illustrating how UK Internet visits to Social Networks and Forums have overtaken Adult websites. As the chart below illustrates, social networks overtook last October and have remained ahead since.

Analysis: eMusic and the Long Tail

Authored by Robin Goad on January 20, 2009 - 7:23am.

The online music retailer eMusic has put out some interesting data that, it is claimed, supports the famous “Long Tail” theory of online retail. Chris Anderson (picture), the editor in chief of Wired magazine, coined the phrase in a 2004 article, claiming that Internet retailers would sell more niche products at the expense of mass-market items. However, this theory was challenge in a recent study by Will Page and Andrew Bud, which claimed more than 10 million of the 13 million music tracks available on the Internet failed to find a single buyer last year. In response, eMusic has reported that 75% of the tracks in its catalogue were bought at least once in 2008.

Social Xmas: Facebook’s Busiest UK Day So Far, YouTube Overtakes Hotmail

Authored by Robin Goad on December 30, 2008 - 2:56am.

With all of the focus on the economic downturn and the troubles in the retail sector, it’s easy to forget the continued growth of social networking in the UK. Christmas is traditionally the busiest time of year for social networks, and this festive season the sector achieved three significant new milestones.

Analysis: Traffic To E Cards Websites in the UK Up 11.8% This Holiday Season

Authored by Robin Goad on December 25, 2008 - 10:57am.

I thought I had written our final blog post before Christmas, but I thought this data was too interesting not to share! As the chart below illustrates, last week traffic to E Cards websites was up 11.8% on the equivalent week last year.

Analysis: Nintendo DS Now The Most Searched For Game Console In The UK

Authored by Robin Goad on December 18, 2008 - 8:48am.

Nintendo’s Wii Console, which accounted for more than one in three games console searches in November, overtook Nintendo’s Wii Fit to become the UK’s most searched-for product in November. The company’s DS Lite was also the fastest growing console online, with six times more searches in November than October. The popular handheld is now the second most searched-for console in the UK, accounting for more than one in every four games consoles searches.

Analysis: Apple iPhone Pulls Away From Its Closest Competitors In UK Online Searches

Authored by Robin Goad on December 18, 2008 - 8:38am.

While mobile phones continue to be the most searched-for product in the UK, they have seen a 23% decrease in searches since October as consumers turn their attention to Christmas gifts such as toys, video games and games consoles.

tags: Mobile | UK | Europe | Apple | CE | Retail | iPhone |

Analysis: Apple iPhone The Most Searched For Mobile Phone In The UK

Authored by Robin Goad on November 19, 2008 - 4:49am.

Last week we reported that the Nintendo Wii Fit video game is currently the most searched for product in the UK. In that post we also identified the Apple iPhone as the third most searched for product, followed by the Nokia N96 in fourth position. As the table below illustrates, during October mobile phones were the most searched for category of consumer electronic products in the UK, receiving over twice the volume of searches as video games, and three times that of computers.

tags: Games | Mobile | Video | UK | Europe | Metrics | Apple | CE | iPhone |

Analysis: Nintendo Wii Fit Most Searched For Product Christmas 2008 in the UK

Authored by Robin Goad on November 13, 2008 - 9:17am.

Wii Fit, Nintendo’s popular video game, is currently the most searched-for product by UK Internet shoppers in the run-up to Christmas. During October there were more UK Internet searches for Wii Fit than the Nintendo Wii, the most popular product last Christmas. After Wii Fit and the Wii console, the third most searched-for gadget is the Apple iPhone.

Analysis: UK Internet Searches for the US Election

Authored by Robin Goad on November 4, 2008 - 9:23am.

London - After months of campaigning, Americans are today finally voting for the 44th president of their country. The US research team have been doing a great job monitoring search behaviour across the pond, so I thought I’d have a look at what’s been happening in Britain. The chart below illustrates the volume of searches for the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates in the UK this year, with Gordon Brown added in to give some context.

tags: Marketing | UK | Europe | Search | Politics |

Analysis: Facebook Nr. 2 Website in the UK, but Growth Is Slowing

Authored by Robin Goad on October 10, 2008 - 11:01am.

London, UK - Of the 10,583,351 websites visited by UK Internet users in September, Facebook was the second most popular after Google UK. The number one social network in Britain received 3.16% of all UK Internet visits last month, equivalent to one in every 32. For the 4 weeks ending 27/09/08, one in every 50 UK Internet searches was for the single term ‘facebook’.

Buzz Watch: The Black Cab Sessions

Authored by Jay Baage on September 16, 2008 - 6:09am.

A best ideas are often the most simple ones. The Black Cab Sessions are proof of that. The raw acustic sound recorded and filmed for an Internet audience in the back of a black cab, plays out just as well to the backdrop of London as to the British countryside. And it doesn't hurt that they got some pretty big hitters in the music world into the cab such as Death Cab for Cutie, The Kooks and My Morning Jacket The episode above features Damien Jurado and Jena Conrad, shot in conjunction to the Green Man Festival. It looks like the video is not loading, but it is, you have to hit the play button and it starts.

Analysis: Google Chrome – Initial Stats from Europe

Authored by Robin Goad on September 3, 2008 - 5:45am.

We’ve had a number of requests for Google Chrome stats, so here they are… Yesterday (September 2nd) the homepage of the Google’s new browser was the 130th most visited in the UK, accounting for 0.06% of all UK Internet visits. As you can see from the table below, www.google.com/chrome was fifth most visited site in our Computers and Internet – Software category, accounting for 1.52% of all traffic to the industry. However, its two main competitors – Microsoft and Mozilla – still received more traffic yesterday.

Phillips Buys Remaining 76% of Teletrax

Authored by Jay Baage on August 14, 2008 - 7:16am.

London, U. K. - Teletrax, a British TV and online video monitoring and analytics firm, is being completely acquired by Philips, which previously owned 24% of the company.

tags: Deals | UK | Europe | Philips | Teletrax |

Analysis: Top European Music Online in August 2008 - Swedish DJ Basshunter

Authored by Robin Goad on August 7, 2008 - 7:23am.

Here are this month’s lists of the top 20 band / artist searches sending traffic to social networking sites (e.g. MySpace, YouTube, Last.fm, etc.) and the most popular music blogs for the 4 weeks ending August 2nd. First up social networks, and the top 2 entries, Basshunter and Biffy Clyro, have both had successful summers in the charts and have been in our top 20 for a number of months. The release of High School Musical 3 has led to a surge on interest in the Disney film / stage show, while Mamma Mia has also helped Abba enter the list at number 19. More evidence of the benefit of cross media promotion is the appearance of Hamfatter, the band that recently secured funding on the BBC show Dragons’ Den, at number 20.

BSkyB Posts Full-Year Loss, Upbeat About Future

Authored by Jay Baage on August 1, 2008 - 11:39am.

London, U. K. - The British entertainment group BSkyB's revenues grew 9 percent to £5bn ($10 bn) in the first two quarters, but operating profit fell 11 percent to £724m ($1,4 bn).

tags: Video | TV | UK | Europe | Investing | BSkyB |

Fast Moving Media Search Terms in Europe: Batman and Runescape

Authored by Robin Goad on July 28, 2008 - 8:38am.

The 10 fastest moving search terms in the UK last week were: 1. now 70; 2. christian bale; 3. global gathering; 4. heath ledger; 5. batman; 6. dark knight; 7. womad; 8. shipwrecked; 9. runehq; 10. hamfatter. Four of these terms – ‘christian bale’, ‘heath ledger’, ‘batman’. ‘dark knight’ – related to the new Batman film, The Dark Knight, which was released in the UK last weekend following a record breaking opening in the US.

tags: Games | Video | Marketing | TV | Music | UK | Europe | Metrics | Movies | Film | Batman | Trends |

Analysis: Twitter UK Traffic Up 485% This Year, 70% Higher Than USA

Authored by Robin Goad on July 16, 2008 - 7:14am.

The two Heathers (Hopkins and Dougherty) have both written about the growth of Twitter in the US recently, so here is some UK data on the micro-blogging service. As you can see from the chart below, the site’s growth has really ramped up this year. UK Internet visits to www.twitter.com have increased by 631% over the last 12 months, with 485% of that growth coming this year. Twitter is more popular with Brits than Americans: last week the site’s share of UK Internet visits was 70% higher its share of visits in America.

Buzz Watch: The Hottest bands on Social Networks and Music Blogs in Europe

Authored by Robin Goad on July 10, 2008 - 5:55am.

A few months ago we posted a list of the top 10 band / artist searches sending traffic to MySpace, the primary destination of searches for new artists. We’ve decided to expand the list to cover our whole Social Networking and Forums category, which includes the likes of Facebook and Bebo as well as YouTube (the fourth most popular destination for new artist searches after the MySpace, the band’s homepage and Wikipedia). So, here is a list of the hottest bands in the UK during June, based on the top 50 band / artist searches sending traffic to our Social Networking and Forums category (with their May position in brackets).