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, reader engagement with Music & Audio and American Football content grew significantly and delivered the perfect pre-Valentine’s Day gift. Proving that sometimes sport is more than just a game, the Super Bowl was a match made in romcom heaven as Taylor and Travis stole the show … and our hearts.
Topical News
It’s official: Taylor Swift is owning the Monday morning news agenda in 2024. For the second consecutive week, the star has shaken up Music & Audio – this time thanks to victory for her NFL partner Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl LVIII. With Valentine’s Day this week, Taylor and Travis delivered the ‘romcom’ ending we all so desperately wanted
Elsewhere – and breaking last week – King Charles’ cancer diagnosis caught the nation off guard to drive further interest in Medical Health. There was related growth for Pop Culture, driven by a +70% rise in Celebrity Families page views, as the Royal family rallied around the King as his cancer treatment began
Seasonal Events
Staying with the Super Bowl, interest in the NFL’s biggest night grew engagement with American Football with page views 2.6x higher last week. The sport’s popularity is rising thanks to Taylor and Travis. Since the two became official in September last year, monthly page views have been two-thirds higher than the 12-month average
With Lunar New Year celebrations in full swing and the half term break starting, there was related reader engagement growth for Events & Attractions and Travel. Seeking out ways to mark the start of the year of the dragon or researching things to do with children out of school drove interest
Coming up
March
ISA season: Typically, Personal Finance page views will grow by a quarter on the Budget and ISA season. The Saving and Personal Investing topics, up +40% and +25% on average, will drive growth
Mother’s Day: Celebrating Mother’s Day drove engagement with our Events & Attractions content – including the Bars & Restaurants topic which grew by almost a fifth – as families sought out ways to spoil mum. Flower Shopping also bloomed, growing by more than a quarter.
Cheltenham: March’s Cheltenham Festival will drive Horse Racing interest with topic page views 3.5x higher on average month on month. In April, the Grand National will boost engagement again
Easter: On average, engagement with Bank Holiday content grows by 3.8x in March the Easter lead up as consumers seek out the best ways to spend their time away from work
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
