Beta Labs MMA

Hitwise released their web data today for the whole of 2008 and I have selected the top information and given a brief run down.

Insurance top ten
1 www.moneysupermarket.com
2 www.theaa.com
3 www.tescofinance.com
4 www.confused.com
5 www.gocompare.com
6 www.rac.co.uk
7 uk.virginmoney.com
8 www.directline.com
9 www.bupa.co.uk
10 www.comparethemarket.com

The insurance information is always going to be dominated by insurance comparison sites. The likes of confused, compare the market (and probably this year compare the meerkat), and of course money supermarket. Money Supermarket has been industry leading for the past few years and is likely to stay there. Bupa, Virgin and the aa must be happy to see themselves in the top ten.

Property
1 www.rightmove.co.uk
2 www.primelocation.com
3 www.vebra.com
4 www.findaproperty.com
5 www.propertyfinder.com
6 www.upmystreet.com
7 www.thinkproperty.com
8 www.holidaylettings.co.uk
9 www.homesonview.com
10 www.aspc.co.uk

With the property taking a real battering recently, it does not surprise me that there are a number of new sites enter the top ten. Estate agents to boost their sales have concentrated entering in as many comparison style sites as possible. With rightmove being number 1 shows how important it is nowdays to shop around and look at all prices available over the internet. Holiday lettings must be happy to appear at number 7 proves the credit crunch and paying homes and houses are decreased massively.

Utilities
1 www.britishgas.co.uk
2 www.uswitch.com
3 www.eonenergy.com
4 www.npower.com
5 www.scottishpower.co.uk
6 www.energyhelpline.com
7 www.edfenergy.com
8 www.eon-uk.com
9 www.southern-electric.co.uk
10 www.theenergypeople.com

This surprises me how uswitch and money supermarket did not appear top. Prices were ever changing last year and would expect people searching for cheaper deals would have pushed traffic up for the likes of uswitch.

Social networks
1 www.facebook.com
2 www.bebo.com
3 www.myspace.com
4 uk.youtube.com
5 www.bbc.co.uk/dna
6 www.friendsreunited.co.uk
7 forums.moneysavingexpert.com
8 www.faceparty.com
9 www.gumtree.com
10 uk.answers.yahoo.com

There is no surprised that Facebook took top spot, a site that still amazes me is if Facebook was a country it would be the 8th biggest country in the world. Bebo had another massive increase in traffic last year and has done well to over take myspace and force their way above google’s youtube. Next year I think twitter may enter the top 5. Special congrats to Martin Lewis and all those at Money saving expert for coming in at number 7.

Blogs
1 www.bbc.co.uk/blogs
2 blogs.guardian.co.uk
3 commentisfree.guardian.co.uk
4 blogs.orange.co.uk
5 blogs.telegraph.co.uk
6 timesonline.typepad.com
7 uk.gizmodo.com
8 www.order-order.com
9 www.neave.com
10 blogs.notw.co.uk

No surprise that the newspapers blogs are massively popular, along with the likes of gadget and IT blog gizmdo. Orange coming in number 4 is a testament to how important content and SEO techniques are for big brands.

Movies
1 www.lovefilm.com
2 www.odeon.co.uk
3 www.cineworld.co.uk
4 www.myvue.com
5 showbiz.sky.com
6 movies.uk.msn.com
7 www.empireonline.co.uk
8 www.tescodvdrental.com
9 uk.imdb.com
10 uk.movies.yahoo.com

Two rental sites sneak in to the top ten, love film the dvd rental specialists come top and tesco dvd rental run by love film comes in at number 8, think it proves how the credit crunch and how expensive it is to rent films from Blockbuster etc really are.

Rewards
1 uk.shopping.com
2 www.hotukdeals.com
3 www.uk.ciao.com
4 www.kelkoo.co.uk
5 www.pricerunner.co.uk
6 www.reviewcentre.com
7 www.bizrate.co.uk
8 www.nextag.co.uk
9 www.dealtime.co.uk
10 www.shop-com.co.uk

Credit crunch and recession which swept the UK was dominated by shopping.com. I am surprised that hot deals did not finish first but with their twitter service direct traffic is not also needed.

Football
1 www.liverpoolfc.tv
2 www.manutd.com
3 www.teamtalk.com
4 www.arsenal.com
5 boards.footymad.net
6 www.premierleague.com
7 www.leedsunited.com
8 www.tottenhamhotspur.com
9 www.spurs.premiumtv.co.uk
10 www.football365.com

Two quick points, Liverpool must have the most dedicated fans and where were the likes of BBC and Sky Sports? Two of the best sports sites around, let alone the top football sites around. Good see my team Arsenal at number 4.

Danny Denhard
Betalabs