HITWISE UK ONLINE UPDATE

The Da Vinci Code Overtakes Perennial Favourite Harry Potter Online

in Advance of the Film's Much-Hyped Release

London, 18 May 2006

The latest analysis from Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, reveals that prior to the film's release on Friday, The Da Vinci Code has become the most searched-for film in the UK. Searches relating to The Da Vinci Code overtook searches for the perennial favourite, "HarryPotter", in the week ending 13^th May 2006. The last film to overtake

searches for "Harry Potter" ahead of its release was Star Wars Episode III, last May.

"While The Da Vinci Code was largely panned by critics when the film aired at the Cannes Film Festival this week, Hitwise data reveals that interest is high ahead of the film's release, auguring well for a smash hit at the box office this weekend", commented Heather Hopkins, Director of Research for Hitwise UK. "The film has enjoyed unprecedented levels of promotion and that promotion has driven UK consumers to search online".

While the website for Sony Pictures ( www.sonypictures.com) was the top website to receive traffic from searches for "da vinci code", several religious sites also featured prominently among the sites receiving traffic from the term, underscoring the controversy surrounding the book and film. ChristianityToday.com and Ignatius Press (www.ignatius.com) each received 3% of visits from UK searches for "da vinci code", in the four weeks ending 13^th May 2006.

The Da Vinci Code Presents Opportunities for Travel Companies

Travel companies have the potential to benefit from heightened consumer interest in locations featured in The Da Vinci Code. Hitwise Alerts show that visits to The Da Vinci Code: Eurostar Quest (quest.eurostar.com) spiked in all categories by 175% for the week ending May 13, 2006. Eurostar Quest offers an online competition based on the theme of The Da Vinci Code with the prize of holidays in London and Paris.

"Online interest in The Da Vinci Code may spur interest in tourist attractions and destinations featured in the film and book, creating further opportunities for travel companies and tourist boards online", continued Heather Hopkins.

About Hitwise:

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

By measuring 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 affiliate programs, search marketing, online advertising, content development and lead generation.

Hitwise collects internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in 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 up to date analysis on online trends, please visit the Hitwise Intelligence-Analyst Weblogs at weblogs.hitwise.com.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Jannie Cahill

jannie.cahill@hitwise.com

Tel: 020 7378 3619