The release of Kindle 2, press and blog coverage, and people who were waiting for the new Kindle have combined to cause a huge spike in the number of people searching about Kindle2 and looking to buy Kindle 2.
When I saw a huge spike in the amount of traffic to my blog, my first question was – Is the Kindle 2 Release Effect bigger than the Oprah Effect?
Here are some quick and dirty graphs to show comparisons -
Google Trends for Kindle 2 Vs Oprah
Google Trends shows that Kindle 2 buzz actually far exceeded the amount of buzz created by Oprah’s recommendation. Let’s look at a chart for the last 3 months -
Kindle 2 Buzz exceeds Oprah Effect
To better understand this, it is important to keep in context that the amount of build-up and press coverage for Kindle 2 was much higher.
The graph below is only till the end of January (and doesn’t cover the Feb 9th Kindle 2 announcement and accompanying spike in searches). However, if you look at the lower part for News Reference Volume, you’ll see that even by end of January 2009, the sheer amount of Kindle 2 press coverage dwarfs anything that Oprah’s Kindle recommendation got.
Look at the lower chart for News Volume
Note: This graph does not show the first 11 days of February and hence misses the Kindle 2 spike that is apparent from the first graph.
Traffic Trends for my Kindle Blog
There have been two really big spikes – one for Oprah, and the other for Kindle 2.0. It’s still too early to gauge the long term effects of Kindle 2′s release – However, here are some early graphs.
Oprah Effect on my Blog Traffic – The daily traffic quadrupled, and then stabilized at approximately three times the previous traffic level.
Oprah Effect on Blog Traffic
Note: There was a very strong long term effect and overall Kindle interest stayed high all through the holiday season.
Kindle 2 Release effect on my Blog Traffic. The first rise indicates the Jan 27th/28th press conference announcement, and then you see the decline, followed by a slow rise before the huge spike when the Kindle 2 is actually announced.
Kindle 2's effect on Blog Traffic
Some Thoughts on Kindle 2 Vs Oprah
The Oprah endorsement served as a really good interest generator and in some ways saved Amazon by selling out Kindle 1. Now, the February Kindle 2 release has created another huge spike in interest.
Throughout the life of the Kindle, there have been three huge spikes in interest -
- Kindle release in Nov 2007.
- Oprah endorsement in Oct end 2008.
- Kindle 2 Release in Feb 2009.
3 times Kindle Buzz has peaked
The next four spikes in interest that I see are -
- Kindle 2 International Release. I think it’ll happen in early summer 2009.
- Kindle Textbook Edition Release (KindleText) in end summer 2009.
- An Amazon created event akin to the Oprah endorsement in mid to end October 2009.
- The release of the larger iTouch which will spike interest in the Kindle 2 as people decide on which one to buy.
These will probably be interspersed with a couple Kindle 2 coupon releases, and 2-3 times when the Kindle 2 sells out – the first of which might be as early as mid to end Feb 2009.
Filed under: kindle | Tagged: kindle 2, kindle 2.0
I suspect Kindle shoppers who learned about the device from Oprah are demographically quite different from othger Kindle shoppers, and much less likely to read blogs such as this one.
I had wanted a Kindle and was saving a few dollars here and there to get one eventually. My wife is a big Oprah-watcher and immediately told me I could save $50 if I bought one right then. I think a lot of male purchasers were clued in by their wives, over whom Oprah has ENORMOUS influence. Jeff Bezos should be paying her millions . . .
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