Dotcom, Elections and Google - Most Read Items on Scoop in 2017
Many have tired of the seemingly never-ending Kim Dotcom saga, his arrest, legal battle against extradition, the fallout
from the authorities’ conduct and the various sideshows have gone on for years.
Despite this, items relating to Kim Dotcom remain among the most read on Scoop.
The highest ranking item in terms of pages views in 2017 was “Kim Dotcom Approaches Special Counsel”, other related releases are scattered through the top 50 and an “Open Letter from Kim Dotcom” is the third most viewed item on Scoop this year.
The second most read item was a column from Gordon Campbell - “Ten Reasons For Not Voting National”. Campbell said “Faith-based voting is the norm, in that we tend to select the election messages that best fit with our
deeply held beliefs. Routinely, faith trumps the evidence.”
Interestingly another polemic was also in the top ten with the Right to Life asking “Why is Jacinda Ardern refusing to defend the Natural Family?” They argued “the election of Jacinda Ardern as our Prime Minister would constitute a threat to the natural family of
exclusively one woman and one man”.
The power of the Google search engine also shows up in Scoop’s rankings for 2017. A 2014 press release from the
Department of Internal Affairs on the “Top twenty New Zealand Surnames” is in the top ten. As is advice from 2015 from an accountancy firm on “How to form a company in NZ yourself for only $160.22”.
Around 40% of Scoop’s traffic is driven by organic searches mostly in Google.
In 2017, users in New Zealand made up 70% of Scoop’s audience with the United States 9%, Australia 5%, UK 3% and France
2.5%.
Aucklanders were responsible for 43% of user sessions and Wellington 19%.
According to Google demographics analytics (treated with scepticism by some and more so since Scoop does not use Google
Ads) 60% of Scoop’s viewers are under 33 with 27% under 24.