UK Internet searches for video games increased by 28% last week following the release of the much hyped and anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. As the chart below illustrates, Video Games overtook Mobile Phones to become the most searched for category within the Experian Hitwise Hot Consumer Electronics List last week – the first time this has ever happened.

A few other impressive stats: Over a third of Video Games searches last week related to the new game;’ modern warfare 2’ and ‘call of duty modern warfare 2’ were the second and third most popular search terms on the Consumer Electronics List; and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 became the most searched for product on the list, picking up more searches than Apple iTunes and iPhone combined.

As with the recent Windows 7 launch, there was also a ‘halo effect’ as a result fo this release: a 12% increase in searches for Games Consoles, with Sony’s PS3 the biggest beneficiary. Consequently, visits to online video game retailers also increased by 20% last week, although surprisingly they didn’t pick up the majority of traffic from searches for the new game. The table below lists the top 15 recipients of traffic from the search term ‘modern warfare 2’ for the week ending 14/11/09, and shows that content sites occupied the top four spots. The highest placed retailer was Play.com in fifth position (it paid for almost three quarters of its traffic from the term). Amazon UK paid for less of its traffic and ranked eighth, while GAME was 11th with a slightly lower paid rate again.

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