The weather might be a little interchangeable at the moment, but one thing is for certain – the Great British summertime is almost here. Giving Brits the feels last week; Taylor Swift rocked Edinburgh, the latest Love Island debuted on ITV2 and the home nations played their final friendlies before EURO 2024.

Our latest issue continues to follow the 2024 UK Election as online readers turn to trusted sources across our Premium Web platform to follow news, comment and analysis.

Topical News

• Last week, online readers followed coverage about the search for the missing TV broadcaster Dr Michael Mosley. As a result, reader engagement with Medical Health and News & Politics grew by +32% and +10% respectively.

• Also in the past seven days, Taylor Swift kicked off the UK leg of her highly anticipated Eras tour in Edinburgh to boost Events & Attractions and Music & Audio, with page views for both up by more than a quarter.

• Elsewhere, engagement with Sport grew by +10% with page views for Rugby (the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Final), Tennis (The French Open) and Football (international friendlies) all rising by +74%, +49% and +10% respectively.

Seasonal Events

• The publication of the annual QS World University Ranking, which features four UK institutions among the top 10, grew reader interest in Education, with page views up by +19%.

• Finally, the 2024 summer season of Love Island began last week to dial up Television page views to +12% growth.

UK Election 2024

• From TV debates and D-Day debacles to a foamed and frothy Farage, the 2024 General Election continued to drive reader engagement with Politics last week. More than 75m page views – a record high for the content – rose by +12% week on week. Unsurprisingly, the topic within the content that drove growth was Elections with 8.5m page views increasing by more than two-fifths. As well as the UK General Election there was also increased interest in the 2024 EU and India elections

• Last week, the televised debates between – firstly – the Labour and Conservative party leaders and – then – a wider selection of political parties featured prominently in our publishers’ election coverage. At both, fiery clashes between the main two parties over taxation were key sentiment drivers. Elsewhere, Nigel Farage entered the election fray beginning his campaign in Clacton with a planned pint and an unexpected milkshake. A +15% growth in share of voice for Farage came mainly at Keir Starmer’s expense to drive a rise in neutral and positive sentiment for Reform UK.

• The last week has also seen the nation’s attention divided over policies as each party continued to discuss them – from NHS waiting times and taxation to the environment and education. Reader interest with content about Immigration, Defence and the Economy has skyrocketed. Conservative claims of a ‘£2k tax hike’ should Labour win the election, in particular, drove 5x higher Economy engagement.

Coming Up

June

• Champions League Final: Football page views grew +52% in June last year as Man City won the Champions League final. The 2024 final takes place on Saturday, 1 June.

• EURO 2024: Expect Football engagement to be c.30% higher in June 2024 when UEFA EURO 2024 kicks off on Friday, 14 June. The final takes place on Sunday, 14 July.

• Father’s Day: Planning for the perfect Father’s Day present grew Gifting page views by more than a quarter last year. This year, the occasion takes place on Sunday, 16 June.

• Glastonbury Festival: Headlined this year by Dua Lipa, SZA and Coldplay, expect Festivals page views to increase 3.5x on Glastonbury and the start of summer festival season.

July

• Wimbledon: 31.7m Tennis page views in July 2023 grew +330% month on month on significant reader interest in the Championships Wimbledon.

• British Grand Prix: 10.7m Auto Racing/Formula 1 page views last July when the British Grand Prix took place were +25% higher vs. 2023 season average.

• The Olympic Games: When it began in July 2021, the Tokyo Games drove Olympic Sports page to significant 12x growth month on month.

• The Euros: Last July, interest in the start of the Women’s World Cup drove 305m monthly Football page views – the second highest level ever.

August

• Edinburgh Fringe: Fine Art page views will grow with the Theatre topic increasing by more than 50%. The festival will also drive Comedy Events, from Events & Attractions, to c.3x growth.

• Exam results: A-level and GCSE results drive page views for Exam Results, from Education, to 3.9x growth.

• Paris Games: Paralympics page views were 7.9x higher than normal during the Tokyo Games in August 2021.