Ozone’s Reading the Nation insight series provides a seven-day view of the topical news and seasonal events driving reader engagement across our nationwide audience of more than 40m online consumers.
Last week, as Brits up and down the country celebrated the first long weekend of the year, we saw topical news meet seasonal expectations as Pets At Home announced it would stop selling bunnies during Easter weekend to prevent impulse purchases. This increase in Pets engagement, was also accompanied with seasonal growth for Travel, Religion & Spirituality and Events & Attractions content.
Topical News
The Pets category saw the greatest increases in engagement this week as retail giant Pets At Home announced it would ban rabbit sales over the Easter Weekend to prevent impulse purchases – increasing Pet Supplies page views by almost 5x. Similarly, the news that Germany was considering (and then not) banning sausage dogs, was a key driver in Veterinary Medicine engagement soaring by +357%.
In the Books & Literature category, we saw growth in page views driven by the announcement of the shortlist for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction prize – engagement with Literary Awards rose almost seven-fold.
Music & Audio growth was fuelled by the release of Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ album, as well as growing pressure on Eurovision artists over Israel’s participation in this year’s event.
Seasonal Events
As Christians all over celebrated Holy Week, it is not surprising to see the Religion & Spirituality category increase by +21% week on week – the second significant increase in a row.
As predicted, the Great Easter Getaway saw millions of readers turn to our publishers for all the latest Travel advice and warnings – up +13% week on week to the highest peak since the turn of the year. The allure of the staycation continues with Seaside Resorts content engagement increasing by +74%, while increased family time over the holidays saw the Travelling with Kids topic grow by +50%.
Finally, Events & Attractions saw an +8% growth which was largely driven by readers looking for top tips for what to do across the long Bank Holiday weekend – page views for this combined with Easter-related content more than doubled.
Coming Up
April
The Grand National: Horse Racing page views in April are 2.5x higher than the monthly avg. on Grand National interest
Back to school: On average, the post-Easter return to school will grow Items for Children page views by +29%
The London Marathon: Running page views grew more than four-fold in April 2023 on London Marathon interest
May
Eurovision: Typically, Music & Audio page views will grow by +38% in May on Eurovision interest. As an appointment-to-view TV event, the content will drive related Television growth of c.20%
Football season ends: The end of the season and cup finals drive Football engagement to avg. May growth of a third. Football interest will continue into June and July with the Euros
Spring Bank Holiday: On average, Bank Holiday page views increase by +28% in May on the Spring Bank Holiday
June
Champions League Final: Football page views grew +52% in June last year as Man City won the Champions League final. The 2024 final takes place on Saturday, 1 June.
EURO 2024: Expect Football engagement to be c.30% higher in June 2024 when UEFA EURO 2024 kicks off on Friday, 14 June. The final takes place on Sunday, 14 July.
Father’s Day: Planning for the perfect Father’s Day present grew Gifting page views by more than a quarter last year. This year, the occasion takes place on Sunday, 16 June.
Glastonbury Festival: Headlined this year by Dua Lipa, SZA and Coldplay, expect Festivals page views to increase 3.5x on Glastonbury and the start of summer festival season.
