HITWISE UK  MUSIC UPDATE

London, 30^th June 2005

It’s been a big week for the music industry in the UK: with the Glastonburyfestival coming to a triumphant close on Sunday and anticipation growing for Saturday’s Live 8 concert, the latest data from Hitwise, global leader in real-time competitive intelligence, shows that online interest in the stars of summer music is running high.

Glastonburyheadliners Coldplay, who will also be appearing at Live 8 this Saturday, received their biggest boost in traffic this week since the release of their chart-topping album, X&Y, on June 6th. The band’s official website, www.coldplay.com, reached #2 in the Hitwise Music – Bands & Artists category on Sunday June 26^th after the band’s Glastonburyperformance with 2.3% share of visits – just higher than the 2.24% share the site received on their album’s release date, when the site reached #1. With two dates at London’s CrystalPalaceearlier this week, the band has maintained its hold on the Bands & Arts category and is currently receiving 2.02% share of visits.Meanwhile, the most visited band website in the UKcontinues to belong to U2. The official website of the Irish rockers, who will also make an appearance at Live 8 on Saturday, currently claims just over 3% of all traffic directed at Bands & Artists websites. U2 have been #1 in the Music – Bands & Artists category since the week ending June 4^th.

Other Live 8 stars whose traffic has increased in the lead-up to the concert include New Yorkfavourites The Scissor Sisters and the latest USindie sensation The Killers. The Las Vegasband’s UKwebsite,www.thekillers.co.uk, is one of the top 5 downstream sites from the official Live 8 site, highlighting the exposure the charity event has given them.

About Hitwise:

Hitwise is the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.

By monitoring more people, more websites, more often, Hitwise provides marketers with timely and actionable marketing insights on how their online presence compares to competitive websites.  Companies use this information to maximize the return on their online investment, in efforts such as search marketing, affiliate programs, online advertising, visitor segmentation, content development and lead generation.

Hitwise collects Internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in mega panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.co.uk

For media enquiries, please contact:

Jannie Cahill
jannie.cahill@hitwise.com

Tel: 020 7378 3619