INTERNET SEARCHES FOR 'LOW CARB' AND 'ATKINS DIET' PLUMMET,
WHILE WEIGHT-LOSS SITES GAIN OVERALL SHARE
Internet surfing and searching behaviors reflect
interest in conventional approaches to dieting
USDA's MyPyramid Bursts Onto Scene
NEW YORK, August 04, 2005— The misfortune of Atkins Nutritionals, which declared bankruptcy this week, is proof that once high-flying low-carb diets have lost their luster. While this trend has been occurring for some time, Internet searches tracked among ten million US online users indicate just how much low-carb is dissipating from the American psyche.
According to Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, U.S. consumer Internet searches for "atkins diet" and "low carb" - two of the most prolific terms associated with low-carb dieting - have plunged 67 percent and 70 percent, respectively, during the four weeks ending July 23, 2005 versus year-ago. Almost simultaneously, the market share of U.S. Internet visits to the official Atkins Nutritionals Web site (www.atkins.com) decreased 71 percent the week ending July 30, 2005 versus year-ago.
"Passively monitoring search and surfing behaviors can provide predictive and directional insight into consumer interest and lifestyle behaviors, as evidenced with diet and weight loss," said Bill Tancer, General Manager, Worldwide Research, Hitwise. "While actual product sales are perhaps the most important near-term data, search data are particularly powerful in indicating the degree of engagement between consumers, individual brands and relevant issues. In effect, search behavior data become a powerful window into future purchase propensity."
Various Weight-Loss Programs Fuel Category Interest
The low-carb and Atkins' era may have passed, but interest in weight loss has not, if traffic to weight-loss Web sites is any indication. The market share of Internet visits to the Hitwise Health - Wellbeing category - comprised almost entirely of diet, weight-loss and fitness sites - increased six percent the week ending July 30, 2005 versus year-ago. Some notable commercial sites to increase in market share during that period include: www.nutrisystem.com, up 432 percent; www.jennycraig.com, up 62 percent; www.southbeachdiet.com, up 39 percent; and www.zonediet.com, up 96 percent.
The market share of total U.S. Internet searches for the terms "nutrisystem" and "jenny craig" increased 1,299 percent and 253 percent for the four weeks ending July 23, 2005 versus year-ago.
U.S.D.A.'s MyPyramid Bursts Onto the Scene
The U.S. Department of Agriculture launched April 29, 2005 its new interactive food guidance system to replace the Food Guide Pyramid introduced in 1992. Billed as an "overall food guidance system that emphasizes the need for a more individualized approach to improving diet and lifestyle," www.mypyramid.gov skyrocketed into the Hitwise rankings and became the number-two site in the Health - Wellbeing category during its first week of existence. While publicity and government-site referrals rapidly drove this site to the top, its traffic leveled nearly as fast. The site is sustaining with six percent the traffic levels it had during the week of its launch and now ranks 23rd in the Hitwise Wellbeing category, just above the official Slim Fast Web site (www.slim-fast.com).
Post-launch traffic levels have expectedly leveled off, but a testament to MyPyramid is the fact that nearly half (46.9 percent) of visitors continue on to MyPyramid Tracker (www.mypyramidtracker.gov), a highly personalized transactional site that "provides information on your diet quality, physical activity status, related nutrition messages, and links to nutrient and physical activity information."
Contact: For media inquiries or to schedule an analyst interview, please contact Lizzie Babarczy: press@hitwise.com (212) 380 2910.
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.com
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