HITWISE UK RETAIL UPDATE

Searches for PSP surge as European launch date approaches

London, 19^th August 2005

Hitwise, the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service, today reports that searches for Sony’s PlayStation Portable have surged in the lead-up to the product’s much-hyped launch on September 1^st.

Hitwise Search Intelligence data reveals that searches for ‘psp’ have increased by 364% since the beginning of the year, and have seen a significant increase over the past two weeks.

Gaming enthusiasts scour the web for PSP as release date delayed in March

The highly-anticipated new console was originally slated for release in the UKin March, but was postponed by Sony and pushed back to a September release. A chart of searches for ‘psp’ from January to August shows a dramatic spike in searches in March: searches increased by a massive 66% in the first three weeks of March. As news of the delay of the UKrelease date was announced, impatient gamers increasingly sought alternative sources for the technology.

However, with the September release date fast approaching, online interest has again gained momentum, resulting in searches for ‘psp’ increasing by 7% in the past two weeks, from the week ending July 30^th to the week ending August 13^th. In addition, searches have increased by 43% since the first week of July.

Official PlayStation site is now the top downstream destination for ‘psp’ searches

Hitwise Search Intelligence analysis further reveals that the top downstream destination for searches for ‘psp’ is now Sony’s official PlayStation site, www.us.playstation.com. The official site overtook www.gadget-asia.com, an Asian games retailer which delivers to the UK, as the top destination for psp-related searches this week, following news that Sony had taken legal action against illegal importers of the technology.

Sony yesterday won a trademark court case against UKretailer ElectricBirdLand, preventing the company from selling illicitly-imported PSPs in the UKahead of the console’s official launch date.

Weekly Volume of searches for ‘PSP’, January – August 2005

About Hitwise:

Hitwise is the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.

By monitoring more people, more websites, more often, Hitwise provides marketers with timely and actionable marketing insights on how their online presence compares to competitive websites.  Companies use this information to maximize the return on their online investment, in efforts such as search marketing, affiliate programs, online advertising, visitor segmentation, content development and lead generation.

Hitwise collects Internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in mega panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.co.uk

For media enquiries, please contact:

Jannie Cahill
jannie.cahill@hitwise.com

Tel: 020 7378 3619