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’s royal photography blunder captured the nation’s attention as the “where’s Kate” saga continued. There was also expected pre-Easter page views growth for multiple content areas across the Premium Web as Brits turned to our publishers to plan out the upcoming long bank holiday weekend.
Topical News
Photo-editing, of all things, became a hot topic last week after a Mother’s Day photograph of the Princess of Wales and her children made global headlines. As a result, Photography topic page views grew 10-fold, driving Hobbies & Interests content to an overall increase of +84%.
Elsewhere, pet owners celebrated news the Competition and Markets Authority will investigate the pet health care industry due to concerns about costs. Pets content increased by almost a fifth driven by 3.5x growth for the Veterinary Medicine topic.
The Cheltenham Festival took place last week to grow reader engagement with Horse Racing. Page views for the sport grew significantly, up 5x last week. There will be further growth for the topic in April when the Grand National and Scottish Grand National take place.
Seasonal Events
Ryan Gosling might not have won at the Oscars, but his ‘Kenergy’ stole the show. Movies page views grew +6% on reader interest in Tinseltown’s biggest celebration.
While the Oscars wrapped up awards season for cinema, the release of the 2024 shortlist for the Olivier Awards, UK theatre’s biggest prize-giving night, drove Fine Art to +29% growth. The Olivers take place in London on Sunday, 14 April.
Finally, there was expected pre-Easter reader engagement with a trio of content areas. Page views for Events & Attractions, Food & Drink and Travel all grew +23%, +18% and +16% respectively, as Brits planned ahead for the holiday. Notably, within the categories, page views for the Bank Holidays topics more than doubled, Theme Parks increased by a third and Europe/UK locations grew by almost a fifth.
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.
