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 Healthy Living content grew on the Manchester Marathon, London Marathon build up and Russ ‘Hardest Geezer’ Cook’s epic run across Africa. There was growth too for Sport, with The Grand National and the Masters Tournament increasing page views for Horse Racing and Golf.
Topical News
Last week, the Manchester Marathon and ‘Hardest Geezer’ Russ Cook, who completed a year-long challenge to run the full length of Africa, drove Healthy Living to +69% reader engagement growth. The content was boosted by 2.5x higher Running topic page views, which will grow again on further interest in the London Marathon when it takes place later this week.
Glowing reviews for Amazon Prime Video television series Fallout – based on the acclaimed action adventure video game franchise – grew Video Gaming page views by more than a third. There was similar growth for the content area earlier last year when HBO’s The Last of Us TV series was released.
Seasonal Events
Elsewhere last week, Eid al-Fitr marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan. with millions of British Muslims celebrating the occasion, engagement with Religion & Spirituality rose by +13% week on week.
Finally, two seasonal sporting events grew Sport page views by +12%. First, victory for I Am Maximus at The Grand National saw reader engagement with Horse Racing content jump eight-fold to 7.5m weekly page views. Then, a storming win for Scottie Scheffler at the Masters Tournament drove 2.8x higher Golf page views.
Plan ahead for more Sport in 2024 with our special Sizzling Summer of Sport guide on the Ozone website.
Coming Up
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.
July
Wimbledon: 31.7m Tennis page views in July 2023 grew +330% month on month on significant reader interest in the Championships Wimbledon.
British Grand Prix: 10.7m Auto Racing/Formula 1 page views last July when the British Grand Prix took place were +25% higher vs. 2023 season average.
The Olympic Games: When it began in July 2021, the Tokyo Games drove Olympic Sports page to significant 12x growth month on month
The Euros: Last July, interest in the start of the Women’s World Cup drove 305m monthly Football page views – the second highest level ever
