One of my New Year’s jobs early every January is to have a look back on the traffic numbers for the site for the previous twelve months and to see how these compare with previous years. It’s that time of year again so here’s the end-2016 update.
I first began gathering traffic data (using StatCounter) a few months after I’d started the blog. This means that I’ve now got ten years of traffic data, although the figures for the first year in the series – 2007 – only start in April. Prior to then, in any event, it was just me that was looking at anything I posted.
The readership has, though, increased a bit since then. As the first graph below illustrates, this growth continued unchecked in 2016, with a 32% increase in page views recorded compared to 2015. The 2016 hit count topped out at a nice round figure of 2,762,167.
Mayo GAA Blog, annual page views 2007 – 2016
Source: StatCounter
Every year I marvel at the fact that the time series graph for traffic to the site looks pretty much like a text-book exponential curve. Ten years on, that’s still the case.
Mayo GAA Blog, cumulative page views 2007 – 2016
Source: StatCounter
This kind of breakneck year-on-year growth can’t go on forever and perhaps the first straw in that particular wind came in 2016 when, for the first time, the year didn’t see a new daily hit count record being set. That high watermark remains at 26,270 page views, a total recorded on 31st August 2015, which was the day after our drawn semi-final with Dublin that year. The day after last year’s replay (2nd October) came closest to beating it but that one topped out at 26,023.
The same holds true of the weekly hit count record, with Week 36 of 2015 (the week between the drawn and replayed semi-finals that year) remaining the busiest of all time. The monthly hit count record did, however, fall in 2016. In fact, it fell three times in a row last year, with first July 2016 surpassing the previous all-time high (set in August 2015), then August topping July and September outdoing the lot of them. The graph below illustrates this nicely, setting the traffic increases recorded in recent years in the decade-long time series:
Mayo GAA Blog, monthly page views April 2007 – December 2016
Source: StatCounter
The above graph also gives an indication about why I was so keen to pull the shutters down on this place last October. Q4 is the only time when there’s anything resembling peace and quiet round here but as the above illustration shows, the most restful time of the year nowadays surpasses what were the busiest months just a few years back.
Such, I guess, is the insatiable desire for Mayo GAA-related news and the need to connect and chat about the topic on which we all obsess. As I said the other day and as these traffic figures show, the times we’re living in now are special ones from a Mayo GAA perspective. Long may we continue to be in such a fortunate position.
Funny too isn’t it. A lot of your daily records come in the days after a defeat. I guess that’s the way some people process a defeat. I’d be on here a bit and they are the days I generally avoid the site as I find it too difficult to keep reading about it!
Anyway, congrats again on such miraculous numbers. Onwards and upwards!
Congrats Willie Joe on the ever upward curve! Here’s hoping for similar for the team and management with the ultimate peak somewhere in the middle of this coming September.
Rochford, if the lads had won you wouldn’t have many posting here for a few weeks I’d say. It would be Christmas Day for a month!
Lads i’d say if we had won/when we win, there would/will be black smoke coming out of the server or whatever piece of equipment this place is run from. (Followed by a loud bang and then silence).
That last one looks like my heart rate when AOS gave that dodgy back pad at the end of the Tyrone game
Remember that machine with which the Milo O’Shea character [he was playing a baddie] was planning to use to kill Jane Fonda with pleasure in the movie Barbarella [c. 1968 I think]. I can see the server on this site going the same way. [Jane Fonda’s capacity for pleasure was far greater than that of the machine to administer it]
Well done WJ that;s great stuff. The figures are a bit crazy really. Just shows there are a lot more people visiting than posting I would say. And there was I trying to forget all about the exponential curve.
“it was just me that was looking at anything I posted” that sounds so funny now, but only goes to show how far the Blog has gone since. In your wildest dreams Willie Joe you could never have imagined where your Blog is today. Congratulations on it’s success.
I’m mostly a lurker and a very regular one at that. I just wanted to say a huge thanks WJ for providing us with this amazing outlet to whoop and holler, to blow off steam, to lick our wounds, to blame the ref/ Joe Brolly/ Martin Breheny/ the county board/ former management/ current management/ Dr Padraig Carney/ Paddy Prendergast etc and to generally wax lyrical about our favourite subject! It’s an absolutely fantastic service and one we’d find it hard to live without. Congratulations on your success and may there be tumbleweed rolling down the site on the 3rd Monday next September!!
I’ve changed my name on here this year. I dreamt last September before either final that we won the All Ireland. It was a very vivid dream but after the drawn game I realised that I had been sitting in the Cusack in my dream and at the actual game I had been in the Davin. Try as I might, I couldn’t get a Cusack ticket for the replay either so I feel in some way responsible for our loss. This year I have been lucky enough to finally secure a season ticket and so hope to be in the Cuasck Stand when the final whistle blows and we reach the holy grail next September.
Congrats WJ, some serious stats there. Apologies for my ignorance, but how do the stats compare with the likes of a hoganstand.com for example? I cant imagine many other counties having an independent blog with such high hit-rates so I’m not sure what other sites you could compare yours to for a fair comparison? By whatever measure, the figures are incredible really. I don’t know how you manage to have the time and patience to keep control over it but by and large most of the conversations/ debates on here continue to be fairly reasonable which is an achievement in itself. Continued success in 2017!
WJ, again I would like to thank you for this brilliant resource for all aspects of mayo gaa. As continually stated by so many posters, it is a vital component of who we are as Mayo people both for those lucky enough to live at home and those overseas.
I know you don’t divulge specific stats but I’d imagine the vast majority of hits are readers only as opposed to posters? In that regard I’d like to thank all these posters who also make this site as good as it actually is.
Thanks, guys – just to answer your questions, I’ve no idea how the stats on the blog relate to other sites. Lower, I’d imagine, given the niche interest in question but I haven’t seen any traffic data with which to compare. Given the hit count (which is just page views) versus the number of posters, you’d have to conclude that the vast majority are accounted by readers rather than contributors. I’d agree that it’s the many well-informed contributions from the latter that makes this place so interesting to many, myself included.
And the way the site is so well moderated is another factor.
Contributions are one thing, but it’s the editor who sets the tone, moves things along, changes the topic when needed and keeps order when needed too!
Long may it last WJ.
Congratulations Willie Joe This site has become compulsive reading for all those who follow our beloved Mayo, What gives it its real strength is your excellent moderation which ensures the comments are reasonable and respectful.
There’ll be advertisers approaching you next willie joe!
NiallMc1983
You’re on the ball there.
My daughter who is a fiercely committed Mayo supporter and rarely misses a game anywhere works in media/advertising in Dublin. Aware that I contribute to this wonderful blog she suggested to WJ that he might go down the advertising route. He let her know that it didn’t appeal to him. It’s all about Mayo football was his attitude.
Sorry for talking about you, Wiilie Joe, as if you weren’t in the room.
Many thanks for what you continue to do for us and our county.
This Blog/site is a God send I’m not suprised at the amount of traffic that’s on it. I don’t know where you get the time to moderate it WJ but you do and you do a great job of it. Looking forward to our first outing on Sunday will be good to see some familar faces and see some inter county football again
Amen and ditto. Mayo.
Absolutely amazing stats there Willie Joe, and Kudos are richly deserved by your good self for starting, continuing with and moderating this excellent blog ,. The impressive and constantly increasing numbers viewing this blog, would have a parallel with Mayo’s improvement and the numbers going to Mayo match’s at a time when most other counties and indeed GAA attendance numbers has been going south. In terms of football attendance this last 5 or 6 years the GAA hierarchy have been almost totally dependent on the numbers following Dublin ,& Mayo with Tyrone, Donegal and Monaghan to a lesser extent but also having a considerable fan base that are prepared to actually attend match’s. , Indeed from time to time on this blog we the reader’s and posters, many diverse and interesting opinions have been posted by a variety of informed posters. So I suppose we the Mayo fan base are in a healthy position, but I feel that we are taking for granted from time to time by the powers that be in the GAA… There have been some good debates or arguments here, down the year’s. Some had only the most vague connection to the the world of matter’s concerning Mayo GAA, but sure it is all part of life and no less relevant because of the that.. It’s the most interesting and informative source of information for the committed Mayo fan, and some fan’s of other counties as well.. I’m actually very surprised that you Willie Joe have not been getting some advertising revenue with the huge number this Blog can boast. You can sure that many Blogs with a fraction of the interest the this Blog has are benefiting from advertising revenue.. There is another site that I’m sure many of the readers here are familiar with called ‘Trip Advisor’ and I just wondered if some of the poster’s here could do something similar on this Blog (providing it meets with your approval Willie Joe). Like, where’s the best place to eat on the way to a match, eg Mayo forthcoming trip to Kerry, or the best places to stay while there, or what pub’s, restaurants, nightlife might be worth visiting on an away day. Only an idea, I usually hear of a better deal or place to eat on the Monday following the match, only an idea!
Just to answer that point on advertising on the site, I can confirm that I get regular approaches on an ongoing basis about doing this. It’s not something I’ve ever felt compelled to do and have preferred to keep the place ad-free, which remains my position. I’m not saying I’ll never accept ads but it’s not something I’ve any interest in pursuing at the moment. I’ve no idea what kind of revenue ads on the site might bring in but my suspicion is it would be less than the hassle involved, to say nothing of the resultant clutter.
I’m no wiser than the rest of you, I’m afraid, on the North West Cup and whether or not Derry are involved. It’d be a pity if they didn’t take part, even if that would help alleviate our personnel problems for Sunday’s FBD opener.
Willie Joe,
I’ve said it before I think a Paypal Donate button would do your hosting costs no harm.
The hosting and management is bound to come at some cost to you and I think a number of contributors would be willing to help you with some of that, myself included.
Great job on keeping this going by the way. If I’m not mistaken the 1st of Feb this year is the 10th anniversary. Not sure I followed from the very beginning but I did discover the older iteration of this blog sometime that year and it’s provided me with oodles of entertainment as well as interfering with my productivity at work ever since.
great resource, very well run and administered, and the numbers I think reflect that, well done WJ.
Ssshhhh FDBinashui or else WJ will get the blame for 10 years of lost work productivity by so many!! 🙂
Cancellation of U21 game v Derry should mean a few more players are available or has the team for Sunday already been picked.
On that score, I think team plus subs for these ‘trial games’ should be available no later than the thursday evening before game.
It is in the best interest of supporters who have to make arrangements for games and players whohave to prepare mentally for game
Thanks, FDBinashui, I appreciate the sentiments, which I know you’ve mentioned before. The hosting costs remain modest enough and I’m happy to continuing to cover them. It’s good to know, though, that there are others out there happy to chip in if required.
You’re right that 1st February is the 10th anniversary of the blog’s inception. I think I’m responsible for a reduction in productivity at work in many quarters, my own included, over the past ten years!