Future – the special interest media group and world’s leading provider of cycling content, saw record traffic to its BikeRadar.com and Cyclingnews.com sites across the peak summer season, hitting 4.1 million unique users in July, according to SiteStat figures.
While interest in the Tour de France drove growth across the summer, traffic has continued to build beyond the tour, with September 2010 hitting an all-time high of 18.8 million page views – an increase of more than a third year-on-year.
Ongoing investment in search engine optimisation means BikeRadar.com ranks top of search engine results for key cycling products. This targeted approach to bike buyers means almost 30% of traffic from the site goes directly to online retailers.
Continuing to lead the world in its coverage of professional cycling, Cyclingnews.com also enjoyed significant growth this year. The site posted a record 67.5 million page views and 2.2 million unique users in July 2010. September 2010 saw year-on-year growth of 23% and 29% for page views and unique users respectively.
Cyclingnews.com has recorded more than 400 million page views so far this year, with the carnage on stage 3 of the Tour de France on 6 July delivering a staggering 4.2 million page views in a single day.
Richard Schofield, Group Publishing Director of Future’s Sports portfolio, said:
“BikeRadar.com and Cyclingnews.com not only provide by far the biggest reach of any cycling websites in the UK, but they also deliver a targeted and highly engaged audience, actively looking for buying advice. It is encouraging to see both sites growing faster than the market and shows that our focussed editorial approach is paying dividends for our commercial partners.”
About Future:
Future plc is an international special-interest media group, listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR). Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today we have operations in the UK, US and Australia creating over 180 special-interest publications, websites and events. We hold market-leading positions in games, film, music, technology, cycling, automotive and crafts. Our biggest-selling magazines include T3, Total Film, Classic Rock, Guitar World and Official Xbox Magazine. Our websites include gamesradar.com, bikeradar.com, and techradar.com. Future sells more than 3 million magazines each month; we attract more than 20 million unique visitors to our websites; and we host 27 annual live events. In addition, Future exports or syndicates publications to 90 countries, making us the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of monthly magazines.
For further information please contact Jen Campbell – 01225 732269 or jen.campbell@futurenet.com
