Hitwise reveals the blockbuster downloads to relieve UK travellers’ boredom

Hitwise reveals the blockbuster downloads to relieve UK travellers’ boredom

With over 250,000 people due to use Heathrow airport alone on Sunday August 6 Hitwise has looked at what people were looking to download to keep themselves entertained Continue reading

Research by Hitwise has revealed how Brits planned to relieve the boredom of long waits at airports last weekend as the summer getaway hit its peak.

With over 250,000 people due to use Heathrow airport alone on Sunday August 6 Hitwise has looked at what people were looking to download to keep themselves entertained.

The online travel insights specialist found the period has been a boom for Amazon and other online streaming services as airport queues in the EU and disruption caused by BA strikes and the ‘Lucifer’ heatwave in the Mediterranean caused delays.

Hitwise found there were 14.7 million transactions Amazon in the week ending August 2 which included the online retailer’s ‘Download Day’ promotion on July 28.

This was just short the 14.8 million transactions during the week of ‘Prime Day’, the retailer’s flagship event on July 11.

Game of Thrones was the top search term across the whole of Amazon during that time while ‘Books’, ‘Kindle Books’ and ‘Free Kindle Books’ made up three of the top five searches on Amazon.

Searches for ‘Amazon prime video’ increased 9.6% in the last 4 weeks, from the week ending July 15.

Hitwise said since Sunday there’s been a 38.3% increase in visits to Amazon as well as a 27.4% increase in visits to Netflix.com on Monday this week in comparison to Sunday. YouTube.com has seen a 22.9% increase in visits since Sunday

With the school holidays in full flight, parents have been stocking up on family friendly films, with the likes of Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast, dominating film searches across Amazon.

Moana, Disney’s most recent adventure and the third most popular film, increased an impressive 88% during download week compared to last.

Nigel Wilson, managing director of Hitwise, said: “The summer season has always seen peak footfall through airports, but in recent years, entertainment and streaming companies have joined the race, offering a wide range of downloadable content that consumers can take with them on their holidays.

“Pre-loaded content and media services have become such an integral part of our daily lives that people don’t want to miss out on their favourite show when they leave the country.

“Consumers during the summer months today are demanding the freedom to watch or read whatever they want, when they want, on any kind of device.”