Hitwise releases its UK Online Automotive Report

Which sites and categories refer the largest volume of visits to automotive sites? Which manufacturers are most popular online? What is the profile of visitors to automotive websites? Which automotive sites appeal most to female internet users?

To request your complimentary copy of the Hitwise UK Online Automotive Report, click here. (Offer Valid Through 16 September 2005)

Some key insights from the report include:

• Classifieds websites dominate the Automotive category, accounting for 41% of visits to automotive sites in June 2005. Classifieds is by far the largest Automotive sub-category, four times larger than the next largest sub-category, Manufacturers.

• The automotive website that experienced the largest increase in market share of visits over the last year (May 2005 compared to May 2004), was Vauxhall (www.vauxhall.co.uk).

• eBay, search engines and other automotive sites are the primary drivers of traffic to automotive sites.

• Search engine marketing should be a vital part of an auto manufacturer's traffic strategy as 34% of visits to manufacturer sites originated at a search engine in June 2005, compared to 29% for all automotive sites.

• Online automotive research is largely name-driven, with nearly 4 in 5 search terms sending visits to automotive sites including the name of a website or brand.

• Automotive sites attract 10% more male visitors than average for all websites. 57% of visits to automotive sites are from male internet users.

• When looking at specific car manufacturers, women are more likely to visit sites of compact carmakers such as Saturn, Hyundai and Kia. By comparison, men are more likely to visit websites of luxury car brands such as Ferrari, Land Rover, Porsche, BMW and Jaguar.

• Analysis of Hitwise Lifestyle data reveals that segments most likely to own two or more cars are best represented in automotive sites.

Searches for Sony's Playstation Portable have surged ahead of the console's launch in the UK next month, with searches for 'psp' increasing by 41% since the first week of July.

This follows news that the global electronics giant is launching a legal battle against several London stores that are alleged to be selling illegal imports of the technology.

Despite the crackdown, Hitwise Search Terms data reveal that the top downstream destination for PSP searches is currently www.gadget-asia.com, an Asian games retailer which delivers to the UK.

The UK launch of PSP was originally slated for March, and a chart of searches since January shows a spike in searches for 'psp' during this time as gaming addicts searched online for alternative ways to get their hands on the highly-anticipated console.

Hitwise Search Terms data also reveal a 364% increase in searches for PSP since the beginning of the year.

Fast Mover: Primark

www.primark.co.uk


Position week ending January 1, 2005: 101
Position week ending August 6, 2005: 56
Positions jumped: 45

While many high street retailers are reporting ailing profits and slow sales this season, Primark has been one of the few big success stories, with annual operating profits up 18% in April this year.

With the chain receiving an increasing amount of favourable press coverage in 2005, online searches for 'primark' have correspondingly skyrocketed - leaping 143% since the start of the year. The latest Hitwise data for the retail industry also reveal that 'primark' is the 15th most searched-for term amongst all fashion retail websites.

In addition, visits to Primark's website (www.primark.co.uk) have increased dramatically since January. Despite the fact that the site offers no online shopping component, visits have jumped by almost 50% since the start of the year as Internet users have logged on in search of store locations. Within the Shopping & Classifieds - Apparel & Accessories category, the Primark site has jumped from #101 to #56 from January to August based on weekly rankings, an increase of 45.

News In Brief

Google maps out a plan for commercial success in the travel sector

The online mapping sector is booming with the latest data from Hitwise showing 26% year-on-year growth in the Travel - Maps online industry.

An analysis of the sites visited after online maps underscores the inherent commercial value of these sites: an average of 20% of traffic from sites in the Travel - Maps category goes to travel agency sites. The top downstream Travel website for Google Maps for the week ending 30 July was Multimap.com, and the top downstream site from Multimap.com was Teletext Holidays. Fellow travel sites Active Hotels and Expedia also feature prominently in Multimap.com's top 20 downstream sites.

In addition, an analysis of the latest crop of search terms for Google Maps reveals that 25 out of the top 30 terms are commercial, including 'hotel', 'estate agents', 'cinema' and 'bed and breakfast'.

Multimap.com has experienced an impressive growth of 20% amongst all sites since January, but despite its clear dominance, Google has managed to erode some of Multimap.com's share of traffic within the online maps sector.

British Airways site takes off

Traffic to the website of British Airways soared this month when the airline was grounded by travel chaos caused by an industrial dispute with its catering firm.

As frantic travellers sought information on the disruption online, BA.com rose to take the #1 spot in the Hitwise Commercial Airlines category on Friday 12th August for the first time this year, and also became the 54th most visited website in the UK.

BA.com has held the #3 ranking each week for the past 15 months, and has stolen the #2 spot in the daily rankings from Ryanair just 4 times since the beginning of 2005 (on 1st January, 9th January, 11th August and 13th August).

The travel disruption also saw BA experience an 83% increase in visits between Tuesday August 9 with Friday August 12. Airport firm BAA (www.baa.co.uk) saw a similarly dramatic leap in traffic during the flight furore, witnessing a 68% increase over the same three day period.

For the week ending August 13, BA's market share site was up 19%, though it remained in third place behind the ever popular low-cost airlines easyJet and Ryanair.

Blogging bigger than ever as Murdoch buys MySpace

They may have been a fixture on the fringes of online culture for several years already, but the recent purchase of blogging company MySpace by News Corp for $580 million shows that blogs are finally becoming big business in the US and worldwide.

According to the latest data from Hitwise, visits to blogs currently account for almost 1 in 200 visits to all websites in the UK, which represents an astonishing 130% increase year-on-year from 2004.

Though the blogging ranks are dominated by MSN and LiveJournal, relative newcomer MySpace is rapidly stealing the show with a 500% increase in traffic since its debut in the Hitwise ranks in September last year. Currently the fourth biggest blogging site in the UK, MySpace has shown particular appeal to the coveted 18 - 24 age group. Hitwise Demographics reveals that more than 31% of visitors to MySpace are from this age demographic, which is 18% higher than the average for Blog sites.

Category Spotlight: Shopping & Classifieds

The Shopping and Classifieds category is home to websites that specialise in shopping, auctions or classifieds. The data below is based on All sites » Weekly rankings for the week ending 20/08/2005 » Ranks by 'Visits'.

Local Competitiveness Index 85.7% of traffic to this category was directed at domestic sites.

Traffic Distribution The chart above illustrates the distribution of this category's traffic for the week among sites in various rank ranges.

Top 10 Upstream Categories 1. Computers and Internet 43.3% 2. Shopping and Classifieds 30.8% 3. Computers and Internet - Search Engines and Directories 27.5% 4. Shopping and Classifieds - Auctions 11.2% 5. Entertainment 6.0% 6. Business and Finance 4.9% 7. Shopping and Classifieds - Rewards and Directories 4.7% 8. Computers and Internet - Email Services 4.5% 9. Shopping and Classifieds - Department Stores 4.3% 10. Automotive 3.0%

Top 10 Downstream Categories 1. Shopping and Classifieds 42.4% 2. Computers and Internet 22.5% 3. Shopping and Classifieds - Auctions 16.1% 4. Computers and Internet - Search Engines and Directories 9.2% 5. Business and Finance 7.7% 6. Entertainment 6.7% 7. Shopping and Classifieds - Department Stores 5.5% 8. Automotive 4.3% 9. Shopping and Classifieds - Rewards and Directories 4.2% 10. Computers and Internet - Software 3.9%

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Copyright Hitwise Pty Ltd, August 2005