HARRY POTTER CASTS A SPELL ONLINE

London, 15^th July 2005

Hitwise, the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service, today reports that online traffic to Harry Potter websites and online bookstores in the UK has soared in the lead-up to the release of the highly-anticipated sixth Potter novel at midnight tonight. 

With pre-orders for the book topping one million, J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ is expected to make publishing history by becoming the fastest-selling book of all time, and online indicators suggest it is set to smash sales records.

The website of Harry Potter’s publisher, Bloomsbury, has experienced a surge in traffic this week, increasing its market share almost four-fold within the Hitwise UK Shopping – Books category on Thursday July 14^th. Bloomsburyhas planned an initial printing of 10.8 million copies of the new Potter book, said to be the largest first printing of any book in the history of publishing.

Online book retailers have also witnessed a spike in traffic as the book’s release date approaches. With the major booksellers in a price-slashing frenzy, some of the biggest discounts have contributed to the largest increases in traffic. Tesco Books (www.tesco.com/books),  which offers a whopping 47% discount on the book’s RRP of £16.99, has seen an incredible 69% increase in traffic this month. Tesco had previously reported that it was receiving more than 1,500 orders a day for ‘The Half-Blood Prince’, with a quarter of buyers ordering multiple copies. Similarly, Amazon.co.uk, which also offers a 47% discount, has increased its already impressive market share of the Shopping & Classifieds – Books category by 1.07% this month.

According to Hitwise Search Terms data, Harry Potter is the most searched-for book title for the four week period ending Saturday July 9^th, as well as being the 210^th most popular term amongst all online searches in the UKover the past four weeks. Harry Potter-related websites continue to dominate the Entertainment – Books & Writing category this week, with four of the top 10 Book sites dedicated to the Potter phenomenon.

Top 10 Hitwise Entertainment – Books & Writing sites in the UK on July 14^th 2005, based on share of visits.