Freesat Proves Popular With Consumers Online

The launch of Freesat, the free satellite TV service from the BBC and ITV, saw UK internet traffic to the service’s online homepage increase by 627% between May 3 and May 10, according to online intelligence company Hitwise.

UK Internet searches for the term ‘freesat’ increased by 752% over the same period, said Hitwise, making it the fastest moving search term in the UK last week.

Freesat was launched last week, initially airing over 80 digital channels, with a target of 200 channels by the end of the year (see Freesat Launches Today).

There were 79% more searches for the term ‘freesat’ than the term ‘sky’ during the week ending May. “This is to be expected for a new product that has received a lot of media attention – over a fifth of internet traffic to Freesat’s website came from news and media sites during its launch period,” said Robin Goad, Hitwise’s director of research.

He added: “Last week Sky’s homepage still received 250% more internet visits than www.freesat.co.uk, but the type of visitor was quite different. While Sky’s website’s core audience is people in cities aged between 25 and 44, Freesat is proving more popular with older, more rural viewers.”

Two thirds of visitors to www.sky.com are aged 45 or under, whereas for Freesat the comparable figure is 43%. Freesat appeals to an older audience: 43% of visitors to its website last week were aged 55 and over, compared with just 20% for Sky.