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London, 13 November 2008 Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today revealed that Wii Fit, Nintendo's popular video game, is currently the most searched-for product by UK Internet shoppers in the run-up to Christmas. During October there were more UK Internet searches for Wii Fit than the Nintendo Wii, the most popular product last Christmas. After Wii Fit and the Wii console, the third most searched-for gadget is the Apple iPhone.
Twice as many searches for video games as consoles
The popularity of Nintendo's Wii Fit, which accounted for one in six searches for a video game during October, has helped online searches for video games overtake those for consoles in the run-up to Christmas. "This generation of consoles - the Wii, Playstation 3 and X-Box 360 - have started to mature, and we have reached the stage where more people are now looking for games online rather than the consoles themselves," commented Robin Goad, Hitwise's UK Director of Research.
However, it is multi-platform video games that are most popular: almost one in two video game searches are for titles published across more than one console. Three of the top five most searched for video games in the UK during October were multi-platform: Far Cry 2, Call of Duty: World at War (released this week) and Saints Row 2. Wii Fit has helped Nintendo Wii Games into second place, accounting for almost one in four video game searches. Fable 2, launched solely on the Microsoft Xbox 360 at the end of October, helped Xbox games stay above Sony Playstation games in the search chart.
Apple iPhone most popular mobile phone, but competitors fast catching up
Mobile Phones are the most searched-for consumer electronics items in the UK, accounting for three in every 10 searches during October. This is twice as many as the next product type, video games, and three times that of computers. Combined searches for televisions, cameras, MP3 players, toys and satellite navigation systems (SatNavs) - which have all increased in popularity in the run-up to Christmas - account for more than one-fifth of all product searches.
The most searched-for mobile phone in the UK during October was the Apple iPhone, which accounted for 6% of all mobile phone searches. The popularity of the iPhone, combined with the company's dominance of the portable audio market - four-fifths of all MP3 player searches are for the iPod, with the iPod Touch the most popular during October - means that Apple is also the most searched-for consumer electronics brand overall in the run-up to Christmas.
"The iPhone may have opened people's eyes to the potential of smartphones," commented Goad, "but a number of so called 'iPhone killers' are catching up." The Nokia N96, Sony Ericsson C905 and Samsung Omnia all increased their market share of searches in October.
Netbooks accounted for one in every six searches for computers during October
Dell was the most searched-for computer brand in October, accounting for one in eight computer searches. Acer was the second most popular computer brand, helped by the performance of its Netbook, the Acer Aspire One. Netbooks - smaller, lightweight, low-cost, energy-efficient laptops optimized for web usage - account for one in six of all computer searches as Christmas approaches.
Robin Goad commented: "Searches for Netbooks have increased by 150% during 2008, and will continue to drive the computer sector in the lead up to Christmas. As a cheap and smaller alternative to laptops, Netbooks are an attractive option for mobile personal computing in this economic environment.
About Hitwise
Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Only Hitwise provides its 1,500 clients around the world with daily insights on how their customers interact with a broad range of competitive websites, and how their competitors use different tactics to attract online customers.
Since 1997, Hitwise has pioneered a unique, network-based approach to Internet measurement. Through relationships with ISPs around the world, Hitwise's patented methodology anonymously captures the online usage, search and conversion behaviour of 25 million Internet users. This unprecedented volume of Internet usage data is seamlessly integrated into an easy to use, web-based service, designed to help marketers better plan, implement and report on a range of online marketing programs.
Hitwise, a subsidiary of Experian (FTS: EXPN) www.experiangroup.com operates in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com.
For up-to-date-analysis of online trends, please visit the Hitwise Intelligence-Analyst Weblogs at http://weblogs.hitwise.com and the Hitwise Data Center at www.hitwise.com/datacenter.
For media enquiries, please contact: press.uk@hitwise.com
