It’s been a huge cultural week, with Ramadan beginning, Lunar New Year celebrations and Pancake Day driving strong engagement across food and religious content. At the same time, major legal rulings and royal developments pushed spikes in law and politics, while the Winter Olympics closed on a historic high for Team GB. Spring sales and half-term activity also kept shopping and family-focused content elevated as February draws to a close.
Topical News
A Cloudflare outage on Friday disrupted multiple online services, prompting Brits to turn to the news to understand the cause. Notably, a temporary outage affecting Call of Duty sparked backlash among fans, pushing Video Gaming content into the spotlight. As a result, Action Video Games rose 36%, Role-Playing Video Games climbed 30%, and Console Games increased 25%.
Elsewhere, a viral moment for Japanese baby monkey, Punch, warmed the hearts of readers. The feel-good story has nudged Pets content up 8%, while Animal Welfare climbed 11%.
Spring sales are underway, driving a 5.2x surge in Sales & Promotions as Brits hunt for the best deals. With Amazon’s Spring Deals Day just around the corner, deal-seeking behaviour is set to accelerate further.
The Winter Olympics wrapped on Sunday after two weeks of competition, marking Team GB’s highest-ever Winter Games medal tally. Coverage across the games generated 37m page views, an 8.3x uplift across our platform. Engagement will continue into the Paralympics.
Over in News & Politics,, the US Supreme Court ruling Trump’s tariffs illegal sent International Law soaring 21x as audiences followed the fallout. Elsewhere, the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor saw Police rise 65%, Law Enforcement 63% and Law 37%.
Seasonal Events
The 79th BAFTA awards took place last night, supercharging Awards Shows content by 2.1x. The Film category, up 4% WoW, also saw related growth, with Fantasy Films flying a magical 5.7x, Crime Films creeping up 85%, Animation Films up 38% and Drama Films 29% as Brits caught up on the winners. With the Oscars just weeks away, we can expect this content to stay in the spotlight as anticipation builds for film’s most prestigious night.
Last week saw a trifecta of religious and cultural events, with Ramadan beginning, Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) taking place, and Lunar New Year welcoming the Year of the Horse. Engagement with Religious Events lifted 14%, while Food & Drink content spiked 4% around the celebrations. Desserts & Baking rose 23% driven by Pancake Day, Healthy Cooking & Eating surged 2.5x, and Chinese Cuisine jumped 88% as audiences marked Lunar New Year. With Easter on the horizon, momentum across food and religious content is set to continue building.
Elsewhere, February Half term last week saw Events & Attractions boost as parents sought ways to entertain their little ones. Cinemas & Events surged 32% and Malls & Shopping Centres 2.9x as the rainy weather kept activities indoors.
Looking ahead, with London Fashion Week taking place this week, we can expect to see related content uplift in next weeks data.
