Last week saw the premier of the 22nd official Bond film, Quantum of Solace. With the success of Casino Royale in November 2006, Quantum of Solace has been one of the most anticipated films of the year.

The chart above illustrates both the success of Casino Royale in November 2006 and the impact of the current Bond release, Quantum of Solace. Over the last month, Bond related searches have increased significantly; searches for ‘quantum of solace’ have increased 5 fold, while ‘james bond’ searches have quadrupled. In addition, searches for ‘daniel craig’, the actor currently playing 007 have increased almost seven fold since early October. However, Bond related searches were actually higher when Casino Royale was released in November 2006. Searches for ‘daniel craig’ have halved this year compared with November 2006, most likely due to the fact that Casino Royale was the actor’s first appearance as the legendary secret agent.
The Entertainment – Movies category has also seen a significant increase in traffic in the build up to the new Bond film. Traffic to movie sites tends to peak around major film releases and, as the chart below shows, Quantum of Solace has contributed to the November peak. Quantum of Solace was the most searched for film for the week ending 01/11/08, followed by High School Musical 3 and Saw 5. The Christmas peak was partly seasonal and partly a result of the release of the Will Smith film ‘I am Legend’. The summer peak this year during July was due to the release of ‘The Dark Knight’. Interestingly, there was only a small peak in November 2006 when Casino Royale was released.

The website currently receiving most traffic from searches for ‘Quantum of Solace’, ‘James Bond’ and ’007′ is the official Bond website, 007.com. Over the last month UK visits to 007.com have increased by 221%, while – even with another two weeks to go before the US cinema release – American visits to the official site have increased by 150%.
The Bond films always feature notable product placements, so it is not surprising to find the websites of Bond-related brands in the downstream data for 007.com. Aston Martin is currently the top brand website visited after 007.com, followed by Omega Watches and then Sony.

When Radio 1 aired the new Bond Theme song ‘Another Way to Die’ back in September UK Internet visits to the BBC’s Radio 1 website reached the highest ever level during the week ending 20 September, with visits increasing by 25% from the week before. Since then, however, UK Interest and searches for the theme song have declined. It is only since the release of the film that interest has revived, with searches for ‘another way to die’ doubling between the weeks ending October 25th and November 1st.
On the small screen, the TV zombie mini series ‘Dead Set’ has helped e4.com’s UK internet traffic to double between the weeks ending October 4th and November 1st.
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