Experian Hitwise Reveals Singapore’s Most Popular Olympic Athletes
Singapore, August 14, 2012 – Singapore virtually turned into a sports-obsessed nation in the weeks leading up to, and during, the recently concluded Summer Olympics. According to latest analytics from Experian using its online competitive intelligence tool Experian® Hitwise®, searches for keywords pertaining to the London 2012 Games spiked a whopping 500 per cent between 12 May and 4 August (see Figure 1).
The findings also revealed that both table tennis and badminton were the most popular sports among Singaporeans (See Figure 2).
Interestingly, swimming only managed to come in third, despite the highly anticipated Olympic debut of Singapore-born butterfly prodigy Joseph Schooling. However, swimmers also topped the list of most popular local athletes, with both Schooling and backstroke specialist Tao Li recording a 400 per cent spike in searches each over the 12-week period.
Local award-winning paddler Feng Tianwei snagged an even larger part of the pie in the period leading up to her semi-final and bronze medal matches, with a notable 700 per cent increase in searches (see Figure 3).
American swim sensation Michael Phelps topped the list of Singapore’s most popular foreign Olympians, followed closely by English diving hunk Tom Daley. Experian Hitwise also found a significant eight-fold jump in searches around German gymnast Marcel Nguyen, who was practically an unknown even right before the Games officially kicked off on 27 July (see Figure 4).
Top search variations used by sporting fans in Singapore include London 2012 table tennis, London Olympics 2012, Opening Ceremony London 2012, London 2012 shot put and London 2012 diving (see Figure 5).
Figure 1: Share of searches containing Olympic OR “London 2012” (12 rolling weeks ending 4 Aug)
Figure 2: Top searched Olympic sports in Singapore over 12 rolling weeks ending 4 Aug
Figure 3: Share of all search variations containing Feng Tianwei (12 rolling weeks ending 4 Aug)
Figure 4: Share of all search variations containing Marcel Nguyen (12 rolling weeks ending 4 Aug)
Figure 5: Top search terms containing Olympic OR “London 2012” (12 rolling weeks ending 4 Aug)
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