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.
With the spring equinox less than a month away, readers across the Premium Web last week indulged in seasonal new season’s Style & Fashion editorial and Ents content. Elsewhere, victory for Scotland over England at the Six Nations boosted engagement with Rugby.
Topical News
Last week, reader engagement with Fine Art content grew +91% – with Dance topic page views up five-fold – as fans of Strictly Come Dancing mourned the untimely passing of pro dancer Robin Windsor.
There was further seven-day growth for a trio of ents areas too. Reveals for a slate of new BBC dramas and ITV’s Celebrity Big Brother lineup, grew Television by +17%. Respectively, the Drama TV and Reality TV topics were up +65% and +14%.
Elsewhere, interest in Dune: Part 2 and the Screen Actors Guild Awards drove Movies page views to +11% growth.
Finally, the release of hot new sci-fi shoot Helldivers 2 and a preview of F1 2024 dialled up Video Gaming to +9% growth.
Seasonal Events
There’s been expected reader engagement growth in the past seven days for Style & Fashion, as fashion weeks in the UK capital and Italy’s second biggest city grew page views for the content by +4%. The style world’s four fashion majors in Paris, New York, London and Milan typically grow reader engagement with influential Style & Fashion editorial across the Premium Web.
Round three of the Six Nations took place last week and Scotland’s win over England to reclaim the Calcutta Cup grew weekly Rugby page views by +12%. Annually, reader engagement is currently +61% higher.
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
