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.
A series of seismic political events drove significant reader engagement with Politics last week, with more than 65m page views for the content up by almost a third. With a UK General Election and a US Presidential Election to come in the second half of 2024, expect online readers to continue to turn to the premium publishers they trust.
Topical News
Last week, three political events drove reader engagement with News & Politics to growth of almost a tenth and the second highest weekly page views total ever recorded.
First the resignation by Scottish Nationalist Party leader Humza Yousaf as First Minister of Scotland, then the Blackpool South parliamentary by-election, and finally the mayoral and local elections across England and Wales drove more than 160m page views for the category.
Within the content, Politics increased by +29%, in turn driven by 6.5x higher Elections page views. With a UK general election and the US presidential election looming large in the second half of the year expect further growth for our biggest category.
Seasonal Events
The early spring bank holiday – the first of two in the month of May – drove expected reader engagement growth with related content across the Ozone platform as online readers sought out ways to spend the extra time off.
With a rise of almost a third, Shopping topped our weekly charts for page views growth and was driven by increased interest in the Grocery Shopping topic, which grew +84% week on week.
Elsewhere, engagement with Events & Attractions content increased by +8% week on week, with 2.5x higher Bank Holidays page views a significant driver. There was also seasonal growth for the Marriage topic, as wedding season continued to hot up, with an increase of almost a half.
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.
August
Edinburgh Fringe: Fine Art page views will grow with the Theatre topic increasing by more than 50%. The festival will also drive Comedy Events, from Events & Attractions, to c.3x growth.
Exam results: A-level and GCSE results drive page views for Exam Results, from Education, to 3.9x growth.
Paris Games: Paralympics page views were 7.9x higher than normal during the Tokyo Games in August 2021.