Competitive intelligence service launches in UK

HITWISE MEDIA RELEASE

Competitive intelligence service launches in the UK

Hitwise now tracks the daily behavior of over 5 million Internet users on an ongoing basis, the largest sample size of any Internet monitoring company in the world.

18 September 2001 - Hitwise (www.hitwise.com) has officially launched its online competitive intelligence service in the UK. Hitwise is the first and only online competitive intelligence service that gives companies real-time insights into their online industry. The launch of the UK service means that
Hitwise now tracks the daily behaviour of over 5 million Internet users in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom, giving it the largest sample size of any Internet monitoring company in the world.

Through its partnerships with Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Hitwise collects anonymous information about the usage habits of more than 3 million UK Internet users, which equates to more than 30% of UK Internet subscribers. This allows Hitwise to provide detailed statistics on over 100,000 local and global websites, categorised into 150+ vertical industry markets.

The information, which is accessed via the Hitwise UK website (www.hitwise.co.uk), provides companies with a cost-effective service to evaluate their current position and future business and marketing strategies. Due to the large size of its sample, Hitwise is uniquely positioned to enable thousands of companies to find out this information daily.

Andrew Walsh, CEO of Hitwise said, “After successfully establishing a presence in Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom is our first step into the European market. The product has been received extremely well, as many website owners and marketers welcome real-time data from such a large sample size. After offering the Hitwise service in the UK for only one month, we have already acquired 10 new clients, including Virgin Radio, Auto Trader, online sports betting exchange Betfair, one of the UK’s leading retailers – Argos - and the BBC’s online portal, Beeb.com.”

Managing Editor of Virgin Radio, James Cridland, is acutely aware of the need for real-time intelligence. "Radio's instant, so we like instant data too. With the daily data we get from Hitwise, we can stay the web's most listened-to online radio station and make sure our visitors get exactly what they want," said Cridland.

Despite the global technology market shakeout, Hitwise continues to grow both in established markets as well as overseas. “Because we report on so many sites and our service caters to the large bricks-and-mortar companies which may not be a number one site, but have invested significantly in their website, the number of potential clients is virtually endless. Furthermore, our clients in niche industries such as mining, telecommunications, insurance and legal, are appreciative of Hitwise, as only Hitwise covers such a breadth and depth of sites and industries,” said Walsh.

Hitwise will launch in Hong Kong and Singapore in the fourth quarter of this year.

About Hitwise
Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service giving marketing strategists, agencies and financial analysts real-time insights into the online competitive environment. Covering home, work and educational activity, Hitwise monitors the surfing habits of local Internet users through partnerships with a wide range of ISPs.

Hitwise has applied an innovative new methodology to a new medium, and can therefore provide a metrics service covering more websites and more people every day.

Hitwise is headquartered in Melbourne and offers its service in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom. Hitwise tracks the daily Internet behaviour of over 5 million Internet users in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

ENDS

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