Hitwise Monthly Online Update

Friday, 17 September 2004, 9:15 am
Press Release: www.hitwise.co.nz

Auckland, 16th September 2004 - Hitwise, the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service today reports on New Zealand Internet activity over the past weeks.

Fast Mover

Google Mail
www.gmail.com
Position Last Month: 258
Position This Month: 132
Positions moved: 126

Google's email service has continued to show improvement in ranking statistics this month, reaching 132nd position in all sites for the week ending 4th of September. In recent daily statistics Google Mail has risen even higher, registering 117th on September 5th and an impressive 108th on September 6th. Within the Email Services category Google Mail has increased its ranking from 17th two weeks ago, to 14th last week, to claim 7th position this week. The Email Services category is dominated by Hotmail who hold number 1 position and boast 63.98% of the market share of traffic, while perennial runners up Yahoo! Mail own 13.57% market share, and the Australia & New Zealand Yahoo! Mail website hold 3rd position with 5.98%.

Not surprisingly, the Google (www.google.com) and Google NZ ( www.google.co.nz ) websites occupy the top two positions in sites visited before and after Gmail, while the online trading and auction site Trade Me ( www.trademe.co.nz ) features in third position.

Bookmark data dropped in the latest weekly statistics, with 7.88% of visitors to the site adding Gmail to their favourites list. This is lower than previous records, with the week ending August 28th witnessing 10.42% of visitors bookmarking the site, and the week ending August 21st recording 10.04%.

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Olympics An Online Event

With live television broadcast of the Olympics occurring while New Zealanders were fast asleep, many turned to the Internet for coverage of Athens. Many news and sports sites provided Olympic related content, but there were also websites devoted entirely to Olympic results, news and information. One such website was the official website of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games ( www.athens2004.com ), which serves as a comprehensive guide, offering results, schedules, multimedia and online ticket sales. This site rose from 771st position in the Sports category in July, to 34th in August, and still improved in the week ending September 4th, claiming 12th position. The online ticketing section of the site (www.tickets.athens2004.com) also witnessed success online, rising to be the 155th Sports website for the week ending 21st of August, up significantly from 709th in July.

The IOC's Official Website (www.olympic.org) made online gains of its own, as interest in the Olympics increased so did its rankings statistics. In June the site occupied the 147th position in the Sports category, but it gained momentum in July achieving 58th position, and improved still in August with 24th position. This charge levelled off by the week ending September 4th, and has faded away in recent daily statistics, dropping back to 61st position on September 6th.

A large number of Internet users in New Zealand were obviously following the Olympics from a Chinese perspective, with six of the top ten Olympics websites hailing from China. The reigning gold medallist amongst Olympics websites has clearly been Sina.com.cn's Olympic site (2004.sina.com.cn), with a hefty 46.32% of the Olympic category share in the first week of September. The site's success reflects interest in the Chinese Olympic team which finished second in the medal tally behind the United States. Occupying 20th position in the Sports category in July, the site held on to second position in late August and into the first week of September, edged out of the gold medal place by TVNZ ( www.tvnz.co.nz ). In the week ending August 28th Sina.com.cn's Olympic site was the 28th most popular website in New Zealand, its success waning slightly as the Olympics closed, dropping to 69th position for the week ending September 4th. Other Chinese success stories include Sohu's Olympic Channel ( 2004.sports.sohu.com ), 163.com's 2004 Olympic Channel ( 2004.163.com ), Tom.com's Olympic site ( 2004.sports.tom.com ) and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee website ( www.beijing-2008.org ) all ranking in the top ten of Olympic websites.

The official website of the New Zealand Olympic Committee (www.olympic.org.nz) also rode the wave of public interest in Athens 2004. The site peaked in the week ending 21st of August at an impressive 18th position in Sports websites, and now holds 30th position in the first week of September. In the latest weekly statistics the New Zealand Olympic Committee website ranks just behind 163.com's 2004 Olympic Channel ( 2004.163.com ) which occupies the number 5 spot in the Olympic category.

While Sina.com.cn's Olympic site (2004.sina.com.cn) has a firm grip on the number one position, the Athens 2004 site ( www.athens2004.com ) currently hold silver, and Sohu's Olympic Channel ( 2004.sports.sohu.com ) claims the bronze position in the Olympics category. The IOC's Official Website (www.olympic.org) missed out on a podium finish this week with 4th spot, but improved from 7th spot the previous week.

About Hitwise:

Hitwise is the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.

By monitoring more people, more websites, more often, Hitwise provides marketers with timely and actionable marketing insights on how their online presence compares to competitive websites. Companies use this information to maximize the return on their online investment, in efforts such as affiliate programs, search marketing, online advertising, content development and lead generation.

Hitwise collects Internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in mega panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in Melbourne , Australia and operates in the USA , UK , Australia , New Zealand , Hong Kong and Singapore .

James Borg
Marketing Manager - Asia Pacific

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