Trending terms: what lockdown Brits are reading about online

 

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These were just some of the interesting data results for the UK released by private online advertising company Taboola. Taboola collected and analysed data from its Taboola Newsroom product, which covers a dataset of 1.4 billion users each month. It said Heinz, the American food processing company, started trending in the UK after it started offering customers a puzzle of 570 pieces, all in the same shade of ketchup red. The jigsaw has driven a 35 per cent increase in page views for articles about the brand, with 85,000 page views in the last 30 days preceding 19 May. 

Meanwhile, the American technology company Kodak has also started trending when it released its own lockdown-ready puzzle – the largest in the world, in fact – with 51,300 pieces.

 

Cancelled holidays

It was clear from trending search terms in personal finance that many lockdown Brits were  looking to the experts for financial advice. One expert in particular is proving popular: MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis has driven 2.5M page views in the 30 days since 19 April. Lewis offers tips on everything from claiming back overdraft charges to getting refunded for cancelled holidays. The search terms trending were “Martin Lewis”, “UK”, “Holiday” and “Payments”. 

 

Staycations

In the travel category, Taboola’s insight into online readership, which it says informs publishers on how they can create more engaging content and discover new coverage areas, revealed Brits are gearing up for staycations. The trending terms were “Bristol”, “UK”, “Manchester”, “Liverpool” and “Glasgow”, which indicates that while the UK government has begun setting out preliminary plans for relaxing lockdown, most people realise international travel will not be likely for many months. They are, however, exploring the possibility of UK holidays once lockdown has lifted. Popular staycation destinations such as Bristol and Manchester have seen a 93 per cent increase in page views in the two weeks preceding 19 May.

 

Seasonal sales

Within the retail sector, terms such as “Primark”, “Sale” and “Argos” were trending as the interest in shopping has continued to rise during lockdown, with rumours of large seasonal sales on the horizon. News of high street retailer Primark’s plan for huge sales of unsold stock when shops are allowed to reopen has driven 2.4M page views in only 30 days.

 

Free games

For gamers “Epic Games Store”, “GTA5” and “Sale” started to trend as locked down Brits continued to turn to gaming for entertainment: the free release of Grand Theft Auto V on Epic Games Store crashed the digital game store and drove more than 945K page views since 19 April. Other popular articles focused on the news that Amazon Prime members can get six free games in May, with tips on how to claim them.

 

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