HITWISE UK RETAIL UPDATE

Nintendo Wii Overtakes iPod as Must-Have Christmas Gift

London, 13^th December 2006

Analysis from Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, reveals that last week internet searches for the Nintendo Wii overtook searches for all other gaming consoles and even overtook the perennial favourite iPod to become the most searched-for gadget in the run-up to Christmas.

The Wii, released in the UK last week, reportedly sold out rapidly with 50,000 consoles selling in 12 hours, translating to one console sold every second. Share of UK internet searches for “nintendo wii” surged up 147% last week, appearing in the top 100 search terms based on volume of UK internet searches and ranking as the fourth highest volume product search term, after “premium bonds”, “car insurance” and “broadband”.

Two weeks ago, searches for the console overtook searches for “nintendo ds”, the second most searched for games console. Last week, searches for the Wii overtook those for the iPod for the first time, with searches for “nintendo wii” 125% higher than searches for “ipod”.

Last week was one of the busiest weeks for online shopping with visits to the Hitwise Retail Index (an index of 100 of the top retailers based on visits) up 5.4% year on year and up 4% over the previous week. Whilst last week was one of the busiest weeks for Christmas shopping online, searches for many popular gaming consoles declined. Hitwise Search Intelligence^TM data reveals that whilst searches for “nintendo wii” surged, searches for “xbox 360”, “psp”, “ps3” and “playstation 3” all declined slightly.

Among the 184 websites captured by Hitwise that received visits from searches for “nintendo wii” in the past four weeks, Amazon.co.uk, GAME and Play.com were the top retailers receiving visits from searches for the console. All three retailers saw their visits climb last week, with the share of UK internet visits to Amazon UK up 6%, to GAME up 17% and to Play.com up 11%.

About Hitwise:

Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Only Hitwise provides its 1,200 global clients with daily insights on how their customers interact with a broad range of competitive websites, and how their competitors use different tactics to attract online customers.

Since 1997, Hitwise has pioneered a unique, network-based approach to Internet measurement. Through relationships with ISPs around the world, Hitwise’s patented methodology anonymously captures the online usage, search, and conversion behavior of 25 million Internet users. This unprecedented volume of Internet usage data is seamlessly integrated into our easy to use, web-based service, designed to help marketers better plan, implement, and report on a range of online marketing programs.

Hitwise is a privately held company headquartered in New York City and operates in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Singapore. More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com.

For up to date analysis of 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