Melbourne, The Olympics & Search
Ah the 2012 London Olympics. You’ve given us everything.
Flying knee KO‘s in a female soccer match, professional photographers confused by the concept of a lenscap, sympathetic head-first athletics falls, excellent faceplants from gymnasts and an insanely painful-looking dive that we couldn’t help but laugh at. Oh and those actual sporting events none of us can be bothered waking up early enough to watch.
In this week’s show we thought we’d take a look at some of the search trends we’re seeing in Melbourne for the Olympics and came across some interesting stats that show just how far our fine city has come technologically in the four years since Beijing.
As you can see above, search traffic for the Olympics has been fairly consistent over the past two games, spiking significantly as the opening ceremony kicks off. Even the winter Olympics shows similar trends, albeit with much smaller search traffic.
But this year, Melbourne search traffic for the Olympics has hit a whole other level, with roughly 60% more searches this year when compared to the Beijing and Athens games. That’s a huge jump that got us thinking… What’s happened to Melbourne’s search habits that would warrant the flood of new Olympic searches? Mobile.
Since 2008’s Beijing Games, smartphone uptake in Australia has exploded. Just look at some of the stats:
- Australians bought twice as many smartphones in 2011 as they did in 2010 (source)
- 57% of mobile phone users in Australia are using smartphones (source)
- 12 million Australians are now using smartphones, more than half our population
Mobile search is changing the game, allowing more people to find the information they want exactly when they want it. People no longer have to be in front of their computer to find the information they’re looking for, meaning your business shouldn’t be chained to the desktop either. We’ve heard constant chatter that this is the year the Olympics go social, but with this kind of search activity it’s looking more and more like the year the Olympics went mobile for Australians.
Got a better explanation for why Melbourne’s more interested in the Olympics than ever? Leave us a comment below with your thoughts!
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
