Does Harry Potter affect your earnings?

[PowerUp]

I noticed that on the day the book was launched, my site traffic dropped 80% compared to other days. It continued the next day and today the stats appear to be normal now.

My visitors must have been camping outside bookstores, and possibly now reading the book rather than surfing the web.

[AdSenseAdvisor]

What an interesting thought! I hadn't considered this, even though I know a number of people who spent all of their free time during the past few days feverishly reading the new book instead of going online.

The forces that influence AdSense performance never cease to amaze (and amuse) me. :)

-ASA

[Green_Grass]

Gives you an interesting insight into the age group? of your visitors and / or their mental profile...

No such (luck) for me..

[alephh]

80% drop is huge.

Your target audience seems to be the same group which fanatically reads Harry Potters until they pass out ;-D

Luckily my target audience has pretty much nothing to do with HP so I'm "safe" from that maaagic.

One of the "Adsense challenges": you never know which event will affect your traffic/earnings.

[Visit Thailand]

I have to ask but what is your site about to see such a huge drop like that? and is it a busy site (there can't have been that many people camping out).

We have not been affected at all, and would not expect to be.

Are you sure the drop is Harry Potter related and not some other event like major floods or something?

Were you also affected by PS3's release?

[edited by: Visit_Thailand at 9:35 am (utc) on July 23, 2007]

[PowerUp]

I have to ask but what is your site about to see such a huge drop like that? and is it a busy site (there can't have been that many people camping out).

My site is about personal finance matters. Maybe my site numbers are too small to derive any meaningful stats. Usually everyday my stats will be around 15 visits. On the day Harry Potter release, only 3 visitors.

Were you also affected by PS3's release?

LOL, I don't know when was PS3 release.

[Visit Thailand]

Usually everyday my stats will be around 15 visits. On the day Harry Potter release, only 3 visitors.

OK, in that case I would not worry. As your site is about Personal Finance then I doubt it would be affected by Mr. Potter. Stats for sites go up and down all the time. Do your stats include bots?

LOL, I don't know when was PS3 release

I am not sure either but I asked because there were a lot of people camped out for that as well. Was a couple of months or so ago.

If I were you I would concentrate on building the site and the visitors to the site and not worry s much about fluctuations which happen to us all.

Anyway, good luck with your site.

[HuskyPup]

Much more logical answers would be huge flooding problems in northern Europe, India and China (USA?) meanwhile horrendous heatwaves in southern Europe and the USA plus school holidays in many regions have just started meaning parents/families away too.

I have nothing to do with HP nor financial planning etc and my traffic always drops at this time of year and as soon as August arrives my European traffic will fall off the edge as businesses close down for their summer breaks.

Well, if historical metrics are anything to go by!

[greatstart]

It was my worst Sunday so far this year. Mainly because the traffic was down about 20% or so. It could be other reasons too, like the weather.

[europeforvisitors]

This past weekend has been normal for me. Saturday was average and Sunday was maybe 3-4% below my Sunday average this month. But then, my site is about travel, and some people are likely to be making last-minute vacation plans before heading for the bookstore on their way to the beach. :-)

[adamxcl]

I noticed a drop, about 15%, this weekend as well and thought about the Potter affect. I laughed it off as a hopeful excuse and not other longer lasting reasons.

[wyweb]

No change in traffic at all here. I'd have been stunned if there had been.

[fredw]

This past week has been my best daily averages ever, approaching 4 times my past high daily averages.

Guess what two of my sites are about? :-)

[Khensu]

Nope

I love [harry potter]!

Think out of the black box and use you magic algo wand.

That's a freebie.

[cocacolafun]

Got more traffic on that day! And my target audience is pretty close too (14-30).

[cgmendla]

I noticed a drop over the weekend also. I hadn't thought about the HP and the DH effect..... mainly because I was busy reading the darn book after my son read it. 700+ pages takes a while to read. ...

I was at one of the midnight sales with our son. There are a LOT of older people (40's to 50's) that are fans. I ran into one of my competitors and we were watching the crowd. It almost looked like a trekkie or Dr. Who convention. There are probably a lot of executive types who would never admit to liking the stories but grab their kid's copies when the kids are done. (My son read it straight through and was done by saturday afternnon.)

Anyway, thanks to the original poster... It looks like your theory explains a good part of what happened with my stats this weekend. .

(Dang, I Wish I could write like JKR...)