Three in ten Aussies use Wikipedia as first educational reference
An analysis by Hitwise has offered insight into the social behavior of Australians online. The announcement:
An Experian Hitwise analysis of Australian web searches during the past year provides some interesting, amusing and random insights into Australian social habits relevant for marketers and commentators alike.
The Experian Hitwise Analysis, called Australians Online in 2010, was released to coincide with the annual Experian Hitwise Awards, which rewards the most popular websites searched for by Australian consumers in the past year.
“Australian web searches are a reflection on the interests and, in some instances the psyche, of Australian consumers and have become a great tool to help marketers understand their audience,” said Alan Long, Research Director, Experian Hitwise.
Below, Alan Long, Research Director, Experian Hitwise, identifies some of the key social insights from Experian’s Annual Online Analysis. The winners of the Experian Hitwise Awards are outlined at the bottom of this release.
Experian Hitwise Insights:
Automotive
• Australia no longer a nation of just Ford and Holden or Toyota; Hyundai is now 3rd most visited Auto manufacturer (May 2010)
• On the back of the World Cup Hyundai is the second most searched car brand in Australia (4 weeks ending 12 June 2010)
• Online classified ads are dominated by digital only brands; the top two websites [carsales.com.au and tradingpost.com.au] capture 39.2% of all visits. (May 2010)
Aviation
• Low costs international airlines are taking a bigger share of the search in the market; Tiger Airways is up 21.5% and Air Asia up 35.8% this year. (May 2010 compared to January 2010).
• Virgin is now the most searched for airline brand by Australians.
Business & Finance
• Australians are now more wary of increasing credit. Queries for home loans are down 13.8% since the end of March and credit card searches are down 46.1%
• Building Societies website visitation is increasing – up 5.2% at expense of credit unions (down 12.5%) and Big 4 Banks (down 2.6%) in past year. (Share of visits comparing week ending 12 June 2010 to week ending 13 June 2009)
Community
• Visits to Community sites have decreased 23.1% in the past year (May 2010 vs. May 2009)
• Conversely, Lifeline Australia (+57.3%), Salvation Army (+41.8%) and Oxfam Shop (+31.7%) are among the fastest moving community organisations in past year (based on share of visits May 2010 vs. May 2009)
Computer & Internet
• Social networking and forums usage increased 36.1% in the past year and overtook search engines as the most visited industry by Australian Internet users in March 2010.
• Facebook dominates the social networking and forums industry with 56.4% of all visits in May 2010.
• Portal frontpages making a comeback with a Year on Year share of visits increase of 15.2% (May 2010 vs. May 2009).
• Search engines continue to be our confidante; we ask them things we often wouldn’t ask our best friends – our wants, our needs and our fears. How to kiss, why is the sky blue and more. It’s good to see that psychologists and linguists have a little joke going. Over the last three months our biggest fear searched for is the fear of long words – does anyone know what this is called? Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia – 35 characters long
Education
• Controversial Government My School initiative ranking peaked at No.9 at its launch in January 2010, but now sits at 162 in Education rankings.
• Wikipedia continues to prove the business model of crowdsourcing, holding 29.0% of all visits to Education Reference websites in May 2010.
Entertainment
• YouTube holds 17.8% of all visits to Entertainment websites in May 2010
• Social networks are having impact in other industries driving three key photography sites – Twitpic, TweetPhoto and YFrog – into the top 15 in a short period of time
Food and Beverage
• Masterchef is the number two Food & Beverage site, tracking at the same level of share that series 1 enjoyed last June.
• Masterchef’s timing was serendipitous, with interest in recipes and home entertainment on the rise out the back of the Global Financial Crisis. This trend towards cooking and recipes has continued with the search trends around recipes increasing 43.6% in the past 12 months
Gambling
• Sports betting is getting a strong lift from the World Cup increasing share 34% in the past two weeks (ending June 19), but nothing compared to what a Lotto jackpot can do for share increasing 84.2% in the week ending June 19 as Tuesday Lotto offered a $30 million first prize.
• As a comparison, the share of visits to Sports betting is 29% higher than in AFL Grand Final week, 39.6% higher than Rugby grand Final week, but still 33.1% lower than the week of the Melbourne Cup
Sports
• The World Cup has seen increased visits to sports websites – the soccer industry increased 68.9% in the past two weeks and overtaken AFL Football as the most visited football code by Australian users.
If you would like further insight into the statistics above we are happy to facilitate these with Experian Hitwise Research Director Alan Long.
Experian Hitwise last night identified the Australian websites that achieved the highest traffic volume in 18 categories, from Automotive to Travel (see list below).
“We congratulate the Experian Hitwise top Australian Web Site winners. We head into 2011 as one of the most competitive online markets in our history it is great to see some big Australian brands holding their own among global leaders such as Facebook, Google and You Tube” said Michael Walmsley, General Manager Experian CheetahMail and Hitwise.
Key winners included:
Category Domain
Automotive www.carsales.com.au
Aviation www.qantas.com.au
Business and Finance www.netbank.commbank.com.au
Community www.worldvision.com.au
Computers and Internet www.google.com.au
Education www.bom.gov.au
Entertainment www.youtube.com
Food and Beverage www.taste.com.au
Gambling www.tab.com.au/racing
Government www.bom.gov.au
Health and Medical www.medicareaustralia.gov.au
Lifestyle www.rsvp.com.au
Music music.ninemsn.com.au
News and Media www.bom.gov.au
Shopping and Classifieds www.ebay.com.au
Sports www.afl.com.au
Television www.abc.net.au
Travel maps.google.com.au
Further details and a full list of winners can be found here: www.hitwise.com.au/awards
Source: Hitwise press release
