From presidential health scares to booming AI, Ozone’s latest States of Connection, for May 19-25, unveils the top trends capturing U.S. online attention. Highlights include surging interest in medical news following Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis, a tech boom fueled by AI and Memorial Day deals, and a notable uptick in education content driven by graduations and policy debates.
Topical Headlines
Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s “aggressive” prostate cancer diagnosis led to an 8% week-over-week increase in engagement with Medical Health content. Page views in Cancer topic jumped 2.6x. While the news was startling, it followed revelations in Original Sin – the exposé by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson – which continues to boost interest in Books & Literature, driving a 14% week-over-week rise in page views.
Elsewhere, Big Tech took significant strides in the race to lead artificial intelligence. First, Sam Altman’s OpenAI finalized a $6.4bn deal to acquire Jony Ive’s AI startup, LoveFrom, and soon after, Google rolled out AI Mode to U.S. businesses and consumers. Page views in the Technology & Computing category surged past 26 million, driven by a 6% increase in interest in Artificial Intelligence content. U.S. consumers, hunting for the best tech deals during Memorial Day sales, also fueled this growth – from Consumer Technology content, Smartphone page views alone jumped nearly 50%.
Finally, Congressional Republicans advanced President Trump’s campaign pledge to reduce costs for American families and workers by passing the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’. Legislation page views climbed by 60%.
Seasonal Occasions
While it’s graduation season across the U.S., a proposal by the Trump administration to ban international student applications to Harvard University drove a 33% increase in engagement with the Education content category last week. Up 2.2x week on week, College Education page views contributed to overall growth, while from the Events & Attractions content category, Graduation page views increased 42%.
Over Memorial Day weekend, the 2025 RBC Brooklyn Marathon drove a 15% uptick in engagement with the Healthy Living content category. Page views related to Fitness & Exercise climbed more than 45%, powering the increase.
Pride Month kicks off next week, and throughout June, LGBTQ+ communities across the country will celebrate. In anticipation, Gay Life content within the Family & Relationships category saw a 66% increase in page views last week.
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About States of Connection
States of Connection: Ozone’s new update for U.S. advertising agencies.
This regular briefing provides the latest insights from Ozone’s Living Audience Intelligence, directly from our Audience Connection Platform. You’ll get timely highlights on trending topical headlines and seasonal occasions driving user engagement from our audience-first, quality media partners over the last week.
We aim to provide you with the Connection Advantage by showcasing the relevant data and scalable reach we offer to enhance your digital advertising strategies.