Arctic Monkeys most popular band online
- Added:
- Jan 31, 2006
Web research firm Hitwise reports that the Sheffield band, who this week achieved the fastest-selling debut album of all time, have seen searches on the band increasing by 62% ahead of the release of their debut album, Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not.
Hitwise analysis reveals that when the band was virtually unknown, visits to their website, www.arcticmonkeys.com, came from chat rooms and blogs, with the majority of traffic coming from MySpace.com.
However, as the band's name recognition grew, search engines have become a more important source of visits, according to Hitwise.
Heather Hopkins, director of research for Hitwise UK said: “Viral marketing is both a challenge and an opportunity for online marketers. Blogs and chat rooms can be a venue for consumers to rant about a negative experience but can provide opportunities to build awareness of a product, service or, in the case of the Arctic Monkeys, a band.”
The Sheffield band, who built up a substantial fan base through the internet in the last year, saw searches noticeably increase in the weeks leading up to the release of their debut single I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, which went on to take the number 1 spot in the singles chart the week of 29 October 2005.
Now in January 2006, the Arctic Monkeys are the most searched-for band on the Internet and also the most popular band online, accounting for 3.25% of visits to the Bands and Artists category for the week ending 28th January, up from 1.89% market share just a week earlier.
The second most popular website belongs to that of The Ordinary Boys, www.theordinaryboys.com, a website which first entered the Hitwise rankings just 3 weeks ago coinciding with lead singer Preston’s appearance in Celebrity Big Brother.
In addition, Hitwise analysis reveals that UK consumers are increasing their use of online communities, with the sector growing 10% year-on-year in December.
In terms of sites, last week visits to MySpace had grown 555% year-on-year, visits to Spaces.MSN.com had grown 1056%, visits to Bebo had grown by 6009%, and visits to Piczo had grown 2173%.
These sites were all among the top 10 Net Communities and Chat websites last week based on market share of UK internet visits, whilst only one (www.myspace.com) featured amongst the top 10 just one year ago. MySpace.com is currently ranked number 16 of all sites online.
Hopkins added: “Online marketers should proactively monitor online conversations around their brand, product, and industry. These online conversations provide raw customer feedback in real-time and can identify future competitive threats or opportunities whilst Hitwise clickstream data identifies sites that are growing in popularity through viral channels.”