‘3G’ searches set the scene for Mobisodes

Auckland, August 23, 2005 – Hitwise, the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service reports that searches on the term ‘3G’ by New Zealand Internet users spiked amidst the announcement of a new 3G Mobile service offered by Vodafone New Zealand (www.vodafone.co.nz).

The term, ‘3G’ shot up by 86% between the weeks-ending August 6 to August 13, 2005. ‘vodafone 3G’ was the most popular variation on this term with 8.7% volume share. Vodafone New Zealand’s website subsequently increased by 55% and was the leading Business and Finance – Telecommunications website for the week ending August 13, 2005 with 30.15% market share. Dick Smith Electronics New Zealand (www.dse.co.nz) also successfully received search engine traffic from the term ‘3G’.

Vodafone will offer “mobsiodes” which are made-for-mobile dramas available to download in video clip instalments. A custom version of the US series, ‘24’ will be offered in late 2005. Other 3G content includes TV channels and mobile clips covering news, sport and entertainment.

Visits to the Business and Finance – Telecommunications online industry as a result of Vodafone’s coverage grew by 22% between the weeks ending July 9 and August 13, 2005. Over 20% of traffic that delivered users to Telecommunications websites were from Search Engines and Directories.

Hitwise regional data indicate that visits to the online Telecommunications industry compared to the online population were skewed to Wellington users by 21% during the week-ending August 13, 2005. Users were also more likely to visit local compared to global Telecommunications websites, with local sites comprising nearly 70% of all visits to the category.

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 search marketing, affiliate programs, online advertising, visitor segmentation, 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 New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.co.nz

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Contact: James Borg; 0800 HITWISE or james.borg@hitwise.com