Olympics Online and Mobile Searches Spiking for Mittens, Ice Rinks and the Flying Tomato

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Teens are catching the spirit. Searches on Yahoo! for "ice skating rinks" are up 607% this week – especially among teens.

You've seen them during coverage of the competitions. Whenever anybody waves to the camera, they're impossible to miss. They're the bright red Canadian mittens, and it seems like everybody wants them. Since the games began last week, searches on Yahoo! for "olympic mittens" (up 176% this week) have been soaring. Related searches about "red olympic mittens, (up 182% this week)" "canadian olympic mittens," and "where to buy olympic mittens" surged from nothing into breakout status in the Buzz.

Could figure skating impact the music world? Searches on Yahoo! are spiking for music associated with figure skating competitions. We are seeing searches related to the song choices that skaters are skating to, including a song by Queen and “the Firebird Suite.”

The Winter Games’ obsession is taking over the web. People seem to have caught the winter sports bug and are searching for anything and everything related to the athletes.

• Lindsey Vonn: Lindsey Vonn is getting a lot of buzz online, she is the top searched athlete on Yahoo! in the past week – searches for Vonn are nearly 6 times higher than for Shaun White.
  • People are turning to Yahoo! to search for anything and everything related to Lindsey. From her husband to her Sports Illustrated shoot (searches are up 1,446% this week).

• Shaun White: Anticipation of Shaun White's 2010 performance caused spikes on Yahoo! not only for "Flying Tomato" but also "Carrot Top." Searches for “Shaun White snowboarding” are up 1,921% this week.
  • People want to learn more about Shaun – they are searching for “Shaun White Biography” and “Shaun White girlfriend.”
  • Teens are anxious to get their hands on “Shaun White wallpaper” for their computers. And the ladies love the flying tomato. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of searches for Shaun are by females.
  • After Shaun White’s gold winning performance on Wednesday, people are searching Yahoo! for the “Double McTwist” move – searches are off the charts.

• Apolo Ohno: Apolo Ohno seems to be the games darling. Searches for Apolo have been spiking for weeks. People are anxious to learn more about his personal life. Searches for “Apolo Ohno girlfriend” are up 1,210% in the past week.
  • Searches for his bio are up 261% this week.

Individual sports are also garnering searches online:

• Curling: Curling has long been an Olympic sport that garners interest on the web. During 2010, people are turning to the web to find out everything they can about the “rules of curling.” Searches on Yahoo! have spiked 2,833%.
• Hockey: The hockey obsession continues. It is the number one searched sport in the past week and people are hungry for information on the schedule (searches up 1,650%), the players and the results.

YAHOO! BRINGS THE COMPETITIONS TO FANS EVERYWHERE:

For fans at the games, Yahoo! has built a custom-designed broadcast studio and entertainment center in Vancouver. The venue, dubbed FanCouver, gives fans a chance to participate in Yahoo! events and promotions. FanCouver has seen an average of 10,000 fans a day since the opening ceremonies.

For those keeping up with the games online, Yahoo! Sports has dominated Winter Olympics Internet traffic, beating out NBCOlympics.com and ESPN.com during the first week of competition. According to comScore, Yahoo!’s Winter Games coverage attracted 9.3 million unique visitors, more than NBC’s Olympics site (7.6 million unique visitors) and ESPN.com (8.4 million unique visitors). Yahoo! Sports attracted over 17.5 million unique visitors over the week, more than double the visitors to its nearest competitors. For fans on-the-go, Yahoo! also launched a new mobile site for the games, providing the latest information, including medal counts, news and expert coverage, live results, and athlete profiles.

OLYMPIC COMMENTARY:

Yahoo! has a team of Olympians and athletes on the ground in Vancouver that are available for interviews. They can share updates and stories from the Winter Games — the list below includes the athletes and the sports they are covering. Sasha 'Spin' Cohen just joined the editorial team and she can discuss the latest news in figure skating, and learn ‘once and for all' what curling is from Canadian curling champion Jennifer Jones. In addition, Tiki Barber and Dominique Dawes are available to give comprehensive overviews of the competitions and the Vancouver experience.

· Elvis Stojko – Figure Skating

· Sasha Cohen – Figure Skating

· Donna Weinbrecht – Moguls and Freestyle Skiing

· Dominique Dawes – Comprehensive Winter Games Coverage

· Ken Daneyko – Hockey

· Tiki Barber – Comprehensive Winter Games Coverage

· Bryon Friedman – Alpine Skiing

· Jennifer Jones – Curling