From the best music festivals and cultural events to the biggest global sporting occasions, summer brings with it a truly unrivalled fun factor for millions of Brits nationwide. Part two of our summer insights series has more.

With two months to go until the summer officially begins – thank goodness, the UK’s temperamental weather currently is a bore – the promise of sunny fun brings with it superheated audience engagement with related content categories and topics across Ozone’s Premium Web platform.

To get to know where audience engagement grows during the sunniest of the seasons, we looked at the summer months last year and compared them to the three months before. In 2023, the categories showing double-digit growth across the summer included Sport (+41%), Travel (+35%), Hobbies & Interest (+25%) and Events & Attractions (+10%).

While there are no huge surprises, what we’ve seen previously provides a strong indication of where brands can expect to connect with audiences seeking summer fun this year.

Big sport will drive big reader engagement

Home-nation victories typically boost engagement, and with high expectations for England in the Euros, a defence of the ICC T20 title, and popular annual fixtures like Wimbledon and The Open Championship, we can expect engagement to surge this summer. 

However, with Les Bleus also joint favourites for Euro 2024, the annual spectacle of the Tour de France and Paris hosting The Olympics, France will likely be front and centre of Ozone’s sporting editorial this summer.

Take action: Tailor targeting to reach the fair-weather fans as well as sport’s biggest supporters using both Ozone’s broad and high engagement segments.

Cultural and business-related events interest grows

The turn of spring sees a significant increase in page views across our Events & Attractions content. However, as the weather continues to heat up so too does engagement growth with the category.

Take a greater interest in culture, with Festivals, Music events, and Historical Landmarks among the highest growing categories during the summer months. 

Britons’ summer sociability is a great benefit to businesses too, with interest in Business Expos and Events also seeing significant growth during the summer months.

Take action: Activate at the start of summer to capitalise on growth through the summer months. Upweight Business Expos towards the end of summer when this audience sees the greatest scale.

Holiday interest hots up with better weather

The weather has a strong influence on travel readership. As clement weather begins to return in spring, we see steady growth in Brit’s interest in travel. Page views consistently peak between June-August. 

Interest in classic European destinations, like Greece and Italy, remain high. However, in recent years interest in longer haul destinations, particularly the Americas, has seen significant growth.

Take action: The heat gets Brits in the mood for travel, so where possible be agile and look to upweight during the hottest weeks of the year.

Download the full report for more

For more on the hottest summer content topics where reader engagement is expected to grow throughout June to September, download the full Ozone insights report below or contact the team.