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.
While what’s expected in this week’s Spring Budget was a big topic of interest last week, a sensational six-prize haul by Raye at the 2024 BRIT Awards is set to send the musician’s star power stratospheric.
Topical News
Spring Budget speculation last week drove reader engagement with Personal Finance and Careers content, up +19% and +11% respectively. Notably, page views for the Personal Taxes and Pensions topics grew by around a half with expected tax cuts likely to be funded by a raid on pensions by the Chancellor.
Elsewhere, the passing of celebrated television chef Dave Myers – one half of the Hairy Bikers – drove Food & Drink to growth of more than a tenth.
And a record six wins for musician Raye at the 2024 BRIT Awards – plus the release of Olly Alexander’s UK Eurovision entry ‘Dizzy’ – drove Music & Audio growth.
Seasonal Events
It was all go, go, oh no for the 2024 Formula 1 season last week as reigning world champion Max Verstappen eased to victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix. While it wasn’t such an easy week for Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner, Auto Racing page views were 3.5x higher week on week.
Paris Fashion Week – the last of the four fashion majors that top-end the annual style calendar – put our influential Style & Fashion editorial back in the spotlight last week. While engagement grew modestly, there was greater growth for the Designer Clothes (+72%), Fashion Events (+23%) and Luxury Goods (+22%) and Fashion Trends (+17%) topics.
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
