HITWISE UK ONLINE UPDATE

Searches for petrol prices rocket

London, 15^th September 2005

Amidst increased panic buying at pumps across the UK as concerns grew that fuel protests may disrupt supplies, Hitwise – the leading online competitive intelligence service – today reports that searches on ‘petrol prices’ have surged by 400% in the last two weeks.

With many garages running out of petrol and prices hitting a record high following the impact of Hurricane Katrina, UKdrivers have been flocking to the web to seek out further information. The top destination for searches on ‘petrol prices’ for the 4 weeks ending 10^th September was www.theaa.comwhich publishes its Fuel Price Reports: http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/fuel/ whilstwww.petrol-prices.co.uk, a service which texts registered users the cheapest price of petrol in their area each week, was the 5^th most popular site receiving traffic.

Hitwise Search Intelligence further reveals that searches for ‘toyotaprius’, Toyota’s revolutionary petrol-electric hybrid car, have surged by more than 200% in the last week as UKdrivers sought out information on fuel-efficient cars.

Volume of searches for ‘petrol prices’, 4 weeks ending 13^th August – 4 weeks ending 10^th September 2005

Volume of searches for ‘ToyotaPrius’, 4 weeks ending 13^th August – 4 weeks ending 10th September 2005

Top downstream sites receiving traffic from ‘petrol prices’, 4 weeks ending 10/9/05

About Hitwise:

Hitwise is the 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 New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

More information about Hitwiseis available at www.hitwise.com.

Jannie Cahill
jannie.cahill@hitwise.com

Tel: 020 7378 3619