Our research on Christmas Day search patterns, gathered from Google Trends data, broadly followed Britain’s most well-loved festive exploits, but with one or two surprises…
The Lizard Squad’s hacking of Sony and Microsoft’s networks, that prevented gamers across the world from playing with their consoles, was the number one hottest search term in the UK on Christmas Day. ‘Weather’ was at number two with over 500,000 searches, highlighting our annual obsession with a white Christmas.
The unfortunate news about CityLink on Christmas Eve saw it appear at number three, ahead of even the most popular Christmas day programming. Frozen was the only film to appear in this year’s hottest searches – due to the UK television premiere on Sky and the raft of film merchandise unwrapped that morning. Doctor Who also made an appearance.
“PS4” made the list as it was one of the year’s most popular gifts and because of Lizard Squad’s action. Family favourites Downton Abbey, Bruce Forsyth and Miranda Hart were close behind at numbers seven, eight and nine respectively. Completing the top ten was ‘roast potatoes’ as people put the finishing touches to the all-important Christmas dinner.
What these trends show us is that, while great TV and seasonal staples remain a major part of the Christmas routine, current affairs are an ever-present concern for audiences and, for brands that need to move at the speed of national conversations, there is no substitute for an always-on approach to deal with the occasional surprise – whether good or bad!
Here’s the top ten:
- Lizard Squad
- Weather
- City Link
- Frozen
- Doctor Who
- PS4
- Downton Abbey
- Bruce Forsyth
- Miranda Hart
- Roast potatoes
